DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Officials of Tagum Agricultural Development Corporations Inc. (TADECO) , Bureau of Corrections and the barangay Captains from the three villages agreed to open the Bugtong Lubi which connect their villages to the Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte Highway.
The access roads were forcibly closed in 2012 after the provincial board of Davao del Norte passed a resolution ordering the temporary closure due to massive fungicide infection affecting the banana industry in the area.
In a meeting held last week, Alex Cantil , Tadeco vice president for production, officials from the Bureau of Corrections representative and Barangay Captains Allan Magallanes (Balagunan); Geronimo Gumanit (Tulalian) and, Henry Danila (Bagongon), agreed to re-open the secondary road access.
Magallanes said they asked Tadeco for a meeting and sought the opening of Bugtong Lubi road which connects the three villages to the main highway.
As agreed, the road will be opened after a biosecurity barrier/foot bath is installed and it will only allow a two-wheel and four wheel vehicle, in observance of a biosecurity protocol.
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The village leaders are even wondering why the road closure issue has been raised in the House of Representatives , when from the start “We understand that the closure was temporary, it was through a provincial resolution and the purpose was to save the industry providing employment and livelihood even the small banana growers nearby,” Magallanes added.
Magallanes recalled, Jesus Buton, who is now leading the campaign for the opening of the road was the same person who asked for the closure “because that time he was positioning to run as barangay captain against me and now that barangay elections is approaching he is again making his presence felt.”
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Buton is now working for Davao del Norte First District Representative, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, who question the Joint Venture Agreement which Tadeco and Bucor have entered for decades. The re-opening of the road, according to Magallanes is an offshoot of the meeting with Tadeco and Bucor saying “We can act on the issue from our level and we do not need to politicise the issue.”
Magallanes’s group said they will notify the Provincial board of Davao del Norte about the agreement so they can officially lift the closure through a provincial resolution.
It can be recalled that the JVA was brought up and has been questioned after Alvarez and Davao del Norte Second District Representative Antonio Floirendo Jr. ended their friendship over issues involving their girlfriends .
Floirendo was one of those who bankrolled the candidacy of Alvarez during the 2016 elections.
Sometime in May, 2016, Alvarez even told this reporter “It was Tonyboy who prodded me to run for Congress because Mayor Rody (Duterte) did not file his certificate of candidacy (that time), he called me up and we met at Big 8 Hotel and he asked me to run.”
But things changed last year, Alvarez filed a graft case against Floirendo. The Sandiganbayan recently ordered Floirendo’s arrest. The later immediately posted a bail for his temporary liberty.
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While Alvarez is using all legal avenues to run after Floirendo, workers of Tadeco are caught in the crossfire.-Editha Z. Caduaya/Newsline.ph
