Charges filed vs Cagayan mayor

Graft and other charges were filed against the mayor and three other officials of Gonzaga municipality in Cagayan province before the Office of the Ombudsman for alleged harassment of a developer and workers of a quarrying project in their town. 

Municipal Mayor Rosendo Abad, health officer Dr. Louie Sanico, planning and development officer Emy Bucaneg and Sangguniang Bayan member Renee Salvanera, were accused of violating R.A. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) and R.A. 7942 (Philippine Mining Act) after they supposedly forcibly destroyed fences and other properties at the quarrying site of Unimasters Conglomeration Inc. in Barangay Pateng in March. 

The respondents were also charged of the crimes of grave coercion and malicious mischief for allegedly threatening workers in the project to abandon their jobs. 

In his eight-page complaint filed before the Ombudsman office for Luzon, UCI owner Wilson Chan also sought administrative sanctions for the municipal officials for what he described as “abuse of authority, oppression, grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the interest of the service.” 

Chan recalled that the mayor and other officials led protesters in forcibly destroying the fence of their quarrying site on March 6 even if UCI was holding necessary business and environmental permits from the national government. 

“Mayor Abad and the other officials led protesters in destroying our fence. Barb wires and posts were uprooted and then thrown into the river along with spades, hoes and crowbars forcibly confiscated from workers. They even tried to destroy our equipment but police stopped them,” the complainant stated in his complaint, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR. 

Chan said the mayor also even threatened operators in the project to vacate the site immediately “or something would happen to them on the night of that day.” 

Chan said they were prompted to seek assistance from the provincial command of the Philippine National Police because of that threat from Abad. 

But the alleged harassment did not end there. The complainant claimed that the mayor even met with the workers one by one in their houses on March 9 and convinced them not to report to work anymore. 

The UCI owner believes it was clear harassment and sabotage from the mayor to force them to abandon their quarrying operations near the Wangag River. 

Abad has been supportive of protests from the Save Wangag River Movement and concerned residents against the quarrying operations of UCI. In fact, he met with Chan in February and raised environmental concerns of the groups. 

Chan said he explained to the mayor that they have necessary quarry permit from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau as well as environmental clearance certificate (ECC) from the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.