Tanjay City Mayor Lawrence Teves has asked the court to order the lifting of the barricades placed by residents of Barangay 4 of that City.
The petition was made in a Civil Case for Abatement of nuisance with prayer for the issuance of a Preliminary Injunction, Preliminary Mandatory Injunction and Temporary Restraining Order, filed against 92 people, mostly residents of Barangay 4. Other respondents were Msgr. Albert Erasmo Bohol and Fr. Marcelo Quinitan of the Roman Catholic Church.
In his complaint, Mayor Teves said that residents of Brgy 4 donated portions of their lots to become Road Right of Way in 1992. As a result of these donations, the city built a road in Tambakan (Brgy 4).
However the defendants blocked the road on Feb 7. They resisted attempts by the City to remove the barricade. The Mayor said he tried to reason with the residents but no one listened and they got “rowdier by the minute.”
Attempts to remove the barricade by the police and the City Engineer’s Office also proved futile.
Mayor Teves said that the existence of the roadblock has prevented the City from providing the most basic services to the people of barangay 4 who have been cut off and isolated as a result of the barricade. “They could not be reached by firetrucks or ambulances should emergencies arise,” the mayor said.
However, almost all the people manning the roadblock were against the continued operation of a company, the Sino-Italy Corporation, which they believe is trying to engage in black sand mining.
They said their act of blocking the road would prevent the Sino-Italy Corporation from commencing their operations.
The Sino-Italy Corporation entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the City of Tanjay, which would allow the company to dredge the mouth of the Tanjay River, at no cost to the City, to prevent flooding in Barangay 4.
In return, the Sino-Italy Corporation would be allowed to extract black sand from the dredged material, which they would export to China.
Those opposed to this project said the Sino-Italy Corporation does not have the necessary clearances from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
