by Miriam G. Desacada
Palompon Leyte–“My political opponents are moving heaven and earth to oust me from office,” declared Palompon Mayor Ramon Oñate who was ironically beaming despite being recently meted with a year suspension from office by the Ombudsman in a decision that favored his accusers that he committed environmental violations off his chicken breeding farm and dressing plant in Palompon and Albuera towns, respectively.
“They could not wait for the elections, which they knew they could not win anyway,” said Oñate as he described that the cases filed against him at the Ombudsman and his recent suspension from office as purely political harassments, although it was only now that he got suspended of the same charges that were dismissed in the past.
“This is pure and simple political harassment, if only you examine the accusations and the decision, but I don’t want to talk about these or the merits of the case,” he said, adding that he is unaffected of the suspension at all.
“Vox populi, vox dei. The voice of the people is the voice of God. Let the people decide. Why don’t they wait for the election. Then they run against me (defeat me), they are powerful,” said Oñate, but quipped with a naughty wink: “I am always ready for the elections.”
On his suspension, Oñate said he is not bothered at all, “because we have a system in place for the municipal government. Palompon is the first local government unit in Region 8 that was granted the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certificate, so our operations continue smoothly.”
An ISO-certified LGU means it has a seal of approval from the Certification International Philippines Inc. for having a quality and efficient public service, a validation of Oñate’s management and leadership as mayor.
There were many cases filed at the Ombudsman against Oñate for various allegations of misconduct, dishonesty, and fraudulent transactions, apparently to disqualify him from holding public office, but most of these were dismissed for lack of evidences and bases.
Some of the so-called complainants were ordinary residents of Palompon that made one wonder how they could afford legal fees and litigation costs all the way to Cebu, how they came up with documents to back up their allegations, as well as on how come they had the temerity to taunt a sitting public official and the intents on why they are filing the cases.
This makes it easy to suspect that someone powerful and influential could be behind the “assault” of complaints filed at the Ombudsman. There is no other logical possibility about it, remarked a Palomponganon.
The latest complaints that the Ombudsman upheld, resulting in the suspension order against Oñate, were rehashed cases that were already junked or dismissed years ago. Foremost of these is the complaint that his chicken dressing plant in Albuera allegedly reeked of offensive odor, the stench of rotten chicken entrails and wastes that also polluted the water flowing into the coastal area or bay.
It was in 2017 that a village in Albuera asked the DENR to act on the stench reportedly emanating from the DBSN Dressing Plant of Oñate. DBSN was able to address it by putting up a wastewater treatment and waste disposal plant, inside the factory, worth hundreds of millions in investment. An official of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) inspected the facility and was so impressed with what Onate did that eventually solved the problem of odor pollution on the area.
Oñate declared then that the accuser “is very much aware of the waste disposal plant’s output, parameters of environment protection and government permits that the company acquired to address the problem of the company’s operations.”
The DENR further confirmed at the time that DBSN’s wastewater treatment plant is effective in its purpose, thus sludges were no longer effluence into the town’s bay area.
In an article published in The Freeman last year, Onate explained that, in his Albuera plant, “wastewater treatment and disposal systems are designed to remove contaminants and pollutants before water is released. The process involves several stages to ensure the water is clean and safe for the ecosystem and human health,” meaning that water from DBSN could not contaminate Ormoc Bay at all.
The allegations that DBSN has been dumping chicken waste from Albuera into his breeder farm in Palompon were also aired in the past years, were already resolved, but purposedly rehashed this year as weapons against Oñate.
“For a breeder farm, we only dispose our chicken waste, mainly manure, at the end of the breeding cycle, or 42 weeks after,” said Oñate, adding that the plant also has regulated soil conditioner containment area (compost pit) for chicken manure, as validated by the DENR’s EMB.
Onate had described the accusations against his businesses as totally absurd and political harassment aimed to destroy him politically. He repeatedly explained that “a properly managed breeder farm will not pollute or cause environmental problems to the community.”
He declared thus: “I committed myself to manage well my breeder farm in Palompon, and the dressing plant in Albuera, so that these will be models of environmental compliant endeavors consistent with government vision.”
He added: “I want to sustain my businesses and preserve my name as a town mayor with dignity and integrity.” Apparently, the court may not have appreciated his efforts, a Palomponganon resident remarked to the local media in a brief interview. —-Miriam G. Desacada