Butuan City Hall press conference turned into blaming session as heated argument ensued

by Ben Serrano

July 29, 2009

BUTUAN CITY- The press conference called by sickly Butuan City Mayor Democrito Daiyon Plaza , II yesterday has turned into blaming session among invited government officials and personalities after supreme tribal chieftain Roger Patanao urged Butuan City Water District General Manager Anselmo Sangtian to resign if proven there was no mining activity in Butuan City side of Taguibo Watershed areas.

The recuperating Butuan City Mayor who has just returned from Davao Hospital after being rushed there due to serious kidney ailment called the 10 a.m. press conference held at Mayor’s Conference Room attended by almost all concerned government agencies.

Sangtian stood up and responded to seemingly angry Patanao who challenged him to resign and told the large audience while there is no mining activity in Butuan City side of the watershed there is an illegal road construction being allegedly initiated by Patanao.

Sangtian explained the illegal road rehabilitation as said logging road already existed even before it was declared by then President Ramos as Forest Reserve Watershed Area has no government permit and even if it has government permit under law no one is even allowed to cut trees inside a declared watershed area how much more disturbing the ecosystems by constructing a road.

Sangtian said that illegal mining activities were being done in Barangay San Antonio, RTR town in Agusan del Norte. The road construction in Butuan side will be allegedly used as service road for the mining activities, he said.

Patanao stood up and in raised voice angrily said it is indigenous people’s rights to develop their area to make it productive citing Indigenous People’s Rights Act or IPRA law as the indigenous people in Agusan del Norte have been neglected over the years.

Cooler heads prevailed as the two in near shouting match continued defending themselves as DENR Caraga, EMB, MGB, CENRO and other government officials headed by Regional Executive Director Edilberto Buiser just listened to the heated argument.

The Taguibo watershed is one of the critical watersheds in Caraga that was declared as Forest Reserve by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 1076 issued by then President Fidel V. Ramos on September 4, 1997.

It covers a total area of 4,364 hectares for protection and conservation under the public domain of the City of Butuan and Municipalities of RTR and Cabadbaran in the province of Agusan del Norte .

Earlier, concerned students of Fr. Saturnino Urios University formed Save Taguibo Watershed Network hoping to put an end in the watershed controversy.

Joint government investigation result showed there were massive destruction activities in said watershed areas.

Last June 15, 2009, government composite team composed mostly of national government agencies’ regional offices like the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP), National Economic and Development Authority or NEDA, DENR, MGB, Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), Butuan City Government’s Environment office, CENRO-Butuan, the Catholic-led Caraga Conference for Peace and Development (CCPD) and others penned an initial report claiming there is indeed traces of illegalities done inside Taguibo Watershed areas.

The team vowed to hold post meetings together with their respective regional directors but aleegdly it failed to reconvene again for reasons they themselves only knew.

In the latest composition of composite government team, representatives from NCIP failed to show up or did not send their representative(s).

This morning various reactions from public including reactions from different environmental watch group called for resignations of all government officials who attended the City hall press conference saying they all missed the point claiming that even cutting twigs inside government declared watershed area is declared a crime, illegal.

“They seem don’t know what the watershed law says or they just seem to ignore playing dumb and fools, in other countries like the United States or Europe, they consider their watershed areas as sacred because it is the source of their potable water, anyone who destroy it go to jail if found guilty”, environmentalist groups added.

In Surigao City , they added, no less than Surigao City Mayor Alfonso Casurra personally went to the Surigao City watershed when information reached his office illegal cutting and mining activities has started in the area.

According to multi-agency government reports illegalities have started in the Taguibo watershed area late 2005.