Archive for October 2007
NEWS
Multi-sectoral group seeks access
to docus over controversial BCT deal
BULAN, Sorsogon (News) – A multi-sectoral group of residents in this town has filed a petition for mandamus, an effort to make public all the documents and records of what they believed as an “overpriced” Bulan Central Terminal (BCT) project by incumbent Mayor Helen De Castro.
In an 8-page petition (docketed as Special Civil Action No. 07-351), the group asked the Regional Trial Court (Branch 65) of Sorsogon, Thursday, October 25, 2007, to “compel Mayor Helen De Castro, her agents, subordinates and all public officers and employees of the Local Government Unit of Bulan” to make public “all official records, documents and papers” pertaining to the “policies and procedures adopted” by the said local government unit in pursuance of the Bulan Central terminal (BCT) project.
The petition cited Section 7, Article III of the Constitution, which mandates the local chief executive to “recognize the right of the people to information and access to official records, documents and papers” and R.A. 6713 (or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officers and Employees) which provides for “unhampered access to writings and/or official records” consistent with the policy of transparency in governmental affairs.
The petition was filed by La Fuerza Del Pobre, a multi-purpose cooperative composed of stevedores, porters, tricycle and pedicab drivers represented by Rodolfo Gogolin, together with Bulan’s former vice mayor, Albino Guyala III, Rizal Guyala, Marilou Ong, Will Gerola, Juve Gillego, Eddie Meteoro Abraham Gersalia and Rey Lorilla who are taxpayers and residents of Bulan, Sorsogon said to be greatly affected by the bus terminal project should it pushes through.
The said centralized terminal site in barangay Fabrica, according to the petitioners, is remotely situated and too distant from the municipality’s center of commerce and the residences and businesses of the “more numerous residents-taxpayers of Bulan”. The riding public, the traders and other taxpayers of Bulan, they added, would be exposed to far greater expense and to graver risk to their personal safety, trades and businesses.
But most of all, according to the petitioners, many of the poor townspeople would be deprived of livelihood and businesses now that a “shuttle service” to and from the terminal is underway to eventually replace tricycle and pedicab operation.
The centralized terminal project will be funded by a bond flotation and/or bank loan in the amount of P40 million pesos, exclusive of interest, an amount equivalent to the whole of Bulan’s Annual Gross Revenue Receipt according to the petitioners. The loan will also be secured by the internal revenue allotment (IRA) of the LGU and its component barangays.
Considering such huge magnitude of an amount, the operation of the LGU in the delivery of basic services would be greatly imperiled should this project fail, reason why the petitioners would like to be informed of its legality and viability, they said.
According to the petitioners, they were denied access to information, when according to them their written request for information was ignored by the local government despite their persistence to get the documents they requested. This prompted petitioners to bring the matter to court and asked the same court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining the LGU concerned to “desist from operating or in any manner implementing” the centralized terminal project until further order of the court.
NEWS
“NPA” publicly humiliates barangay bet
BULAN, Sorsogon- – (News) – - Armed men who introduced themselves as members of the New People’s Army (NPA) “arrested” a candidate for barangay chairman in barangay Somagongsong (a barangay just a kilometer away from PNP’s mobile force station), Bulan, Sorsogon, days before the barangay elections.
The armed men bound the candidate’s arms and feet and left him at a provincial road for hours for his barrio folks to see. They also threatened with reprisals anyone who would untie the candidate. Before leaving, the armed men reportedly announced in the vernacular: “Pinakarawayan mi na an kandidato niyo! Sino pa an maboto sini?” (Who would still dare vote for this candidate now that we have humiliated him?)
But people sympathetic to the barangay candidate doubt whether the armed men were real NPA’s. Earlier that week a local radio station read a supposed letter from this group denying reports that they (the NPA) are requiring “permit to campaign” from barangay candidates and even emphasized their “neutrality” in the forthcoming elections.
“This, certainly, is not neutrality but partisanship,” said a fellow candidate who requested anonymity, “and these (armed) men could have come, not from the insurgents but from our political opponents who would like to remain in power despite their growing unpopularity,”the same source added.
The barangay candidate for chairman, Carlos Diolata, is known to be a rabid supporter of Sorsogon (1st District) Congressman Jose Solis and believed to be the congressman’s bet in that barangay against the incumbent chairman who, in turn, is supported by Municipal Mayor Helen De Castro.
De Castro broke ties with Solis in the last local elections when De Castro opted to side with Solis’ opponent in the congressional race, the former PCSO General Manager Ricardo Golpeo. Diolata, meanwhile, followed suit and sided with De Castro’s opponent in the mayoralty elections which earned him the ire of the incumbent mayor.
“May mga pulitiko didi sa Sorsogon na mahiligon mag gamit sin goons na nagpapanggap na NPA basi hadukon an tawo (There are politicians here in Sorsogon who are fond of terrorizing people with their goons pretending to be members of the NPA),” the same source said.
Meanwhile, other candidates in the recently concluded barangay elections confirmed having been warned from buying votes by the NPA or they will be severely punished. Much to their dismay, however, their opponents in the election who were mostly identified as pro-De Castro had their field day buying votes.
In the mayor’s barangay (Calomagon), for instance, voters received from P100 to P300, while in poblacion barangay (adjacent to the PNP station) Zone 4, the highest bid went up to P500 per voter.
Asked if something good could come out of this situation, this disappointed candidate quipped, “Not unless there is a revolution that would genuinely cleanse our electoral process”.
