To set the record straight

Dear Editor,

I would like to respectfully set the record straight on the inaccurate report printed in your paper with a banner heading “Trucks carrying anapog impounded,” which tried to portray that my trucks were impounded.

The truth of the matter is that my two trucks, which were apprehended at that time, were leased to Mr. Arturo Quimod of barangay Danglag, a legitimate businessman, who is also engaged in the hauling business. That as a legitimate businessman, Mr. Quimod knew that PENRO personnel are regularly monitoring the activities of his hauling business and thus, he always sees to it that his drivers always secure and carry with them the necessary Delivery Receipts or else, they will be subject to apprehension and impoundment of their vehicles.

That Mr. Quimod regularly gets his limestone soil (anapog) from the quarry of Mr. Dennis Maglasang, who is a holder of Delivery Receipts issued from PENRO, and gives them to Mr. Quimod for a fee. Mr. Dennis Maglasang is a diehard supporter of Mayor Teresa P. Alegado, the incumbent Mayor of Consolacion, Cebu, who ran against me in the 2004 and 2007 elections but was defeated. They want to make an issue out of me because the present administration of Mayor Alegado is hounded with a lot of issues of corruption and incompetence.

Reports have reached Mr. Dennis Maglasang that my trucks were hauling limestone and were getting the limestone from his quarry in Barangay Danglag, Consolacion, Cebu. When this report reached Mr. Dennis Maglasang, he was very angry and he called Mayor Teresa Alegado to send the police and PENRO personnel to apprehend my trucks. When I learned about the apprehension of my trucks, I personally went to the area where the PENRO and police personnel held our trucks and its driver, at Barangay San Vicente in Liloan, as they were apprehended while delivering the limestone to the client of Mr. Quimod in Liloan, Cebu.

The drivers of my trucks showed the police and PENRO personnel the Delivery Receipts and their driver’s license to prove that they have valid and legitimate papers of the limestone which they gathered from the quarry of Mr. Dennis Maglasang, but despite the presence of valid driver’s license and the Delivery Receipts, the police and PENRO personnel unlawfully insisted on holding our trucks, for reasons more than the obvious. Considering that I have standing instructions to my drivers to drive our political leaders and supporters to Plaza Independencia to attend the UNA rally on that day, they did not wait for the police and PENRO personnel to release my trucks after they were made to wait for more than an hour. They just left the place and drove our political leaders and supporters to Plaza Independencia and they returned the following day to get my trucks in Barangay San Vicente in Liloan, Cebu.

That it is not true that my trucks were impounded, because if they insisted on impounding them despite the presence of valid documents to support its operations, I shall not hesitate to file the appropriate cases against the police and PENRO personnel before the Ombudsman for their highly questionable and illegal conduct during the operation. I also would like to remind Mayor Teresa Alegado to please mind the affairs and the business of the municipality in accordance to her mandate, and to Mr. Dennis Maglasang, to please conduct and mind his own business in accordance with the law, otherwise, I shall not stop to monitor his business activities.

Hoping I have made myself clear on the matter.

Very truly yours,

Avelino J. Gungob, Sr.