by Miriam G. Desacada
Tacloban City–A major transition took place days ago at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Region 8 (DENR-8) in a hush and apart from the usual media buzz: regional executive director Lormelyn E. Claudio was recently booted out of office and was reassigned instead to head a bureau of the department.
No replacement of Claudio was yet announced, but she is officially reassigned as director of the DENR’s Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB), which office is located at Los Baños, Laguna.
Claudio’s reassignment, under DENR Special Order 2024-661, was issued by DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga dated 6th of October, effective immediately.
There had been many complaints lodged the past months against Claudio for acting with biased decisions in favor of a complainant-politician, especially on cases of alleged environmental violations, against an opponent politician, as the respondent.
The prominent respondent-politician was Palompon Mayor Ramon Oñate who, for a number of times, was subjected to hostile investigations carried out by Claudio based only on the unverified complaint from various individuals who, due to incapacity and incapability of financial resources would questionably be concerned of environmental issues, could be used by a congressman who held a deep-seated grudge against the mayor.
Because of the hostilities imposed upon him and his chicken breeding business in Palompon, Oñate wrote to Secretary Loyzaga last June requesting for the immediate transfer of Claudio from Region 8 to any other regions, and to “restore fairness and ensure unbiased administration within DENR-8.”
Onate also wrote last July to Secretary Loyzaga requesting for “immediate action on numerous alarming environmental transgressions committed in the 4th district of Leyte by its representative, Cong. Richard Gomez,” cases of which were conveniently ignored by Claudio for reasons only she did know.
“She (Claudio) has allowed the agency (DENR) to be an instrument of politics, bending its mandates to accommodate one politician’s plot to disestablish another (Oñate). Such act of partiality and discrimination not only tarnish the reputation of the DENR…” the mayor told Secretary Loyzaga in his letter.
There was never any response or reaction from the Secretary conveyed to Oñate since then until early this month when the Secretary ordered Claudio to be transferred from Region 8 to a bureau in Laguna. Although this was seen as a promotion for Claudio, Oñate felt relieved that the DENR-8 no longer has a head who he said only has primal interest in her administration focused on fulfilling the whims of the politician.
Reassigning the director from the regional office to head the ERDB was the best response from the DENR Secretary to maintain the impartiality and integrity of the DENR, said the mayor.
Onate added: “This kind of decision helps to prevent any misuse of authority and ensures that accusations, like those of environmental violations, are handled based on facts rather than political favoritism.” —Miriam G. Desacada