BAYBAY CITY – Former Palompon, Leyte Mayor Myra Georgina Arevalo and her former municipal planning and development officer have been charged for alleged illegal issuance of a cease-and-desist order against DBSN Farms Agriventures Corp.
The case filed by DBSN on Thursday, December 28, before the Regional Trial Court Branch 14 here stemmed from her alleged denial to sign the renewal of the business permit of the breeder farm in Barangay San Joaquin on January 25, 2021, due to alleged environmental violations.
She likewise issued a cease-and-desist order on its operation on February 19, 2021, despite allegedly complying with all the statutory requirements.
"The closure made by Myra Georgina Laurente Arevalo was designed merely to harass the company for purely personal and political motives as she had singled out DBSN," the corporation said in a statement.
DBSN lawyer Gerentstein Banzon said the actions of the former local chief executive have resulted in the failure of DBSN to deliver fertilized eggs for hatching to other facilities owned by San Miguel Corp.
"Based on the contract of San Miguel and DBSN, DBSN was obliged to pay and has in fact paid P110 million in terms of penalties. DBSN has also suffered a loss of income in the amount of P84 million with total damage of P195,252,970.913," Banzon said.
A Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and Preliminary Injunction (PI) were later issued by the Palompon Regional Trial Court Branch 17 which upheld that DBSN has the right to continue the chicken breeder farm operations.
DBSN further claimed that the actions of the respondents caused irreversible deprivation of a major food source of over 33,600 tons of chicken meat in the region.
"Chicken meat is the preferred meat source in Region 8. The actions of Arevalo and Pastor caused irreversible deprivation of a major food source of over 33,600 metric tons of chicken meat in the region," it said.
"To put into context, the total chicken meat requirement in Region 8 alone is approximately 64,000 tons of chicken meat, more than half of that chicken meat requirement was sourced outside of Region 8 because of the illegal acts of Arevalo and Pastor when it could have been easily sourced here in the region."