BAGUIO CITY -- No bail may be allowed by the Sandiganbayan
in the forest destruction case filed by the Dept. of Environment and Natural
Resources against Rep. Nicasio Aliping
Jr. and three public works contractors once their trial commences.
This was stated in a
manifestation with motion addressed to Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Gerard
Mosquera, environmental ombudsman, by
the DENR Cordillera Administrative Regional Office dated April 27, 2016
“because of the non-stop development in the area claimed by Respondent Aliping,
(who) even with the effectivity of a Temporary Environment Protection Order,
blatantly, arrogantly, completely and crassly defied the said TEPO which was
issued by members of the highest court of the land sitting en banc.”
In the TEPO issued by
the Supreme Court, Aliping “and those acting for and in his behalf (were
ordered) to cease and desist from performing acts to develop or enhance the
property located at Mount Santo Tomas Forest Reserve which the said respondent
claims to be his and/or his brother’s, which acts include improving the old
building standing on the land, building any structure thereon, continuing with
the road opening activities, concreting any part of the road, and for the said
respondent to immediately take steps to mitigate the contamination of the
Amliang dams due to the erosion emanating from his road opening activity.”
The DENR-CAR, after
counting that 306 trees and 455 saplings were destroyed in the excavation of
the 2.6-km road leading to Aliping’s claimed property when discovered on April
15, 2014, valued the damages done there at over P10.3-milllion.
Despite Aliping’s
claim that he has tax declarations covering his claimed property there, the
DENR-CAR disproved it when they disclosed that a “perusal of the records will
reveal that respondent Aliping has no tax declarations covering his alleged
claim within Mount Santo Tomas Forest Reserve. The DENR maintains that records
disclose that his claimed tax declarations identified as ARP Nos. 99-001-05853
and 99-001-05854 are not in his name, but in the names of Rosalie Leistner and
the late Felimon Coyupan, respectively.
“Respondent Aliping
likewise admitted that he purchased the property from a German couple, Andreas
and Rosalie Leistner, and it is of public knowledge in Baguio City and Benguet
Province that the German husband has been ordered arrested for violations of
Republic Acts 9262 (Violence against Women and their Children) and 7610 (Child
Abuse), (after being) believed to have sired 11 children by three Filipino
women (who all lived in that same house located at Mount Santo Tomas, Tuba,
Benguet). And while the German husband is now unaccounted for, some people,
including Respondent Aliping, have been claiming ownership over his declared
property.
“Respondent Aliping’s
claim of the sale in his favor of the subject properties is noticeably and
glaringly without proof of any documents evidencing the sale. Even a layman is
aware that if he makes a claim of ownership, he must support the same with
substantial proof. Consequently, Respondent Aliping’s claim of ownership,
bereft of evidence, deserves not just scant consideration, but no consideration
at all.”
“Moreover, Respondent
Aliping’s argument that he is just improving his property and what he is doing
is exactly what other people in the said area are doing, is again misplaced and
utterly without legal basis,” the DENR-CAR said.
In the same manifestation, the DENR
categorically maintains that Proclamation No. 581 issued on July 8, 1940 by
President Manuel L. Quezon declared Mount Santo Tomas as a forest reserve which
is undeniably descriptive of its legal status. ”This underscores the idea that
it can never form part of the alienable and disposable lands, not unless an
official proclamation, with due process, declares it as an integral part of the
alienable and disposable lands of the public domain. And having (been) so
determined as forest reserve, with no cogent reason having been raised to
disestablish its classification, no one has the authority to ignore it as a
forest reserve by just exercising his/her own discretion,” the DENR-CAR added.
“And any violation of
the reasonable rules regulating the use and occupancy of the forest reserve is
made a crime, not by the DENR, but by Congress. DENR, under the executive
branch of the government, must execute the laws, criminal or otherwise. It is
its bounden duty to do so,” the DENR-CAR pointed out.
“Simply put, those who
cut, uproot, remove, collect, gather trees or forest products, and those who
possess the timber or forest products without authority or legal documents, or
those who will make unauthorized entry into any forest land become
automatically liable of the acts punishable under Sections 77 and 78 of
Presidential Decree 705 (or the Revised Forestry Code) regardless of the motive
or purpose it was pursued. For what is material in determining the culpability
of a person is whether or not the person or entity involved or charged with its
violation possesses the required permit, license or authorization from DENR at
the time he cuts, uproots, gathers or collects timber or forest products or at
the time he occupies the forest land. The law must be applied regardless of who
may be affected.
“ The remedy of
respondents can be found elsewhere – either clemency from the executive or
amendment of the law by the legislature – but certainly not a dismissal of the
information or case even before it is heard where there has been a clear
showing of violation of the law,” the DENR-CAR stressed.
“In Republic Act 10660
or An Act Strengthening Further the Functional and Structural Organization of
the Sandiganbayan, which was approved on April 16 last year, it was stated that
“In case private individuals are
charged as co-principals, accomplices or
accessories with the public officers or employees, including those employed in
government-owned or controlled corporations, they shall be tried jointly with
said public officers and employees in the proper courts which shall exercise
exclusive jurisdiction over them.”
Named as
co-respondents in the forest destruction case filed by the DENR-CAR against
Aliping before the Sandiganbayan were contractors William Go of Goldrich
Construction and Trading, Romeo Aquino of R. U. Aquino Construction and
Development Corporation, and Bernard Capuyan of BLC Construction and Aggregates.
A separate case was
filed by the Baguio Water District against the same respondents for the
turbidity of the Amliang Creek water sources, while another one was also filed
before the Supreme Court by church leaders and concerned residents led by Bishop
Carlito Cenzon of the Diocese of Baguio-Benguet and Archbishop Socrates
Villegas of the Lingayen-Dagupan Diocese for the issuance of a TEPO and a Writ
of Kalikasan.
It was also revealed
in a letter to Mosquera dated April 11 this year that the case filed before the
Ombudsman has been languishing in his office for many months. “Inspections
conducted on the site showed that there was an excavation done and trees,
poles, saplings were uprooted and found on the area. The backhoe loaders
belonging to Respondents Go, Aquino and Capuyan were also found thereat.
“The simple fact that their backhoe loaders
were found at Mount Santo Tomas Forest Reserve where the excavation and earth
moving activities were being carried out and all probability were used to bulldoze
the land and the trees… make them liable as co-principals, accomplices or
accessories to the crime committed by Respondent Aliping. The law is clear and
must be applied. This is, and should be, sufficient to find probable cause and
thus immediately cause the filing of the information against Respondent Aliping
as well as Respondents Go, Aquino and Capuyan before the Sandiganbayan,” the
DENR-CAR said.
“Finally, DENR would
like to reiterate the matter on the damages suffered by the government by
reason of the acts of Respondent Aliping in causing the destruction of a
portion of a clearly declared Mount Santo Tomas Forest Reserve which amount is
safely pegged at a minimum of P10 million. This is certainly not a paltry
amount which must be given due consideration in the recommendation of bail.
“In fact, the amount
of P10 million is inclusive only of the damage by reason of the loss of the
trees. This amount, huge as it is already, does not even cover the damage and
injury caused to the Baguio Water District given the contamination of the water
system of Baguio City and the nearby municipalities because of the soil erosion
caused by the destruction of the trees. There is also the damage to government
capital assets which have not yet been fully accounted for. As such, the
offense should be non-bailable,” it added.
If found guilty,
Aliping may be sentenced to maximum penalty for forest destruction and will be
banned from holding public office for
life.
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