The incident could be considered as minor by all means but when laced with political dirt it can be as explosive as any accident waiting to happen. Coming at a time when the political ties that set apart the politics of Gov. Edgar Chatto and City Mayor Dan Lim, the same minor incident may blow up in the faces of both protagonists if instead of dousing water to a small fire, fuel is being added to a flammable object. This was the scary scenario waiting to explode into a full-blown conflagration as a dump truck owned by the friend of Mayor Lim was apprehended by the men of Gov. Chatto who was assigned in the task force monitoring compliance of quarry operations in Bohol. The incident prompted the contractor to accuse the Capitol workers of harassment after his dump truck carrying scrape materials from a road construction project in Barangay Mansasa was apprehended allegedly for transporting minerals without delivery receipt.
Wilhelm Go of WTG Construction said there was no basis for the apprehension of his dump truck last Thursday and vowed to seek redress. “We will definitely take appropriate legal action because this is plain and simple harassment,” Go said in an interview. Go did not directly respond to questions that the motive for the apprehension was political due to the questionable circumstances that preceded the arrest. In his weekly program yesterday, Mayor Lim made potshots to the governor's men who carried out the apprehension of the cargo truck. Mayor Lim learned from the contractor that for every project undertaken in the city using Item 101 or anapog, the same was delivered by other suppliers with the materials extracted from quarry sources owned by the supplier. According to Lim, if this was the case, the environmental monitors should have gone after the anapog suppliers who delivered the materials to the city road contractor instead of the buyer of the aggregates in this case his friend Go.
It was gathered that the apprehending officer, one Ariel Dagodog, had been tailing the yellow WTG dump truck a day before the apprehension. Dagodog, a casual worker is reportedly a witness in a case involving a Capitol media consultant. Among other things, the apprehension is questionable since a casual worker has no authority to do it. The driver identified as one Elmer Nepaya, 39, said he was driving the six-wheel yellow Isuzu dump truck with plate no. RJ2-958 owned by Go. In the entry of the police blotter on the incident, Nepaya said the citation ticket was issued by Dagodog who described himself as an environment officer. The environment citation ticket, which contained the letterhead of the Office of the Governor, was issued for the five cubics of anapog (limestone) which supposedly is in violation of Provincial Ordinance No. 2008-025 series of 2008. After apprehending Nepaya, Dagodog impounded the vehicle and brought it to Camp Bernido in Barangay Dao. Camp Bernido authorities, however, subsequently refused to take custody of the truck after realizing they had no jurisdiction over it. It was learned that the truck ended up in Camp Dagohoy for safekeeping.
Previous to the incident, Go and Tagbilaran Mayor Dan Lim sponsored a series of high-profile activities in Barangay Cambaquis, a barangay in Cabilao island in Loon town. The raucous musical featuring Cebuano singer-comedian Max Surban and the live telecast of the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley fight were interpreted by political watchers as the unofficial launching of Lim's out-of-town sorties. Anti-Lim radio commentators said the mayor's foray into Cabilao was in preparation for his political plans in 2013. While the mayor has consistently denied he has gubernatorial ambitions, his critics claim he is determined to challenge Chatto in the next election. The apprehension of the truck seems to deliver the message that the Capitol will not take lightly any perceived support for Lim.
It seems like they picked the wrong target in Go. A Cebuano who is married to a native of Cabilao, Go said he will exhaust all legal options to teach the people responsible for the apprehension a lesson. “I have not committed any violation and I will defend my right against harassment,” he declared. For his part, Lim said he will not countenance government excesses in the city. “If it is normal for them to do that in Balilihan, they cannot do that in Tagbilaran,” the mayor said without elaborating. A source identified with the mayor recalled that prior to the last election, a barangay captain who was closely identified with the governor refused to allow the basketball team from the Vice-Governor's Office to play in Hanopol, Balilihan. Then Vice Gov. Julius Caesar Herrera, whom Chatto defeated in last year's gubernatorial post, was present during that incident.
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