|
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Land owner raps mayor on quarry
By Albert B. Lacanlale
* Mayor defends self
MEXICO -- A private lot owner in this town charged before the Ombudsman Mayor Teddy C. Tumang and two others for allegedly conducting illegal quarrying on his property in Barangay San Antonio here - but the mayor was quick to deny the charges.
Eduardo Batac, together with retired Col. Wilfredo S. Munar, formally filed on February 28 administrative and criminal cases against Tumang, a certain Pantaleon Martin and Barangay San Antonio chairman Rafael Yabut.
Martin claims to be a tenant of the property owned by Batac.
The three are charged with violations of Section 3 (a) of Republic Act (RA) 3019 and Section 4 (b), (c), and Section 5 (a) of RA 6713 on norms and conduct of public officials.
The case spurred from what Batac claims as illegal quarrying in his property by dumptrucks allegedly owned by Tumang.
However, Tumang said he does not own trucks and is not conducting quarry operations in private properties in San Antonio.
Batac and Munar, in their joint affidavit of complaint alleged that the respondents have quarried his land, which was "reduced to below ground level and became unevenly leveled, thereby damaging the land and depreciating its value."
Batac also demanded P600,000 for the value of soil that was allegedly extracted from his land and used as filling materials for a P7 million road project in the same barangay.
However, Tumang said the Municipal Government has no ongoing project in the barangay. "We are still conducting bidding for a P2 million road project and there are no mobilization yet," he said.
Filling materials for other projects, he added, are hauled from the Abacan River.
Tumang said Batac's allegations are all based on hearsays since he does not have documents to back up his claims.
The mayor said though he has not received a copy of the complaint, he is willing to answer all of Batac's claim in the proper forum as he vowed to file appropriate charges against the complainant for maligning his reputation.
"It is sad that there are people who would do anything only to tarnish our reputation as public officials. These could only be the handiworks of our political opponents who use other people to advance their personal interests," Tumang said.
(March 8, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
|
