Padaca renews war vs illegal logging,jueteng

BY JOAN CAPUNA

ILAGAN, Isabela – Gov. Grace Padaca has renewed here commitment against illegal gambling and illegal logging during her second three-year term as governor of the country’s third largest province.

Saying now is the time for Isabelanos to unite against the evils of society, Padaca, vowed to pursue her campaign to wipe out these “menaces to society” with more persistence now that she had successfully bagged her second term, which many had doubted she would be able to achieve.

“It is not up to every Apo Isabelino to be one with us in our drive against jueteng and illegal logging,” said Padaca.

She said such drive was not her sole priority but part of a greater blueprint to ensure the development of this country’s major rice and corn-producing province.

Jueteng continued to proliferate throughout the province during Padaca’s term, despite her persistent effort to stamp it out.

For some consolation, however, the illegal lottery had stopped for a year during the earlier part of her first term, but it went back with a vengeance the following year.

Now, jueteng has practically covered all the province’s 34 towns, including two cities, with its operation divided into among the four congressional districts, and with jueteng operators.

While jueteng is slowly making a comeback in most of the Luzon provinces following the elections, its operations her has become more widespread. In Santiago City , sources said there were even two jueteng operators.

“Just imagine it, if both operators hold draws three times a day, with a minimum bet of one peso per bettor, you could see that they raking hundred of thousands daily,” the sources said.

Earlier, Senior Supt. Dominador Aquino, provincial police director, admitted they were unable to pay attention to jueteng, because of the elections and political tensions brought about by the prolonged failure of the poll body to proclaim the winning gubernatorial candidate immediately.

Meanwhile, illegal logging continued to exist in the province, although it was significantly minimized during Padaca’s first term, wherein more than P150,000 board feet of illegally sawn numbers were confiscated.

For its part, the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources here also strengthened its campaign against illegal logging. Besides seizing thousands of illegally-cut tree species, it is also filed cases against groups and individuals involved in illegal logging activities.

“Our campaign against illegal cutting of trees is as relentless as ever. We don’t mind whoever gets hurt in our campaign to totally rid the province from illegal cutting of trees and other related illegal activities,” said forester Felix Taguba, provincial environment and natural resources officer.

In her recent second inaugural address, Padaca said her re-election was a signal for her administration to “seal the liberation of the province” from all forms of social menace and to ensure that the gains of the past three years would be firmly put in place.

“During the campaign, they were comparing me with my opponent (former three-term Gov. Benjamin Dy) and comparing what I had achieved in three with he had done in 12 years,” said Padaca, whose proclamation last week also coincided with the end of her first term due to the election cases filed by her gubernatorial rival.

Dy is the younger brother of former governor Faustino Dy Jr., whom Padaca also defeated in the 2004 elections.

Besides fighting illegal logging and jueteng, Padaca also vowed to improve further the living conditions of the thousands of farmers here through stable market prices and steady production of rice, corn and other corps, as well as fishery resources.

She said she would also further enhance livelihood programs, health and education concerns and other development opportunities for her more than one-million constituents.