Advocacy, friendship, truth (3)

Ben Contreras

JONATHAN Gayla is a kagawad of Canitoan (elected official), chairman of the Committee on Environment of Barangay Canitoan and an applicant for a quarrying permit (would this not constitute conflict of interest?). Apparently, Gayla just couldn’t wait for his permit to come out and prematurely engaged in it. He became the subject of investigations from his own barangay, DENR-MGB over illegal quarrying and at one time caught with the use of a dump truck, the ownership of which was traced to a congressman and whose name often being name-dropped.

With the intention to protect the congressman from being abused, Ralph wrote him a clarificatory letter. The letter ended in the hands of his lawyer with attached documents. The lawyer’s letter reply then ended in the hands of a few media people and Facebook questioning whether the Ralph Vincent Abragan that appeared in the letter to the congressman and the Ralph Vincent Abragan that appeared in the documents is one and the same person. If so, the lawyer’s asked, is that not a “conflict of interest”?

Ralph, for many days was the subject of malicious imputations and insults in Facebook and radio programs. They feasted on him. Those that have an axe to grind against Ralph joined the fray not knowing that to destroy Ralph is really to discredit and destroy Mayor Moreno. Dongkoy took the bait, too by allegedly saying, “I have the goods against Ralph” or to that effect.

We went to see the lawyer who happens to be our lawyer in the filing for a Writ of Kalikasan, Writ of Continuing Mandamus and modified compromise agreement with MOA on protecting further the environs of Iponan River which extends to  Misamis Oriental and Iligan City. She blurted out, “maipit man pud ta ini dah!”

Ralph showed the lawyer the genuine documents to prove that those that appeared in Facebook, those that were already given to some media people are what they called photo-shopped or fraudulent. We were advised to see the congressman for a talk. Ralph didn’t like the idea but was prevailed upon to do so by me. Days later, the lawyer issued a written statements clearing Ralph of the accusation of “conflict of interest” she questioned earlier.

The letter was copy furnished to the CLENRO office, the City Council and MGB.

This “conflict of interest” issue didn’t stop hounding Ralph. Because of this, Ralph is being forced by CLENRO to file a leave. When CMRB Chair Rex Monsanto calendared the letter of the lawyer for discussion, Ralph was cleared by the body. But after one of the CMRB meetings ended, Ralph was again asked by Edwin Dael and Teddy Sabugaa to resign. Why?

It is now very clear that the issue is not about “conflict of interest”. The real issue is to remove the thorn that is Ralph. Everything that’s happening is a surgical move to uproot the thorn.

So, who wants Ralph out? First, we should ask this question. Who is behind Jonathan Gayla. Who provided the congressman fake documents attached to the letter of Ralph? The lawyer admitted that when she received the letter, the documents were already attached. Who provided those fake documents to SaveCDO Recallnow? Who gave those documents to the media people? Why was Firm Builders not summoned when it was resolved during the CMRB meeting that the firm would be invited in the next meeting to shed light on the matter?

It was a Thursday and Ralph called me to accompany him to CLENRO because Joy, the CMRB secretary had been insisting that Ralph should sign the resolution for the approval of the application of Jonathan Gayla. Before going there, Ralph dropped by his house to get some documents. Along the way, Ralph got a message that Roy Baltazar wanted to talk to Ralph.

At the CLENRO office, Joy showed the file documents of Gayla. Ralph explained to Roy that something is wrong with the documents. “Mupirma man ko sa iyang application. Himoa lang ang igsakto”, Ralph told Roy.

Joy was unusually edgy that moment but I just ignored it. I didn’t know that Ralph also told Roy about the three findings of three investigations conducted by the Canitoan barangay council, CLENRO and MGB, finding Gayla in all instances guilty of illegal activity.

The following day, a Friday, CMRB held a meeting at CDA conference room in Canitoan attended by several barangay chairs and CDA RD Orlando Ravanera. The discussion was very serious due to the issues at hand. I left the meeting around 5:30 in the afternoon not expecting something was afoot after the meeting. (to be continued)

(Ben Contreras worked for a mining company but, at the same time, he was actively involved as a volunteer in environmental advocacy work. He and his close associate Ralph Abragan were also involved in the local mining regulatory board and in some actual operations against illegal miners in the city. Their involvement with the regulatory board stopped when the environmental group Sulog replaced Abragan as its representative to the board after finding out that he was engaged in the business of quarrying. Not even a punctuation mark in this opinion piece has been touched so that it can be read as is, and exactly how it was written. The author’s views do not necessarily reflect the position of this paper or any of its staff members who are in no way involved in mining or quarrying. -Editors)