CAPIZ FORUM

Posted by Batas Internet Media on Monday, April 25, 2011 Under: CAPIZ FORUM

Explain P1-B water project, Jamora urged

BY FELIPE V. CELINO

ROXAS City — A former administrator of the Local Water Utility Administration (LWUA) was dared to level-up his “crusade” against corruption.

Lorenzo “Larry” Jamora was asked by Medardo Pestaño, former general manager of the Metro Roxas Water District (MRWD), to explain MRWD’s P1-billion water expansion project.

The public wants to know the real score of the project, Pestaño said, which allegedly caused the water rate in this capital city to double within five years.

Jamora was the LWUA administrator when Pestaño was the MRWD general manager.

“Not a few have questioned LWUA on approving such a gargantuan water project” for the benefit of a small city and three towns, according to Pestaño.

Jamora “should enlighten us why our water rate have become one of the highest, if not the highest, in the whole country,” said Pestaño.

“It is really heartwarming to know that Mr. Larry Jamora is spearheading a crusade against corruption,” he said.

Pestaño was referring to reports, which had it that Jamora exerted effort to unearth the anomalies in the construction of the P700-million new Iloilo City Hall.

The said construction was believed to be “highly overpriced, anomalous and a wicked monument of unmitigated graft and corruption.”

During Pestaño’s time as general manager of MRWD, he vowed to monitor the performance of the agency’s interim officials.

An alleged misunderstanding between Pestaño and the MRWD Board of Directors, then headed by Carmen Andrade, caused the LWUA takeover of MRWD’s management in 2005.

The LWUA takeover then aimed to:

* complete the expansion project that time, to sustain the steady supply of treated water to residents and businesses here and in Panay, Panitan and Ivisan towns, and

* ensure the water district’s financial viability.

LWUA returned the management to local officials here in November last year.

Pestaño said the public would also like to know how far the interim officials have gone since they were already “overstaying.”

He said he will be leading water concessionaires in opposing the water rate increase here./PN

Cops: More suspects may
have killed Army captain

BY FELIPE V. CELINO

ROXAS City — About three or more suspects might be behind the killing of Philippine Army (PA) Capt. Mario Vergara, police said.

Vergara was shot using an M16 armalite rifle and a .45-caliber pistol, revealed an autopsy report of the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) from Aklan led by Supt. Georby Manuel.

The SOCO, however, are still gathering evidences to establish the identity of the suspects.

Manuel said based on certain indications, the victim may have been in full battle gear when the incident happened.

Dr. Noel Martinez of the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory said Vergara was shot on the back.

The victim was also positive of gun powder, an indication that he also fired his gun, he said.

Vergara’s body was found 50 meters away from the house of one Eribaldo Degones in Brgy. Timpas, Panitan, Capiz.

The police and SOCO are looking at personal vendetta as the motive of the suspects.

Recovered from Vergara were the following items:

* one night vision device
* one improvise bandolier
* one watch G-Shock color black
* one magazine of caliber .45
* one brown belt bag containing a magazine of caliber 40 with six live ammunition
* two mobile phones
* four cartridges of caliber 40, and
* one magazine of caliber .45 with ammunitions and two traps.

Vergara’s elder brother, Benjie, was earlier stabbed to death by suspect “Alias Teloy,” who used to be Degones’ driver, said Panit-an Police Chief Alcer Monsera.

The family of Vergara said they did not know about the victim’s return home. The younger Vergara’s death surprised them.

Vergara will be laid to rest tomorrow at the Panitan cemetery in Panitan, Capiz./PN

‘Fish kill in Pilar alarming’

BY FELIPE V. CELINO

ROXAS City — The loss of source of food and living among residents in Brgy. Dulangan, Pilar, Capiz has made the fish kill in a river near the village alarming, Vice Gov. Esteban Evan Contreras said.

Contreras said the villagers need assistance and that the situation must be prevented from happening again.

But before finding means to help the affected residents, the vice governor said they will first have to wait for the result of the investigation on the incident conducted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture (DA).

He also sought for a resolution stipulating the means on how to prevent the fish kill from happening again.

Contreras also said he will ask the barangay officials and the residents if they are amenable to holding out-of-town sessions so they can voice out their concerns.

NO MORE TO EAT
Last week, fisherfolks and local residents of the barangay sought compensation from the office of the governor.

In a four-page letter to Gov. Victor Tanco, Dulangan Barangay Captain Robinson Benigla said the people in his barangay have no more sources of living and food to eat.

Almost all the villagers led by the barangay captain signed the letter.

Folks from the barangay’s four sitios — Lahab, Bato-bato, Siha and Cantel — have fishing as their source of living.

Fishes and shells died because the river was allegedly contaminated with waste from the Capiz Sugar Central (CSC) in nearby President Roxas town.

However, an official of DA-Capiz said the fish kill in the river in Brgy. Dulangan was due to the river’s lack of oxygen.

TOXIN IN WATER
Contamination reduces oxygen levels in a water body, according to Audie Belargo, senior agriculturist of DA-Capiz. The river allegedly contained toxins.

An analysis was recently conducted on the water sample taken from the river in the village where the fish kill occurred.

The test revealed the presence of toxin in the river water, causing the death of even the smallest of the fishes there, Belargo said.

These toxins allegedly came from the garbage being dumped by the CSC into the river.

Benigla earlier said the molasses allegedly being dumped by the sugar central may have contaminated the river, adding that the river water already smelled of molasses.

But the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), in an earlier statement, expressed doubt that the fish kill was caused by the contamination of the river with molasses.

The low salinity of the river may have killed the fishes, Flora Mae Calmorin of the OPA earlier said./PN