Local Residents Go Head to Head Against TransCo

by TERENCE TORIANO

Nabas, Aklan – Local residents of Barangay Solido, Nabas, Aklan went head to head against electric power giant National Transmission Corporation on April 13, 2009, Monday. They demonstrated in front of an estimated 4-hectare wide agricultural land where the said company is set to build a facility.

The demonstration was led by Solido Brgy. Council members Ignacio Bandiola and Felix Dubrico, and residents living near the area of power facility.

Complaints of strong arm tactics, abuse of power, conflict of interest and deception are among the allegations made by residents against local officials from the barangay and the municipal levels.

A local resident who asked not to be identified complained of possible conflict of interest citing that SB member Maria Fe Lazaleta is one of the contractors for heavy equipment clearing the area.

The source added that TransCo officials used the attendance list of a meeting held sometime last year as so-called proof of the residents’ con-currence to the project.

A barangay employee who remains unnamed informed that a public hearing scheduled last April 3 has no or only few attended since the notice of the hearing only came on April 2. There was no apparent publication in the periodicals or radio announcements.

Another resident complained of a purported illegal "Special Permit for Clearing" issued by Vice Mayor James Solanoy to TransCo which according to a building official from another town may have violated the Building Code of the Philippines.

The clearing and alleged excavation on the site started on April 1, 2009 but stopped due to Holy Week. The land is not yet reclassified from agricultural to industrial land according to LGU-Nabas Compre-hensive Land Use Plan, but sources in the Nabas local government revealed that the reclassification was fast tracked. It has been reclassified on April 6, 2009 although publication in the newspaper is still to be made.
TransCo has began clearing the area and the alleged excavations according to some residents may have violated the already questionable Permit for Clearing given out by the Vice Mayor since Transco needed a Permit for Excavation to continue the diggings in the area.

One resident living in the vicinity related that it will be dangerous for them to live near the electric facility because it is only eight to 15 meters away from the residential houses. It is health hazard for resident living near a transmission or power plant. /MP