No relief goods diverted, gov says

DAVAO CITY—Davao Oriental Gov. Corazon Malanyaon on Sunday denied reports provincial government employees and residents of the least affected area of Mati had been benefiting from relief assistance meant for victims of Typhoon “Pablo” in the province.

Malanyaon told the Inquirer here, at the sidelines of the send-off ceremony for soldiers tasked to help rebuild houses of typhoon victims, that the allegations were the concoction of her political detractors.

Earlier, Malanyaon also denied the allegations that she favored Cateel town in the distribution of relief assistance because the mayor there is her brother.

“Lies, why are they sowing so much lies?” she asked, when sought for her comment on the latest allegations.

“We are not distributing anything,” she said, adding: “I have even foregone gifts and Christmas celebration, which was supposed to be a tradition, and now [political enemies] are sowing lies.”

She did not identify who these political enemies were but added that “they are all out to bring me down.”

“But how can they bring me down? I’m doing good to our people. These are done only by people who have nothing to do,” Malanyaon said.

She also initially tried to shoot down persistent questions about her alleged involvement in illegal logging activities in her province by saying: “That’s finished; I have answered that.”

Malanyaon then went on to say that the illegal logging activities were not an issue these days because “the issue here is the recovery of our people, the mission of rebuilding the lives of people.”

Malanyaon said she had never been involved in logging. To back up her denial, she said during her stint as Davao Oriental representative, she moved to defer the deliberation on the budget of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources because of logging activities, whether legal or illegal.

She added that she pushed for the proclamation of some 10,000 hectares of land around Aliwagwag Falls in Davao Oriental into a protected area. “If I was involved in logging, why would I do that?” Malanyaon asked.

She said she had pushed for the drafting of an environment code that prescribed a total log ban in Davao Oriental even before President Aquino issued Executive Order No. 23, which banned logging nationwide.

“It’s on record at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and the ban included allowable trees so that enforcement would be easy,” she said.

“I have never approached any environment official to facilitate the grant of permits even to legitimate applicants, and have never stopped law enforcement officers from enforcing the law,” Malanyaon added. Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao