Comelec vs drugs is OK; what about corruption?

Often due to space constraints, we often miss writing about some important issues. One such issue I forgot to write about came out in the column "Takin’ Care of Business" of our brother Babe Romualdez last Tuesday. This was about the Panglao Marine Biodiversity Project by a group of volunteers led by Frenchman Philippe Bouchet, who found around 250 new crustacean species and 2,500 new mollusks, which have yet to be validated. These rare finds have been turned over to the National Museum.

Yes, a few weeks ago, we read this story in the newspaper and it was also featured on television, that the National Museum proudly displayed those rare finds in the waters of Panglao Island. This brings us to the question…. how many Boholanos can afford to go to the National Museum to see those rare crustaceans or mollusks? In Manila, it is an easy bus or jeepney ride for the students there to appreciate the wonders and beauty of our eco-diversity. I’ve been to the museum many times and it’s always empty.

This has always been the fight of most Filipinos living south of Manila against the practices of Imperial Manila… that sucks up everything they can find as they continue to insist that Manila is the Philippines and the Philippines is still Manila. For instance, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) brings all the diverse cultural dances throughout the country for only the Metro Manilans to enjoy, as there are no other cultural centers outside Manila. This is why my good friend, activist-director Behn Cervantes, told my TV audience a couple of years ago that the CCP was a mistake, that we should have cultural centers in all the major regions of the country.

This is a challenge to Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado to keep the tourists flocking to Bohol by setting up a museum of their own… that’s if they don’t have one. Such rare undersea finds ought to be displayed in the very place they were found… not in faraway Manila where no one cares for museums. The people of Bohol must be made to understand that rare species of undersea creatures do bring a lot of tourists into our shores.

Donsol, Sorsogon is the best example, where the people themselves have become the protectors of the gentle whale shark (butanding). I’m sure that even the poorest of fishermen would be awed when they find these rare marine creatures swimming in the seas where they live… and thus, it is easier for environmentalists to convince those fishermen not to use dynamite and other illegal fishing methods.

As Babe Romualdez aptly put it: "We have 7,100 islands in this country, and one could not even begin to imagine the number of undiscovered species living in the rich ocean wildlife surrounding these islands. This new discovery should give us all the more reason to protect our resources from dynamite fishers and most especially poachers who have built a thriving business selling endangered aquatic animals. The recent find underscores the need to protect and preserve our marine ecosystem – a precious inheritance from Mother Nature."

I’m glad that our Manila-based columnists like Babe have seen the light to help in the fight to preserve and restore our great marine ecosystem. Cebuanos led by environmental lawyer Antonio Oposa have always been in the forefront to preserve the Visayan Sea Triangle so that someday, our children’s children would still have a bountiful harvest from our seas.

* * *

All political candidates are required by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to submit themselves to a drug test so we can be sure that the politician we vote is not a drug addict. I fully agree with this election proviso. However, Filipino voters ought to remind the Comelec that drug addiction among our elective national or local government officials is still a rarity. What the Comelec ought to look into is rampant corruption that has continued unabated until today. Surely our Comelec can find ways to prevent elective officials who have a string of corruption cases from running again.

A week ago we wrote about the case of Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo who was allegedly taking bribes from businessmen securing business or occupancy permits from his office. This case has now blossomed into a P50-million suit filed by Richard King for destroying a leased foreshore property which he bought from Ben Ebrada a few years ago.

I interviewed Ebrada and he showed me documents, which were permits signed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for his environmental compliance certificate (ECC). Ask anyone who has tried to secure an ECC and he’ll tell you that it is the most difficult document to obtain from the government. If you get one, that truly means you are on your way. But alas, this is not the case in Bo. Agus, Mactan.

But last Feb. 9, having failed to secure a mayor’s permit, the property of Ebrada in Barangay Agus, Mactan now owned by Richard King was demolished upon the orders of Mayor Radaza. Feb. 9 was a Friday. By Feb. 11, the demolition was completed. What took Ebrada years to riprap and develop took the boys of the mayor only three days to destroy. Why all the sudden haste?

If the DENR had issued an ECC to this leased foreshore property, could this be ignored if it lacked a mayor’s permit? But like I’ve said, it did have a mayor’s permit, signed no less than Mayor Radaza himself, which, of course, expires after a year. One more thing, we know that government people do not work on weekends. I was quite taken aback to hear that the demolition of this property was done over the weekend. Was there an eminent danger that Mayor Radaza saw that the demolition had to be done as soon as possible?

Mactan, as some of you may already know, is littered with foreshore leases, some of which probably do not even have an ECC and do threaten the environment. Yet none of these structures were considered to be under threat by the mayor. Is it because the owners of these structures "paid" the mayor’s office to keep them from being destroyed?

Late last year, the International Academy of Film and Television (IAFT) put up a sign which read "This Project is Cancelled." This was because its owner, Michael Gleissner, was also denied his permits. Was he also a victim of bribery? Perhaps, it is time for Gleissner to speak up. It is not only foreigners who hate corruption; we Filipinos, too, abhor it. But someone has to expose corruption the way Richard King has done.

* * *

For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.