LEGAZPI CITY—At least five members of the Albay Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) have joined efforts to conduct an investigation surrounding the alleged intrusion of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) through the temporarily halted construction of the Mayon circumferential road project.
Board Member Howard Imperial, chairman of the Committee on Urban Planning and Land Use, filed a resolution during the provincial board’s regular session on Tuesday, calling for an investigation on how the Mayon circumferential road project was realized without public clearance and consultation from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Environmental Clearance Certificate from the Department Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and permit to cut trees.
Joining the call for a probe were SP board members Victor Ziga Jr., Rolly Rosal, Benjamin Imperial and Jesaf Salceda. Ziga, son and namesake of former Sen. Victor Ziga, said the Mayon road project needs to be investigated.
The Save Mayon Movement (SMM), led by Cesar Banares, Rommel Aspe and Karina Discaya, said the probe to be conducted by the committee of Howard Imperial is separate from the probe conducted by the Committee on Environment chaired by Job Belen.
The SMM said Belen had indicated his stand during the first and second hearing of the Committee on Environment in favor of the Mayon road project as an ecotourism project and infrastructure development.
It was not clear if the Committee on Housing and Land Use will ask for a public hearing on the controversy surrounding the Mayon road project being implemented by the DPWH.
Former Vice Gov. James Calisin said the Mayon road project is “a clear abuse of discretion of the DPWH.” He added creating a road network at Mount Mayon site may only worsen flooding problem in the lowland area.
Rommel Natanauan, chief of the Bicol Tourism Development and Regulation division, said the Mayon road project is not included in the Tourism Infrastructure Project that the DENR considered in violation of the National Protected Area System of 1992.
The construction of the Mayon road began as early as June, involving three separate road-opening contracts in Barangay Bonga, Bacacay (P50 million); Barangay San Roque, Malilipot town (P10 million); and Barangay Buang (P49 million), all in Tabaco City.
Gov. Al Francis Bichara had expressed surprise when told about the project following complaints the project has encroached on the 6-kilometer Mayon Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ), and may only open more entrances to the PDZ, which had long been declared a “no man’s land.”
Bichara also lamented how the project was started without the cutting permit and the Environmental Clearance Certificate from the DENR, his spokesman, Danny Garcia, said.
Bichara, chairman of the Regional Development Council (RDC), said the Mayon project did not pass through the RDC.
With a diameter of 261.4 kilometers, Mayon Volcano has a pending application for inclusion in the list of World Heritage, the dossiers of which have been submitted to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in France since 2016 for consideration next year.
The board members fear that defacing the volcano may affect its consideration for the World Heritage record.
DPWH regional legal officer Oliver Rodulfo said the Mayon project is being implemented by the Albay First District Engineering Office, stating the regional office has nothing to do with it. He said every district engineering office has the authority to conduct bidding and implement projects costing P50 million and below with the plan and program of works they also prepared.
The regional office conducts bidding and implement projects costing above P50 million, Rodulfo said.
The SMM said the Mayon project was discovered early-October. It included the rampant cutting of trees within the project site. Exposed on social media, support for the SMM continues to pour, including from Filipinos abroad.
Former Albay Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Marcial Tuanqui, 71, said his relatives in the United States are also surprised to learn of the Mayon circumferential road project, saying it would ruin the perfect image of Mayon, the world’s most perfect cone-shaped volcano.
Albay First District engineer Simon Arias denied any knowledge about a proposed Mayon circumferential road, saying what they are constructing are farm-to-market roads. This despite pronouncements of Party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe of Ako Bicol in radio interviews that the DPWH’s Mayon project would create a big adverse impact on Albay’s tourism and infra development image.