LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Mayor Edna C. Tabanda branded the recent charges filed against her before the Office of the Ombudsman by a local developer as politically motivated, saying that she will face her accusers squarely without fear.
The Cordillera Homes St. Francis Association recently filed charges of grave abuse of authority and grave misconduct against Tabanda before the Ombudsman because of her previous acts of repeatedly stopping the on-going earthmoving activities of the developer despite having completed their documentary requirements.
The local chief executive said while the filing of the complaint is wrongly timed and obviously tainted with politics, she has no recourse but to face the charges coupled with the presentation of sufficient pieces of evidence to justify her actions of stopping the construction activities of the local developer.
It was learned that the local developer is putting up a multi-million subdivision at Windy Hills, Buyagan which is reportedly a project of government workers that are members of the homeowners association.
The organization alleged that TTabanda erred in issuing four stoppage orders against their construction and earthmoving activities because their pertinent documents were already complete, particularly the mandatory environmental compliance certificate from the environment department, and a report from the multisectoral monitoring committee that their activities passed the standards.
However, Tabanda alleged the developer failed to comply with the basic requirements of its building permit which is the submission of the mandatory soil test and that their earthmoving activities had been the subject of frequent complaints by affected residents whose watershed and sources of water had been contaminated by the debris coming from the said site being developed by the housing developer.
ON the allegation that Tabanda requested the Pag-Ibig Fund not to release the remaining balance of fP231 million from the group loan of the beneficiaries for the project that resulted to unwarranted delays, the municipal mayor branded such accusation as misinformation because it was the management of Pag-Ibig itself that took the initiative of requesting hire office to provide the same with a copy of the closure orders and that she is not interested whether or not the funding agency would continue providing the funds for the questionable project.
Tabanda is optimistic that the Office of the Ombudsman will appreciate the pieces of evidence of both parties and would find the complaint against her without basis and in the end would dismiss the aforesaid case considering that she was just exercising her duties and responsibilities to prevent further damages to the watershed in the place which has been affected by the construction activities of the local housing developer.
By Dexter A. See