ENVIRONMENTALIST and lawyer Benjamin Cabrido is getting more allies in his campaign to find justice for the victims of the landslide in Barangay Tina-an, City of Naga.
A group composed of landslide survivors and cause-oriented groups in the City of Naga vowed to join Cabrido in his plan to file a P1-billion suit against Apo Land and Quarry Corp. (ALQC), its business partner Cemex and three government agencies for the landslide in Barangay Tina-an two weeks ago.
Concerned city residents and cause-oriented groups, led by Pusyon sa Kinaiyahan, said they are closely coordinating with Cabrido for the gathering of affidavits.
Cabrido is seeking P1 billion from ALQC, Cemex, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the City Government of Naga for the landslide that claimed 77 lives.
The group wanted to hold a mass at the Ground Zero in Sitio Sindulan at 7 a.m. yesterday. But they were stopped by police, led by City of Naga police chief Roderick Gonzales.
So the group held the mass beside the City of Naga abattoir in Barangay Tina-an, about a kilometer from Ground Zero.
Dan Diez, co-founder of Pusyon sa Kinaiyahan, said they wanted to hold the mass at Ground Zero to call the government’s attention to the plight of residents who were dislodged from their homes in Naga because of quarrying.
Diez said this was the second time the group held a rally related to the landslide.
The cause-oriented groups proceeded to the Apo-Cemex Plant in Barangay Tina-an then to the City of Naga Legislative Hall to hold their protest.
Cause-oriented groups Sanlakas, Piston, Anakbayan and Save the Environment and Life (Seal) alliance joined the rally, along with 45 landslide survivors.
Winley dela Fuente, who led a group of residents who were directly affected by the landslide, said they plan to join Cabrido in his cause.
Dela Fuente said they are preparing more than 70 affidavits from landslide survivors to support Cabrido’s complaint.
But dela Fuente denied that they were also there to participate in the rally organized by cause-oriented groups. He said he was surprised that some of their companions held the protest when he and the landslide victims were there for a peaceful activity.
Both groups, however, agreed on the need to help Cabrido gain more support for the case.
In a separate interview, Chief Inspector Gonzales said he deployed police officers to prevent the two groups from entering Ground Zero.
He said they received reports that leftist groups had planned to take advantage of the situation. JKV