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Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Mayor criticizes ‘selfish’ groups
IF HE had his way, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña wants the City Government to take over the environmental protection projects of “selfish” individuals and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) in mountain barangays.
Osmeña said City Hall is capable of taking over, but it cannot do so easily because of existing laws on watershed protection.
Aside from the University of San Carlos Water Resource Center (USC-WRC) and the Cebu Uniting for Sustainable Water (CUSW), the mayor also criticized retired police general Tiburcio Fusilero for “abolishing” democracy in the mountain barangays by taking control of public lands there.
While the investigation on the conflict between Fusilero and the farmers is still ongoing, the mayor said he forbade Fusilero from evicting the farmers in the area.
“We’re still gathering information regarding the mountain barangays but simply put, it has reached a point where there are some people who want to abolish democracy there for their own selfish interest and they are not even elected, like CUSW and WRC... Yes, Fusilero is included,” he told a news conference yesterday.
Osmeña said he smells a “scam” in the way the NGOs have been using people and foreign funding agencies for their own personal benefit, and how Fusilero took control of some 500 hectares of forest land.
In an agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Fusilero was given authority to implement a reforestation project in some 500 hectares of forest land in Barangay Tabunan.
The project displaced at least 25 families who were farming the area.
Instead of implementing reforestation projects, Osmeña said he will focus on stopping the cause why people cut down trees if ever the City starts its own environmental protection projects in the mountain barangays.
“What do we need reforestation projects for? Just stop the cause why people cut trees, you don’t do anything because it will reforest by itself. We’re not in the middle of Sahara where we have to reforest, just leave it alone,” he said.
The mayor said that once the facility is completed, the South Reclamation Project (SRP) will be the number one watershed in Cebu City where rainwater will be collected and recycled.
“And we will not allow those groups to get one square inch of that. In as little as a few weeks, we will start supplying water to Cebu City without a need for reforestation. We will create our own model and heaven forbid, not one of those people will lay their finger on the SRP,” he said. (LCR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 18, 2006 issue)
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