Ejercito wants charges filed vs officials for endangering lives of ‘Pablo’ survivors

DAVAO CITY (PNA) – Senator JV Ejercito said he will recommend the filing of charges against contractors and former government officials, over the approval of a landslide-prone area as relocation site for the survivors of Typhoon "Pablo" that hit New Bataan, Compostela Valley and other areas in 2012.

Ejercito, chairman of the Senate Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement, conducted an ocular inspection in Purok 5, Barangay Andap in New Bataan town, which in a landslideprone area, on Friday.

During his occular inspection, the senator was accompanied by National Housing Authority (NHA) General Manager Marcelino Escalada and New Bataan Mayor Geraldford Balbin.

"This early, I would say that we will recommend the filing of case (against) erring public officials of NHA, developers para magkaroon sila ng takot sa gobyerno (so they would fear government). Parang walang takot eh. Walang takot na makulong kasi walang humahabla kaya dapat siguro may makulong (It seems like they have no fear; these people are not afraid of going to jail because no one is willing to file a case against them. Someone should be sent to jail)," he said.

Ejercito said he could not understand why the people behind the program still pushed through with project even if they already knew that the area was a danger zone.

He said people living in the area were lucky that there has been no occurrence of heavy rains recently, but urged them not to wait until another disaster occurs.

He said the NHA already recommended they vacate the area, and also offered solutions–including financial assistance for the residents to look for areas far from danger.

"We do not want people to live there because we could not afford to lose life since there are already victims of a calamity before," Ejercito said.

It can be recalled that Barangay Andap was ground zero when flashfloods caused by Typhoon "Pablo" wiped out a big part of the village.