ORMOC CITY-A woman from Almeria, Biliran was arrested by the police after the court issued a warrant of arrest against her for illegal gambling activity on Wednesday (Jan.24).

The accused, only identified as a certain Odar, 47, married, was arrested at about 5:50 pm at her house in Barangay Iyusan.

The arrest of the accused was based on the warrant of arrest issued by Judge Anabelle Donasco-Balledo, acting presiding judge of Municipal Circuit Trial Court, 8th Judicial Region, Kawayan-Almeria, Biliran, dated January 4, 2024, for violation of Sec 1 (a) (1) of PD 1602(illegal gambling law).

The court recommended a P30,000 bail for her temporary liberty.
(ROBERT DEJON)

On DBSN poultry farm issue

TACLOBAN CITY– A lawyer has reminded Mayor Ramon Oñate of Palompon, Leyte that his poultry farm is located within a forest reserved area which should not be used as a dumping ground.

Lloyd Surigao said that the forest reserved area of the town was created under Presidential Proclamation 212 which was even used by the municipal government when it drafted its comprehensive land use plan and forest land use plan.

Surigao made this reminder in reaction to an earlier statement of Oñate who has maintained that his DBSN farm is not located within a protected area.

The DBSN poultry farm, owned by the family of Oñate, is now a subject of complaints by local residents as represented by Surigao, of alleged environmental violations.

They claimed that the DBSN poultry farm dumps its ‘hazardous and toxic materials’ within the compound, polluting a watershed area located within the farm.

But this claim is being disputed by Oñate.

“May I remind the mayor of the existence of Presidential Proclamation 212 which created the Palompon Watershed Forest Reserve. This is the same PWFR that he used when the LGU drafted its CLUP (Comprehensive Land Use Plan), the same PWRF used as a reference in the FLUP (Forest Land Use Plan) that his office filed with the DENR-8. So, his statements are inconsistent and illogical,” Surigao said during a press conference on Thursday (Jan.25) here in the city.

Meanwhile, Surigao said that the residents of Barangay San Joaquin, where the DBSN poultry farm is located, were happy after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) conducted an excavation inside the DBSN as part of its investigation that it is dumping ‘hazardous and toxic materials.’

“The decision of the Regional Trial Court Branch 45 permitting the search and excavation of several areas of the Palompon Protected Watershed being occupied by the poultry farm is a huge victory for our clients, regular citizens, who have taken a staunch stand against the mayor of their town, whose family owns DBSN. These people are outranked in power and influence, and yet they stood their ground to defend their survival,” the lawyer, who represents the residents of a complaint against DBSN, said.

Surigao also claimed that the controversy surrounding the continued operation of the DBSN poultry farm is a battle between ‘logic’, which is sufficiently backed by evidence, and ‘lies’, which is being propagated by Oñate.

“This is a battle between logic and lies which could drag on for years due to legal maneuverings,” he admitted.

Surigao also cited alleged inconsistencies in the statements and actions of Mayor Oñate during a hearing at the House of Representatives on the controversy, where he invited congressmen to do an ocular inspection of the DBSN site to disprove the allegations of illegal dumping of chicken and other solid wastes, but used government resources to stop the DENR from checking the farm site.

“He deliberately used LGU vehicles to block the barangay road and even sent his employees as human barricades. Mayor Oñate’s words contradict his action,” he said.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

TACLOBAN CITY-Lowly Filipino public utility vehicle drivers and their support organizations have heaved a temporary relief after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the extension for franchise consolidation of jeepney drivers and operators under the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) to April 30, 2024.

“There is success in unified action. Today, thousands of drivers and small operators, and even millions of commuters, have reaped initial success. Because of our tireless collective action and determination to defend our livelihoods and rights, we pushed the Marcos regime to extend the deadline to April 30,” said Mody Floranda, Piston national president.
“But extension alone is not enough. Let’s continue to act until the business and foreign PUVMP is scrapped and fight for progressive, patriotic, and inclusive public transportation!” he added.

“This extension is to give an opportunity to those who expressed intention to consolidate but did not make the previous cut-off,” Marcos said in a statement on Wednesday (Jan. 24).
The government earlier set Dec. 31, 2023 as the original deadline for the consolidation of drivers and operators.

However, the government decided again that unconsolidated jeepneys and UV Express units only have until Jan. 31, 2024 “to operate in routes with less than 60 percent consolidation rate.”

According to the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB), public utility vehicles totaling 190,000 units, comprising of UV Express, public utility jeepneys, mini-buses, and buses, have availed of consolidation.

The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) it said that as of mid-January, UV express was able to achieve 82 percent consolidation; jeepneys, 75 percent; buses, 86 percent; and mini-buses, 45 percent, citing a report from the LTFRB.

Since the roll-out of the modernization program in 2017, a total of 1,728 cooperatives and corporations with 262,344 members were established, PCO added.

The consolidation or the formation of transport cooperatives or other legal entities will allow drivers and operators “to access benefits such as government subsidies and access to credit facilities, among others, to aid in modernizing their fleets and run the modernized units in a systematic and predictable manner,” the LTFB emphasized in its modernization campaign.(RONALD O. REYES)