11/06/2014
Guimaras PENRO sacked ‘for doing his job’
Date posted: June 11, 2014
BY SAENA HOPE TOREMA
JORDAN, Guimaras – Available documents indicate that the previous head of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO), Jesse Vego, was booted out of office by the regional director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Jim Sampula, on May 22, 2014 due to political pressure.
A reliable source (name withheld) at the Guimaras provincial capitol revealed yesterday that Sampulna had sacked Vego – replacing him with an officer-in-charge, Vicente Sardina – “for doing his job,” in compliance with the wish of Cong. Rahman Nava, using an unsigned and undated Sangguniang Panlalawigan resolution, Resolution No. 102, declaring Vego “persona non grata” as basis.
The resolution, promulgated only the other day, June 9 – and already with the belatedly-affixed signatures of Gov. Samuel Gumarin, Vice Gov. Vicente de Asis and Sangguniang Panlalawigan secretary Lorena Itucas – was hewn from the regular session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) on May 14, 2014, blaming Vego for writing a letter to Mark L. Lapid, chief operating officer of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).
In that letter dated March 17, 2014, Vego asked Lapid why TIEZA office had cut 10 Gmelina trees and excavated limestones at the Dagsaan Ecopark to pave the way for construction of a swimming pool without any clearance from DENR, which has jurisdiction over said forest land. That clearance is a requirement, since it is a forest land under the administrative jurisdiction of DENR.
SP member Jose Edward Gando, on the other hand, said the letter was an embarrassment to Cong. Nava who had worked for the funding of P5 million from TIEZA for the construction of a swimming pool inside the project now commonly known as the Dagsaan Eco-Park in Dagsaan, Buenavista, Guimaras.
As of press time, Lapid has not replied to Vego’s letter despite assurance from his assistant chief operating officer, Guiller Asido, that they would issue an official statement within 10 days, counting from May 13, 2014.
Panay News learned that Gando had bluffed the SP into believing that Vego’s predecessor, Oscar Oliveros, had inked an agreement with the local government of Buenavista, Guimaras for the construction of the swimming pool in the area. There was no such document.
Meanwhile, concerned officials of the Society of Filipino Foresters (SFF) nationwide vowed to question the “conspiracy between the local government and the DENR regional director” in constructing the swimming pool in a forest land without any requisite instrument issued by the DENR; and to hold SP officials answerable for smearing the name of a PENRO official treading the tuwid na daan.
This paper tried to interview Vego for his side, but he begged off for a later date./PN
