CEBU CITY – Criminal charges were filed against the mayor of Mandaue City, Cebu for allegedly approving the cutting of mangroves in one of the barangays in the city.
CHARGES were filed against Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes and two other city officials for the cutting of mangrove trees in Barangay Paknaan, Mandaue City. (File photo)
Aside from Mayor Jonas Cortes, two other city officials, Jamaal James Calipayan, city administrator, and Buddy Alain Ybañez, head of the City Risk Reduction Management Office, were also charged.
They were charged for allegedly violating Republic Act (RA) 7161, a law that prohibits cutting of mangroves and forest products, RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Practices Act, grave misconduct, and conduct unbecoming of public officials.
Private complainant Maria Priscilla Melendres, a resident of Barangay Lahug, Cebu City, filed the charges on April 11 before the Office of the Ombudsman in Quezon City.
“I am filing this complaint against the above-named public respondents because of their unlawful acts of damaging our environment, specifically the illegal cutting of mangroves in violation of the law; for manifest bias and partiality, and violation of my property right since the illegal cutting and destruction of mangroves and forestland was done beside my property in Pakna-an, Mandaue City,” Melendres said in her affidavit-complaint.
Melendres said excavation activities started near her property on November 17, 2022.
She said she had filed a complaint against BNR Construction and Development Corp., the lessor of the heavy equipment that conducted the digging of several mangroves.
The complaint was filed before the Mandaue City Prosecutor’s Office.
Melendres said the complaint against BNR was dismissed on grounds that the dredging project was authorized and approved by the city government of Mandaue.
She filed another complaint over the same issue but this time, Cortes and the two other city officials were already named as respondents.
In her complaint, Melendres cited the counter-affidavit of BNR Construction President Roger Hsia, who stated that the cutting of mangroves was authorized by the mayor.
Melendres added that officials from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources saw the digging and cutting of mangroves when they conducted an inspection in the area.
After the inspection, Melendres said the DENR issued a Notice of Violation on November 23, 2022 ordering Hsia to stop the dredging activities.
Melendres added that while Cortes approved the cutting of mangroves in Paknaan, the city’s Mangrove Protection Governing Board denied the request of District Engineer Daisy Toledo of the Department of Public Works and Highways-Central Visayas to cut 17 mangrove trees to clear the outfall of Mahiga Creek in Barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue.
In denying the request, the board said the mangroves have not blocked the natural flow of water at the Mahiga Creek and even served as a filter for solid and liquid wastes coming from the upstream that helps prevent further polluting the Mactan Channel.
The board also cited several laws that prohibit cutting of mangroves.
“The acts of the City Mayor are clearly tainted with bias and manifest partiality. How come he approved and authorized the cutting of mangroves in Barangay Paknaan on May 31, 2022, but denied the request of Engr. Daisy B. Toledo raising the same grounds and reasons?” said Melendres.