Slowpokes must leave
“Resort owner Selwyn Lao alleged that national and local government officials, including some from the DENR, had not addressed the issue.
Daily Tribune“Resort owner Selwyn Lao alleged that national and local government officials, including some from the DENR, had not addressed the issue.
In this period of natural calamities, the government should be on its toes, and the agencies responsible for environmental management must be quick to act.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, or DENR, is under fire for dragging its feet in responding to ongoing ecological shocks and not attending to public concerns raised regarding their backlash.
Daily Tribune has been getting the runaround from DENR officials regarding a resort owner's claim that it had sat for years on complaints against real estate magnate and former Senate President Manny Villar.
Village resort owner Selwyn Lao alleged that national and local government officials, including some from the DENR, have not addressed the issue affecting residents of Camella Classic Homes and Multinational Village.
He alleged the Villars' real estate company illegally reclaimed a creek and turned it into subdivision lots and a road, causing flooding in the villages.
Lao maintained that the Baloc-Baloc Creek that passes through his resort was a man-made waterway dug up by the Villars' real estate company to replace the original creek they allegedly reclaimed illegally.
This paper is also making efforts to reach out to Environment Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga for her comments.
The Villars have built their fortune on real estate projects and low-cost housing that has made family patriarch, former Senator Manuel Villar, the second richest person in the Philippines, next only to the cumulative wealth of the children of the late Henry Sy Sr., who own the SM empire, based on the latest Forbes tally.
Lao, a civil engineer, revealed that Camella Homes of the Villars offered to buy him out of his property after the road they constructed had encroached on portions of his land.
"Since 2008, we have had communications with them. Their lawyer answered our letter and offered us P145,000 as payment for my lot eaten up by the road," Lao said.
In the same way, an environmental group has pinned the blame on the DENR for not doing anything to protect what is considered the "Amazon of the Seas" from destruction due to pollution.
Protect VIP and other groups sought a writ of continuing mandamus with the Court of Appeals against the DENR to force the agency into issuing guidelines for a so-called Declaration of Non-Attainment Area.
Father Edwin Gariguez, lead convenor of Protect VIP, said that DENR's responsibility to designate as non-attainment areas the waters of the Verde Island Passage that will bar certain vessels carrying hazardous cargo such as fuel.
The VIP was endangered after an oil spill last February spread off Mindoro after the sinking of oil carrier MT Princess Empress, a chartered ship of conglomerate San Miguel Corp.
Gariguez said the DENR gave empty assurances that it would provide copies of the guidelines once these had been issued.
Last July, water quality tests across marine protected areas of Pola and Pinamalayan showed that five of six samples exceeded 2016 water quality standards for oil and grease.
A subsequent test in September showed all the samples failed to meet standards. Additionally, a protected area in Ilijan, Batangas, exceeded water quality standards for oil, grease, and ammonia.
Protect VIP counsel Luke Espiritu lambasted the DENR for its snail-paced action on the proposed guidelines and failed to act on its mandate.
Espiritu said it has been 19 years since the Clean Water Act was implemented, and yet DENR's response to the inquiry is that "they don't have guidelines, and they have yet to formulate them."
DENR should not issue environmental compliance certificates for projects involving gas terminals and power plants around Batangas.
DENR has all the tools yet still allows destructive projects through its inaction.
The agency should be on the same page as the persistent administration of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in guarding the natural wealth of the nation.