(Second of four parts)
IN A NUTSHELL
- Nine years, nine letters to two village chiefs, three mayors, two councilors, one CHO personnel
- Residents claim most of the letters went unanswered
A string of unanswered letters
BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – Over a period of nine years, hundreds of residents in the residential subdivision of JJ Gonzaga sent a total of letter-complaints to officials here, from the punong baragay (village chief), two councilors, city health officials, three mayors, and even the owner of a construction firm they have been complaining against.
They claimed most did not act on their complaints.
Or even replied.
Over the past nine years, the residents wrote to the following:
- Leonardo Suansing, then Mansilingan village chief, 1 December 2011
- Lolamae Gebusion, City Health Office Sanitation Inspector, 15 October 2015
- Acting Mayor Greg Gasataya, 19 November 2012 (first letter)
- Acting Mayor Greg Gasataya, 18 January 2016 (follow up letter)
- Jerry Sy, president and chief executive officer, Silver Dragon Construction Corporation,
- Councilor Carlos Jose Lopez, chairman of the Sangguniang Pnlungsod’s committee on environment and ecology, 27 July 2020
- Councilor Archie Baribar, chairman of the committee on urban planning and general services, 27 July 2020
- Mayor Evelio Leonardia, 3 August 2020
- Rodolfo Pico, Mansilingan village chief, 3 August 2020
Representatives of the residents who spoke to DNX said they also sent a letter to then Mayor Monico Puentevella but no copy of it was made available.
Of the nine letters, only those sent to Lopez, Gasataya, and Leonardia were stamped as officially “received” by their respective offices.
In their five-page letter to Leonardia, four pages of which are names and signatures of residents, they asked Leonardia for his “legal opinions and other appropriate actions on this matter as we could no longer bear the noise and other environmental problems created by this company.”
In their other letters, the residents sought the action of officials over their complaints, similar to the original complaints they have brought to the attention of Gebusion. (READ: Nine years of laments: How residential subdivision dwellers endured alleged pollution from a construction firm)
LETTER TO JERRY SY
In their 25 July letter to Sy, the residents requested the Silver Dragon CEO and president to “CEASE all disturbing/annoying and potentially health-threatening activities and all other activities not conducive in thus residential area.”
Tomorrow: officials respond to DNX over residents’ complaints
