Tumulak won’t testify for DENR; NBI joins inquiry

No, he won’t testify for them.

Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak yesterday turned down the request of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for him to issue an affidavit about what he saw in security camera footage of what happened to the 79 trees that disappeared on March 30 from S. Osmeña Road.

“Why do they have to request? They are not the court. Let’s wait for the court,” said Tumulak, who had earlier described in interviews seeing footage of a backhoe of the road contractor haul off the trees in dumptrucks at night time.

A criminal case for “illegal destruction” of trees filed by the DENR last week against six officials and a project engineer of WT Construction Inc., the contractor undertaking the P289 million rehabilitation of the road in the North Reclamation Area.

Pressed by colleagues in the City Council to show complete video footage – not just selected scenes – of what may have happened to the 79 trees planted in the concrete island that was demolished by the contractor, Tumulak yesterday said he is ready to do so.

The City Council, in an executive session, yesterday set the date for Friday.

“Mopakita ta (We will show it). But as a request, they (councilors) should not give out statements (about it),” Tumulak told reporters.

“For what purpose (is this)? For their own consumption? Is it in aid of legislation? For transparency?” he asked.

Tumulak heads the City Command Center, which monitors the live recordings of 30 CCTV cameras installed in roads around the city.

NBI JOINS PROBE

Meanwhile, the head of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Central Visayas Max Salvador agreed to help the DENR 7.

He assigned two NBI agents on the matter.

“We will look for substantial evidence. We can either submit it to the prosecutor’s office directly or make it a basis for filing another case,” said Salvador.

“It’s a misnomer to say that we are ‘looking for trees.’ Lumber na ‘yon ngayon. (By now , those trees are already lumber.).”

Seveal bundles of firewood from cut branches were earlier recovered from residents near the road. They said they recovered the wood from dumptrucks of the contractor.

The letter request of DENR 7 Executive Regional Director Isabelo Montejo asked the agency to help locate the trees that “have been mysteriously missing as a reuslt of the road rehabilitation project in Serging Osmeña Street, Cebu City.”

He requested the NBI’s assistance as a member of the Regional Anti-Illegal Logging Task Force and its partner in enforcing environmental laws.

Councilor Tumulak appeared to resent the DENR’s request for him to state under oath what he had seen.

“They wanted me to give a statement on what we’ve seen. They (DENR officials) saw it, why not they should be the one to file it? Let their lawyers do their job,” Tumulak said.

However, what Tumulak showed to the City Council with DENR representatives present in an executive session last April 14 was selected video footage between March 25 and 26 only.

What the councilors and DENR had asked to see was footage recording activities on S. Osmena Road on March 28, 30 and 31.

The trees were still there on March 29, Earth Day, a Saturday, then suddenly gone by Monday, March 31, said a shocked City Councilor Nida Cabrera in her privilege speech on April 2, when she condemned the loss of 88 fire trees planted by the city government seven years ago. Her account was supported by the Cebu City Parks and Playgrounds Commission which demanded that the trees be replaced.

The letter request of DENR’s Montejo was handcarried yesterday to City Hall.

“In view of the media (print) accounts indicating that you have actually seen a video recording on on video date of March 29, 2014 to March 30, 2014 of which were quoted in a Cebu Daily News (CDN) report on April 4, 2014 as (saying) “WT shouldn’t dodge responsibility for this because it’s clear in the CCTV camera that they removed the trees.” The same CDN report also quoted you as saying “the video speaks for itself.”

A report from the Freeman on April 4, 2014 also made a similar attribution and quoted you as saying “video footage of the road taken by Cebu City Command Center (C3) cameras showed WT Construction is actually the culprit behind the trees going missing.”

TAGS: