Lobo LGU clashes with Batangas firm

The municipal government of Lobo, Batangas is involved in a tussle with the Efren Ramirez Construction and General Services Corporation over environmental complaints and corruption issues concerning an irrigation project in the area.

In a complaint letter addressed to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Lobo Mayor Lota Manalo accused the ERCGSC of committing at least nine violations that warrant the revocation of its Industrial Sand and Gravel permit and Mineral Processing Permit.

Manalo disclosed that seven Lobo villages signed a memorandum of agreement with ERCGSC in 2012, permitting the company to dredge the Lobo River as part of an irrigation project in the area.

In its defense, ERCGSC said that Manalo's move was only a retaliation to their complaints filed before the Office of the Ombudsman "for criminal violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act."

"The Lobo Mayor has since been fixated on harassing the operations of ERCGSC after the latter claimed in its complaint before the Ombudsman that it refused to heed Manalo's demand for grease money," the firm said in a statement

"The mayor has since unjustifiably denied the renewal of the firm's business permit despite being in operation for over a decade in the municipality employing hundreds of its citizens and assisting in the development of the communities where it does business," it added.

In the complaint, the Lobo chief executive underscored that the Barangay Nagtaluntong was excluded from the project in 2017 "to prevent damage in the water intake facility in the area."