Tuesday, April 29, 2008 Mayor hits Panlilio over Gugu pullout
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Bacolor Mayor Romeo Dungca on Monday took Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio to task for his decision to pull out desilting equipment from the Gugu creek.
“He’ll be sacrificing the lives and livelihood of the people of Bacolor for that decision,” Dungca said.
The mayor issued the statement in the wake of Panlilio’s decision to pull out equipment owned by the Provincial Government deployed for the desilting operation at the Gugu creek.
The governor’s decision was triggered supposedly by Dungca’s stopping of duly-authorized quarry operators to mine and haul quarry sands from Gugu.
Dungca, however, has denied the allegation.
“The only one we stopped was one whose permit was only limited to Barangay Maliwalu,” the mayor said.
Dungca also broadsided the governor for implied favoritism in the issuance of quarry permits.
“Applicants (for quarry permit) from Bacolor have to wait for 10 months to get their permit while other applicants identified with their group take only a week,” he said.
He said the Municipal Government will have to continue with the desilting of the Gugu creek at its own expense to protect the people from massive flooding.
“We will look for funds to do it, even if we have to seek loans, to sustain the desilting operation,” he said.
Dungca and Panlilio have been at loggerheads over the desilting operation in Gugu since last year.
Dungca is an ally of former board member Lilia Pineda, Panlilio’s closest rival in the last May 14 elections. Pineda lost to Panlilio by a slim margin of a little over 1,000 votes.
Pineda has a pending electoral protest against Panlilio before the Commission on Elections.
