Senator Loren Legarda today expressed grave concern over the condition of various communities affected by the present weather disturbance that has caused massive flooding in many parts of Metro Manila and nearby provinces, and called on the government to make the nation’s laws work to avert disasters. Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change and author of several environmental laws, stressed that both the government and the citizenry should engage in heightened flood prevention measures and other disaster preparedness efforts. “Despite experiences of the past, flooding persists. Now we ask, was there declogging of esteros? Was garbage in open dumps collected? Were roads that needed repair done? Is flood control implemented? Are there updated flood warning protocols for dam water releases? With flooding comes sickness, loss of livelihood and chaos. Laws and policies are in place but when will the executive start implementing our laws and when will people follow laws enacted?” the Senator remarked. Legarda said that laws such as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (RA 9003), Clean Water Act (RA 9275), Climate Change Act of 2009 (RA 9729), and Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 (RA 10121), if fully implemented, are enough to avert the disasters that have been plaguing many parts of the country every time a natural hazard strikes. She added that with the present condition of communities in Metro Manila, the government should urgently undertake an NCR-wide clean up of drainage, waterways, and riverbanks; engage in more tree-growing activities; craft and implement comprehensive flood prevention and mitigation program in NCR; and create a program to address the problem of ground subsidence. “No to open dumps. We must clean esteros and canals, segregate garbage, plant trees on vacant lots and roadsides, relocate urban settlers living in vulnerable areas, do rainwater catchment basins so that water is stored during rains and used during dry season,” Legarda said. The Senator also stressed that agencies of government, particularly the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the Climate Change Commission (CCC), the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and all local government units (LGUs) should coordinate closely with one another for disaster prevention, effective disaster risk communication, and disaster response. “Government must make the National Climate Change Action Plan and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan work. Adopted more than a year ago, they should serve as blueprints in mainstreaming climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in the government’s plans and programs, from the national down to the local level, not just in paper but in practice,” she explained. “We now experience the ‘new norm’ and disaster response preparedness, such as warning and alert for evacuation, rescue and relief, can never be enough in this era of weather uncertainty brought by climate change,” Legarda concluded.

CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija, August 7, 2012-A top official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources whom police tagged along with a former municipal vice mayor as the brains behind the February 4 assassination of a sitting mayor and the wounding of his bodyguard has remained in his post, escapingg suspension by the DENR in Central Luzon.

Rafael Otic, DENR provincial environment and natural resources officer for Nueva Ecija, has not been suspended nor relieved from his post in spite of the gravity of the charges against him.

Maximo Dichoso, DENR regional executive director for Central Luzon, clarified, however, that he is not coddling Otic. He said the latter has not been relieved because he has not yet received a copy of the resolution of the Department of Justice indicting Otic for murder.

Otic and businessman Teodoro Ilagan, former vice mayor of Licab town, were both charged allegedly for killing Mayor Restituto Abad. Otic is the brother of Jose, who ran but lost to Abad in the 2010 elections. Another brother, Luvimindo, used to be a long-time mayor of the town.

          Ilagan also ran for mayor in Licab but lost to the incumbent Mayor Wilfredo Domingo.

          Dichoso said Otic can be relieved once the order from the DOJ has come out. “We have no other recourse but to relieve him. Murder, after all is a non-bailable offense,” he said.

The PACC and the Philippine National Police’s Intelligence Group filed before the Department of Justice murder and frustrated murder charges against Otic and Ilagan.

          Abad died five days later while undergoing treatment at the St. Luke’s Medical Center. Duclayan survived.

Chief Supt. Charles Calima, IG director, said Gov. Aurelio Umali put up a P1 million reward for any information leading to the arrest of Abad’s killers. This is on top of the P100,000 put up by Abad’s relatives.

          Lawmen were able to arrest one of the suspects, Jose Bernalin Pascual of Barangay Pagas, Cabanatuan, driver of the motorcycle ridden by the gunman Jonathan Carpio who shot Abad and Duclayan.

         

Judge Serafin Cruz of the Regional Trial Court Branch 86 based in this city issued a warrant for the arrest of Carpio who is also facing 12 counts of electric pilferage filed in 2007 and 2008 by the Cabanatuan Electric Corp.

          Carpio, 32, who carries the alias Atan was arrested by IG operatives led by deputy director for operations Senior Supt. Allen Bantolo and the PACC in Barangay Gulod, Novaliches, Quezon City last April 28 while allegedly casing his next target. He yielded a caliber .45 Armscor pistol used in killing Abad.

          Carpio has admitted to the crime and pointed to Ilagan as the one who hired him to assassinate Abad. He said it was Otic and Ilagan who gave him P300,000 as payment for killing Abad, some six days after the incident. The money was handed to him at the Gateway Mall in Cubao, Quezon City.

Ilagan surrendered to IG and Regional Mobile Group operatives but not after engaging them in a shootout in his house in Barangay San Cristobal, Licab last June 21 which led to the death of his security escort Lorenzo Bote, a retired police sergeant.

Ilagan yielded two caliber 45, a black 40 pistol and a handgrenade. He is now detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame.  (Manny Galvez)