WE continue our series on the alleged abuses of Mayor Ramon Oñate to opposition members of Palompon town. Last time, we featured the problem of Kag. Guillerma V. Campos of Brgy. Rizal whose store at the public market for 20 years was closed and torn down by municipal officials under the mayor’s orders.
Not contented, Mayor Oñate aimed his wrath at the barangay kagawad’s son Leonides Campos who runs a water refilling business which was ordered closed also through an order the latter received on July 19, 2010. The haste by which the order was issued is noticeable considering the sanitary inspection on his establishment was done only seven days before on July 12.
Sanitary Inspector (SI) Aileen Suan ordered Campos to comply all required documents including an operational permit from the Department of Health (DOH) so that he will be issued a sanitary permit. It should be noted that did not recommend the closure of the business but which Mayor Oñate did.
Campos submitted the requirements on Oct. 22 but on Nov. 2, he was required through a letter from Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator (MPDC) Engr. Isagani A. Jaena to also secure a water permit from the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) which was not included in the checklist issued by the MPDC.
Mayor Oñate used force on Nov. 1, a holiday when three policemen led impounded Campos’s Kia pickup vehicle used in delivering purified water. The driver and his helper were taken to the station where he heard Insp. Margarito A. Salaño blurt on the phone “Meyor, dia na inyong order!”
Campos’s kagawad mother (whose store will also be closed on Jan. 1, 2011, also a holiday) went to the station to rescue their workers. There, she talked to Engr. Jaena on the phone who supposedly told her that the apprehension was ordered by the mayor and they should just wait for his decision.
In his letter dated Dec. 1, Engr. Jaena told Campos that he found out that all water refilling stations in Palompon are in violation of PD 1067 instituting the water code, and for this reason, he has required all refilling water stations to secure a water permit from NWRB.
Campos inquired from DOH and NWRB if this was true but both agencies denied receiving applications for operational permit and water permit, respectively from any other water refilling stations. The DOH in particular said it is not easy to secure an operational permit because there are so many documentary requirements and operational matters to comply with.
There are six other similar businesses in Palompon that continue to operate. Campos cries political vendetta in his complaint to the Ombudsman. “My family and I are being handpicked with hostility by the incumbent Mayor Ramon Oñate and his political cohorts including Municipal Administrator, Mr. Emmanuel Laurente, who would usually name-drop the mayor when he is before us,” he said in his complaint. “Our businesses have been starkly chosen, forced to close through schemes using his power abusively with the vivid purpose of making us genuflect to him.” by Felix N. Codilla III
(Issue of Oct. 10-16, 2011)
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