Los Baños science community comes to mayor’s defense

The Los Baños Science Community Foundation Inc. (LBSCFI) has come to the defense of the town’s mayor whom a municipal councilor has accused of violating environmental and forest reserve laws.

The group, representing 22 public and private science and development institutions in Los Baños, Laguna, said Mayor Caesar Perez has been doing his best to manage garbage collection and disposal in the past several years.

LBSCFI president Patricio Faylon, in a statement sent to The STAR, said that contrary to the allegations of councilor Norvin Tamisin, Perez has actually spearheaded waste management programs to promote segregation and the monitoring of creeks and tributaries of Laguna De Bay.

Faylon said the allegations were irresponsible since they also undermine the reputation of the LBSCFI as a guardian of the environment.

"We regret that in spite of everything that the community and the local government is doing in its waste management program, a handful of people still finds a reason to maliciously derail the joint efforts of those who are involved in this undertaking," he said.

"No form of environmental abuse can ever take place in this small community...," he said.

Perez himself sent a statement to The STAR explaining his waste management efforts and promising that he will address Tamisin’s exposé soonest.

"I am deeply concerned about our environment and forest resources that Los Baños residents are proud of. It is my duty to protect and not to destroy it as one councilor is insinuating," he said.

Tamisin revealed that garbage is being dumped in a creek located within the Makiling Forest Reserve of the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB).

Perez, in an earlier interview, admitted that the garbage has reached the Anos Creek which he said is already dried up and promised to clear the waterway in 15 to 20 days.

Perez said the accusations against him are politically motivated. But Tamisin said the mayor should stick to the issue that garbage is being dumped into the Anos Creek which he feared might contaminate the town’s water sources and eventually the Laguna de Bay.

Besides, Tamisin said the dumpsite is located within a forest reserve which is supposed to be a protected area.

Faylon, in an interview, also admitted that the dump is "near" a creek and is within a forest reserve, but noted that almost all of Los Baños is a forest reserve.

Meanwhile, UPLB students are now watching Perez’s every move as they have been tasked to look into and study the problem by associate professor Teodoro Mendoza, chief of the Crop Production and Management Division of UPLB’s College of Agriculture.

Mendoza said he personally took 35 students taking up Ecological Agriculture for a stroll near the Anos Creek last Tuesday to see how Perez is clearing the area of garbage.

He said his students will dig deeper into the case and will present their recommendations possibly to Perez himself.

Also keeping an eye on Perez’s moves is the Philippine Bar Association which has promised to assist Tamisin in his complaint against the mayor with the Office of the Environmental Ombudsman.