The Office of the Ombudsman has recommended charges against two officials of the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR) and three other private individuals for allegedly cutting mangrove trees to install power transmission lines and towers in the province.
In a statement released Sunday, Acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro said his office has upheld criminal complaints earlier dismissed by the Puerto Princesa Prosecutors Office against NAPOCOR President Cyril del Callar and project manager Romualdo Consigna for violation of Republic Act 8550 (Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998).
Casimiro said the officials will be charged before the Sandiganbayan after the Ombudsman’s Preliminary Investigation and Administrative Adjudication Bureau found testimonies from local environment officials as “sufficient proof" that Consigna and Del Callar “did not oppose nor reject the illegal cutting and conversion" of the mangrove area.
The complaint was filed by Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn after 12,000 square meters of mangrove area in Barangay Lucbuan were cleared in May 2008 to give way to NAPOCOR's facilities.
Also ordered charged were Harold Laureta, Francisco Madera and Russel Ferrer—all from S.L. Development Construction Corporation—who the Ombudsman found to have “caused the cutting of the mangrove trees and were present during the seizure of the 1,102 pieces of bakawan (mangrove) timber."
Section 94 of RA 8550 prohibits the conversion of mangrove areas into “fishponds or for any other purposes." A person who will be found guilty of violating this provision shall be punished with six-year imprisonment and a fine of P80,000. — Andreo Calonzo and Bea Cupin
