MORE NEWS, BENGUET

DPWH, DOTC at odds which has authority to manage Kennon Road
DEXTER A.SEE

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- The Cordillera offices of the Department of Transportation and Communication and Department of Public Works and Highways are engaged in a controversy over which of the two agencies should supervise the operation of Kennon Road, the historic zigzag route.

Lawyer Federico J. Mandapat Jr., Cordillera DoTC director, said his office was given authority to supervise the national road, which is the shortest route from the lowland to Baguio City and vice versa. But DPWH personnel claimed otherwise. The First Benguet Engineering District said it was their agency which has the sole authority to supervise Kennon Road because it is the government office mandated to oversee highways all over the country.

The question on which agency has the authority to implement regulations on Kennon Road came about when Mandapat banned inter-regional public utility vans from traversing the zigzag road, citing safety reasons.

At present, garage vans from the lowlands are allowed only to use Marcos Highway when going to and coming from Baguio City. Earlier, Engineer Mariano Alquiza, DPWH regional director, wrote Mandapat telling him that it was his (Alquiza’s) office which has the authority to impose regulations for the operations of the road.

But Mandapat said his office acquired jurisdiction over Kennon Road through Administrative Order 184 issued by President Arroyo. The same AO disbanded the multi-sectoral committee on road safety and transferred its functions to the DoTC, he said.

He said he had based his order banning vans on Kennon Road on a geological map issued by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau. The map indicated that 85 percent of the road is highly susceptible to landslides. Engineer Faye Apil, geologist of the MGB, had reported that the road was unsafe for motorists during the rainy months but safe during the dry season.

Alquiza said the DPWH usually issues a closure advisory for Kennon Road during typhoons and heavy rains to ensure the safety of the motoring public. Furthermore, the DPWH official said, Kennon Road is automatically closed to vehicular traffic if it rains for two hours to prevent accidents on the 34-kilomter road. Residents and operators of vans traversing Kennon Road have demanded the intervention of local officials in their plight, saying the DoTC should reconsider its controversial order.

But Mandapat has stood firm on his stand not to allow inter-regional vans on Kennon Road. Van operators have complained that using Marcos Highway was more expensive for them because it was a much longer route.


Judge calls for stringent security in Benguet courts
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – A veteran judge urged the provincial police office to augment security in courts in the wake of a shooting incident during a court hearing in Makati last week which resulted to the death of a former mayor.

Presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court Branch 9 Francis Buliyat, Sr., said during a provincial peace and order council meeting last week, while it has not happened yet in Benguet courts, he wanted rigid security in courts.

Buliyat said should the PNP grant their request, security should also be extended to municipal courts.

Buliyat added there were cases heard with repercussions relative to peace and order which called for urgency in providing tighter security.

The judge said he was also seeking the help of the PNP through its provincial director for the issuance of licenses for firearms to the judges in the event that they will apply for such. He said he was asking a favor that this would cover an understanding between PNP and the Supreme Court.
Buliyat said the provision on firearms will give judges self-confidence in dispensing legal service in far-flung areas. – Susan C. Aro


Buguias folk want nullification of excessive, abusive tax code
By Dexter A. See

BUGUIAS, Benguet – Concerned residents and businessmen in this town recently petitioned the Regional Trial Court of Benguet to declare as null and void its existing revenue code due to its failure to comply with pertinent requirements of the Local government code of the Philippines.

In a 20-page petition, concerned citizens said the municipal government of Buguias had been mercilessly exacting millions of pesos in taxes and other fees using Municipal Ordinance No. 03-98 which never became a law due to its failure to undergo the required public hearing and it was never published in a publication of general circulation.

Section 188 of the Local Government code provides that within ten days after the approval of tax ordinances and revenue measures, certified true copies of all provincial, city and municipal tax ordinances or revenue measures shall be published in full for three consecutive days in a newspaper of local circulation: provided, however, that in provinces, cities and municipalities where there are no newspapers of local circulation, the same may be posted in at least two conspicuous and publicly accessible places.

Section 511 of the Code also provides ordinances with penal sanctions shall be posted at prominent places in the provincial capitol, city, municipal or barangay hall, as the case may be, for a minimum period of three consecutive weeks.

The petitioners argued that the non-conduct of public hearings is more revealing in the absence of official records of the municipal government documenting compliance with the code.

According to them, the discovery of the illegality of the revenue code dates back to December of 2006 when the office of the municipal treasurer of Buguias started imposing on the vendors of the Abatan open gym the payment of P10 per basket or sack per day of their displayed goods allegedly by authority of the tax ordinance in question.

The said amount is over and above the cash ticket being collected which ranges from P5 to as much as P300 from every vendor daily and over and above the annual permits and licenses required of every vendor at the start of every business year.

Despite the takeover of the new administration, the petitioners pointed out that the correction of the defective ordinance was never pursued and the municipal government continues to collect taxes using the questionable revenue measure despite the existence of a committee which is looking for ways on how to legitimize the excessive and abusive tax collection.

Worst, the petition divulged illegal practices by the municipal health office whereby it allegedly collects fees without issuing official receipts or issues unofficial receipts to their clients.

The businessmen are praying for the court to nullify the ordinance and order the municipal government to refund the fees collected under the unlawful tax measure.

The petitioners cited that while law and jurisprudence teach that taxes cannot be enjoined, the case is a classic one as the questioned ordinance never came into law and the people to be governed were never accorded due process, thus, the constitutional rights of the citizenry should prevail over the claimed necessities of the municipal government.