Saturday, January 22, 2011

Bureau ofImmigration and its red tape

Last November 16, 2010 my lawyer filed a motion for the dismissal of a harassment case filed against me. The judge denied the motion and gave the complainant two months to prove her case since the judge believed her alibi that she was abroad before the scheduled hearing and was not able to make it on the said trial date.

We wrote a letter to the NBI to help us know the whereabouts of the complainant but they referred us to the Bureau of Immigration here in Baguio. We made a similar request letter addressed to the regional office of the Bureau headed by Mr. Ricardo Dl. Gabochan, after more than two weeks we followed up the request. He verbally told us that they made verification if Flores Silo was out of the country on the dates specified and told us that Ms. Silo never went out of the country as claimed.

We ask the good office of Mr. Ricardo Dl Gabochan to give us a certification since it is already known that indeed silo never went out of the country on the aforementioned dates. He said that he can only give the verbal information since it is the national office that is task to give out certifications involving these matters. We made a follow up verbal request but the answer is the same.

After a week last January 7 2010 I went down to the main office of the Bureau of Immigration in manila. I brought with me a received copy of our request to the regional office. When I inquired regarding issuance of certifications, I was given a form to fill up; the regional office in Baguio did not have a form similar to this. I was then directed to submit the accomplished form at window 17. I was advised by the staff that I will follow it up after a week by calling OIC Ronaldo P. Ledesma at Tel. no.527-5380 or see him at his office at Rm. 423. I went again to window 12 and told the employee that the regional office had made a research and the subject mentioned in the request is p0sitively still in the country and if there is a way I can talk to the officer concerned because it is another expense of time and money if I will come back after a week. The employee just told me he is following orders and never bothered to listen to me. I ask him how much the amount to be paid for the said certification is and he told me its more than 1000.00 pesos. I almost fainted after hearing him. I scraped my lunch to save on expenses and the confiscatory fees demanded cramped my stomach. One week is too long to wait at this time where we can locate things and persons in a few minutes with just a few clicks.

I left window 12 and went to the office of OIC Ledesma to explain my predicament but to my surprise you have to talk to several persons before you can see a glimpse of the director. I tried to explain again the findings of Mr. Gabochan but instead the secretary or whatever cordoned sanitair bluntly told me to come back after a week. I explained to her I came from Baguio city and I would like to maximize my time I explained to her patiently the facts I gathered from their regional office but she just told me to come back after a week period. If only the regional office accommodated my request I would have earned cash to pay my tax instead of wasting my time and money at the national office of the Bureau of immigration.

Lastly the Bureau of Immigration is collecting 500 pesos as an additional for express transaction in addition to the regular charge but it’s not worth it. It is not functional as the word express connotes.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Ghost Reforestation Project of Mountain Province


That in the year 2006 the Asian Development Bank provided a grant and soft loan to the Philippine government to address the environmental concerns and livelihood programs of Mountain Province, particularly Barangay Maligcong. This multimillion peso - worth project was jointly implemented by Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource Management Project (CHARMP), an NGO, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

That in the process of its implementation, corrupt practices (as stipulated below) were discovered by concerned residents of Barangay Maligcong. On April 2006, these concerned residents decided to come out and sign affidavits confirming that indeed there were gross violations of the law, specifically the Anti-graft Law.

The concerned citizens who submitted affidavits are the following:

1. Jefrey Pursen

2. Thomas Sadcopen

3. William Todcor

4. Agustin Choykawen

5. Rosita Cobsilen

6. Brigitt Imperial

7. Elisa Carlos

That in the same year, the complainants decided to report the case to the DENR authorities. They asked the help of the Northern Luzon Coalition of Good Governance (NLCGG) who provided the technical group to help the complainants determine the extent of the reforestation projects, the Social Action and Development Center (SADC), and a surveyor as part of a monitoring body against graft and corruption.

During the ocular inspection of the sites, contrary to the claim by the barangay captain and his cohorts including the DENR, the following were discovered and confirmed:

1) That areas planted were too small compared to the actual areas developed and planted. In Sitio Pokipok alone (one area out of eight project sites that were surveyed by Mr. John Escher from Switzerland), more or less 5 hectares were planted, but the DENR and the barangay counterpart declared the project area as more than 50 hectares. The other six project places - Angtungfaw, Pudlak, Lidchan, Matu-un, Filig, Chatar, and Locutan are all misdeclared and bloated as well.

2) Coffee plantation projects as claimed by the accused at sitio Lakipan and amfomotngor are nonexistent.

3) Nurseries were seen to be still containing thousands of withered and stunted pine seedlings. A total of 9 pine nurseries were discovered in all.

4) Bunkhouses and guardhouses were only makeshift shanties contrary to the project specification.

5) Already existing trails used by residents since time immemorial were declared as the 1 meter by 7 kilometer pathway connecting the different project sights.

6) Worst among the entire claim was that the naturally growing pine trees were declared as planted by the group of Herman Farnican.

The mountains of Maligcong do not need replanting; it only needs protection from illegal loggers and forest fires.

6) The livelihood component of the project, which is citrus - growing whereby the beneficiaries were given citrus seedlings to plant in their lands, were not successful as most of the seedlings were not distributed and allowed to die. The beneficiaries were never trained technically to take care of these special plants since they are only introduced species in the locality. The overall result of the livelihood component was a failure. Thomas Sadcopen, the caretaker of the citrus nursery, was never paid in full. Because of this, he filed an administrative case against the accused. Up to the present, no payment was made and no administrative sanctions were promulgated.

During the last phase of the project, two representatives of the Asian Development Bank came to Maligcong to see and verify the reforestation project, but it is getting dark during that time so it is impossible to make a practical and independent evaluation. The complainants met the ADB representatives and wanted to tell them that the project they were trying to evaluate was almost nonexistent. There was a discussion, but these foreigners were convinced beforehand that the project existed, as said by the barangay captain and the DENR.

That a complaint was submitted to the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) and it was never acted upon. They scheduled appointments with the complainants to thresh out the differences but none ever took place because they wanted to isolate the complainants and to deal with them individually.

That the complainants reported to the municipal government of Bontoc the abuses of the barangay captain of Maligcong, Mr. Herman Farnican. The complainants had an audience with the municipal council, but it resulted in exculpating Mr. Farnican. This was understandable since he was a member of the municipal council as ABC president and he was their colleague, notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence of graft and corruption against him. This prompted the complainants and the witnesses to seek redress from the DENR Regional Office in Baguio City.

That during those instances of meeting with the regional official headed by the Regional Director, Nicanor Sapla, we were ignored despite our open manifestations. Any succeeding attempts of communication through text messages and e-mails which were never answered.

That attempts were made to get the attention of the then DENR Secretary Mike Defensor through the intervention of Executive Secretary Silvestry Affable, but the instructions of the DENR secretary to the lower offices simply went to naught.

That as a result of much ado without nothing and a waste of the complainant’s time and money, the decision to file an administrative and criminal case was made to the ombudsman in the hope that the complainants will be heard. They wanted to clear matters and prove that there really existed a ghost project in Maligcong committed by the Barangay Captain Herman Farnican, DENR Director Nicanor Sapla, and their cohorts.

That the Ombudsman docketed the case and nothing happened from the filing of the case docket no. OMB-L-A-06-0378-E at the office of the Ombudsman in Manila.

That we made twelve trips to Manila from 2006 up to 2009 t to follow-up the case at the Office of the Ombudsman. We were aided by National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG) of the University of the Philippines and De La Salle University but still to no avail. A classic case of “justice delayed is justice denied.”

That in the process of collating our reports as of the present after five years of inaction by the government agencies concerned, the complainants began to suspect one another that maybe one or two of them were bought and now sided with the barangay captain and the DENR so that the case never prospered.

Additional references regarding the ghost projects:

1) NLCGG, through the president Pura Sumangil

2) SADC ,through Fr. Val Democ

3) Complainants, through William Todcor

4) UP - NCPAG

5) De La Salle Institute of Good Governance

6) Internet publications

7) Posted by Peden at 2:41 AM 0 comments


8) Letters and etc.

fitley pursen

Dear William,

Be informed that this morning a legal officer and a forester from the Central DENR has interviewed me regarding our joint complaint on reforestation. According to them their office was task by the ombudsman to investigate our complaints.

They wish to get your comments but I told them that you are in Baguio. According to them, we are given 30 days starting today to answer their questions regarding our complaints. I then gave your cellphone number as a means of contacting you or see them at the central DENR office. I tried to give them your e-mail address but they are not interested in it because their office is not connected to internet.

There is a question from them that I need to tell you; “sino ang tomotolong sa inyo sa pagprepare ng inyong complaints at saan niyo ginagawa ang pagprepare ng inyong complaints”. For the former question, I told them that no one except us three complainants and Thomas Sadcopen, and for the later question, I told them that we usually prepare our complaints at my house. With this questions, we need to have the same answer. The rest of the question is up to you but of course to the best interest of our complaints. They seem to be looking for a means of downgrading the weight of our complaints.

Jeffrey


william todcor

did you tell atty claver of this interview> pls tell me his response before I...

11/29/07

fitley pursen

> Dear William, > since Atty. Claver became vice Governor, he is always busy....

11/29/07

to fitley

ok I will try thanks!

Masahuri Osaki, a Japanese national tried to help by informing ADB (Asian Development Bank) of the graft and corruption.(no result)

Prepared by:

William L. Todcor