Albur mayor offers solution to Panglao garbage woes

With the garbage disposal problem in the resort-haven Panglao Island creating an intense infighting among local officials, Albur Mayor Efren Tungol has offered an advice to reduce the volume of wastes coming from business establishments and residences.

Tungol, whose town will host the Cluster Sanitary Landfill project that aims to solve the persisting garbage disposal impasse, not only of Panglao but also Tagbilaran City, said the solution is simple and attainable by local government units.

“Even before garbage disposal becomes a critical situation for an LGU, it can be prevented if waste segregation at source, recycling and composting is practiced,” Tungol offered during an interview with dyRD “Inyong Alagad” on Wednesday.

Although Panglao Island and Tagbilaran awaits the completion of the much-delayed Albur Landfill project, the facility could only accommodate residual waste. Hence, it is still vital for LGUs to push for the practice of waste segregation as what is required under Republic Act 9003, at this stage.

Waste segregation at source, recycling and composting should be advocated at the purok level, Tungol stressed.

Garbage can be lessened by up to 70-percent if segregation, recycling and composting are practiced.

Until now, there is no update on the status of the Albur cluster landfill project after a public consultation last February which finally gave the green light for its construction.

According to Tungol, the implementer of the project is the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) which is currently in the process of bidding out the P215-million facility.

Bust ‘swertres’ syndicate, financier dares police

An underground financier of “swertres” challenged police officials in the province to dismantle the “unholy alliance” of scalawag policemen and a syndicate of local gambling lords to completely put a stop to the illegal numbers game.

The financier, who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity, said that despite pronouncements by police officers to completely put a stop to “swertres”, the illegal numbers game continues to flourish in Bohol because of this alleged “syndicate” that has compromised ranking policemen accepting pay-offs in the form of a regular “protection racket”.

The alleged syndicate of financiers, has gotten bolder in their operations as their runners, ushers and coordinators are virtually “untouchable” and no longer apprehended, as long as they keep remitting 10-percent of their daily proceeds to “tong” collectors representing scalawag policemen.

The financier said he is willing to terminate his own network of “swertres” operators if the police command in the province would crush this “syndicate”, by apprehending their coordinators, ushers and seize bets that would definitely stop their operation.

According to the financier, P/SSupt. Constantino Barot Jr., provincial police director, is supposedly aware of the existence of the gambling syndicate but has turned a blind eye on their “unholy alliance” with some of his men.

This “unholy alliance” between scalawag cops and the local “swertres” lords is apparently the reason for the low success rate in recent months of the anti “swetres” campaign waged not only by the Bohol PNP but by the entire regional police command, according to the financier.

After a series of province-wide raids against “swertres” operators in the later months of 2011, financiers were observed to be laying low for a few weeks but were back to their usual operation after reportedly coming to terms with police officials working out a “sharing scheme” in exchange for protection or tip offs on impending police raids targeting the network of illegal numbers game operators of the “syndicate”.

The financier said, if SSupt. Barot is serious in his campaign to eradicate “swertres” in the province, he should explicitly place this “syndicate” on top of his order of battle.

It may be recalled that Barot has denied any knowledge of police protecting “swertres” financiers as he has not heard anyone from the ranks of the Bohol PNP to spare and set free arrested runners, bet collectors or coordinators.

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Bohol politicians tagged for posting ads ahead of polls

Local politicians deserved a special mention from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for putting up their political advertisements on public works projects just months ahead of the 2013 elections.

Despite an order from President Benigno Aquino III to the DPWH and local politicians to refrain from using government projects to promote themselves by erecting billboards with their photos, officials here in Bohol have been observed to have openly violated the President’s directive.

Five provinces are being cited in a DPWH report, where seemingly stubborn government officials could not be restrained from self-aggrandizement. Aside from Bohol, the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Maguindanao, Taw-Tawi and Basilan were also cited in the report.

According to DPWH Undersecretary Romeo Momo, they would confer with local officials to stop using public works projects from being used by politicians in promoting themselves.

“We will talk with the local officials and show them the Department Order. The DPWH district engineers will explain to them that they should not put their self-advertisement in project billboards,” Undersecretary Momo said.

Several billboards, bearing photos and names of politicians, alongside government projects, such as roads, school buildings and other public facilities have been seen sprouting all over Bohol, notably in the First Congressional District.

The DPWH said they will remove these billboards if the local officials and politicians do not tear down these political propaganda materials after they have been duly notified by their district engineers.

Contractors who likewise put up these billboards to gain good favor from their patrons in elected posts will also be warned from doing so. Violations could be grounds for these contractors to be blacklisted and banned from participating in bidding for government projects, the DPWH official said.

Uproar over power rate hike

A staggering P1.54 per-kilowatt-hour increase reflected in this month’s electric bills triggered a public outburst criticizing two power distribution utilities here in Bohol.

Radio listeners aired over dyRD “Inyong Alagad” their clamor on the recent power rate increase implemented by Bohol Light Company Inc. (BLCI) and the Bohol Electric Cooperative (Boheco).

BLCI, which supplies electricity to city residents, is already collecting a P1.54 per kilowatt-hour increase reflected in the billing for the months of May and June.

Similarly, Boheco (now being managed independently under Boheco-1 and Boheco-2), supplying the municipalities, is also collecting a P1.06 per kWh increase on their consumers.

Several radio listeners expressed shock over their current electricity bills, the amounts of which almost doubled from the previous billing.

BLCI spokesperson May Hope Arcenal explained over “Inyong Alagad” on Wednesday that the increase is beyond the control of their company.

Arcenal said the rate hike is due to the increase in generation charge resulting from higher power costs incurred by distribution utilities from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (Wesm), which works like a stock market for electric producers and consumers. The generation charge increase is pegged at 85-centavos per kWh.

Other than the generation charge, the higher rate is also the result of higher costs being collected by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) and the National Power Corporation.

Meanwhile, Boheco services administrator Lorenzo Bangcoy, in a separate interview with “Inyong Alagad” said that Boheco, which is a cooperative, will not be getting anything out of the newly imposed rate increase.

Bangcoy explained that Boheco is simply passing on to their consumer-members the increase in generation charge from their purchase of electricity from the Wesm and the state-run Psalm.

Instead, BLCI and Boheco advised their consumers to manage their power consumption and should learn to conserve electricity, whether they are in their households or in their workplaces.

Groups clash over gold, quarry in Trinidad

The conflict between local residents, a farmers’ group, a quarry operator and small-time gold miners could boil over as government intervention has been dallying around the controversy.

Although it has been found operating illegally, a riverbed quarry extracting sand and gravel that is owned by a municipal councilor of Trinidad town, remains in operation despite having been declared as illegal and environmentally harmful by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro), the Bohol Environmental Management Office (Bemo) and the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) of Trinidad.

In a telephone call made to Station dyRD’s “Inyong Alagad” on Wednesday, Hugpong sa Mag-uumang Bol-anon (Humabol) secretary general Danilo Olaivar negated claims made by Municipal Councilor Pablo Molos that there have been no actual complaints from local residents or farmers regarding the operation of his sand and gravel extraction along the Kinan-oan creek in Barangay Banlasan, Trinidad.

Olaivar called on government agencies, specifically the DENR and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) and Gov. Edgar Chatto, to issue a stoppage order against the quarry operations of Councilor Molos

The Humabol spokesman said that the SB of Trinidad, during four hearings of the committee on environment chaired by Councilor Pablo Utara, found out that the extraction of sand and gravel and the operation of a crusher and washery along the Kinan-oan creek, owned by their colleague Councilor Molos, caused damages to the riverbed and agreed to recommend for its stoppage to be endorsed to the SP and the Office of the Governor.

According to Olaivar, even separate inspections conducted by Penro Nestor Canda and Bemo head Leonilo Lafuente, verified that the quarrying at Kinan-oan has affected villagers in five barangays of Sto. Tomas, Banlasan, Kinan-oan, Cabiguhan and San Vicente who are dependent on the creek for fishing, drinking water for their farm animals and the irrigation of their ricefields and farmlands.

Thousands of residents are being affected, Olaivar said, as the washery and crusher, including backhoe and 10-wheeler trucks hauling sand and gravel along the creek, owned by Molos has turned the water in the creek murky.

But during an interview with “Inyong Alagad” on Monday, Molos said it is not his crusher and washery that has caused the murky waters of Kinan-oan, but the gold panning activities along the creek by some locales who are resorting to gold mining in between planting and harvest seasons.

Molos claimed he already moved some 50-meters away from the creek where he has constructed an impounding basin to divert water from his washery from the Kinan-oan.

But these small-time gold prospectors, denied the allegation of Molos, saying that their gold panning activity along the Kinan-oan creek is just minor compared to the washery of Molos.

In fact, small time miners cited that Molos’ washery does not have an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) and is operating under a permittee acting as a dummy for the municipal official.

Olaivar said the provincial officialdom must act immediately on the dispute between these groups to avert hostilities.