Probe team chief Raquel Arce attaches a closure order to the Globe tower in Sitio Calvary, Barangay Apas while Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, NTC legal officer Alan Macaraya Jr. and Apas barangay chairman Ramil Ayuman look on. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
ROSALINDA Almonte waited three hours to see if the cell site tower near her home in Sitio Calvary Hill, Barangay Apas will finally be shut down.
But the 51-year-old Almonte, who blamed her stage 2B cancer on the radiation emitted by the tower, went home disappointed when technical experts of Globe Telecommunications failed to show up for the shutdown.
“Magpaabot na sad mi ug pila ka mga adlaw pa. Nalipay na baya unta mi nga naa nay closure order, pero di pa diay mapadayon (We have to wait for days again. We were already happy that there was a closure order but now it hasn’t pushed through),” she said.
Almonte was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014 and underwent three chemotherapy sessions after her cancer reached stage 2B. Though the facility was padlocked yesterday, the tower continues to function.
Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, who went to the scheduled deactivation yesterday said he will write a demand letter to Globe. “If they still don’t send people to shut it down, we will go to court,” he said.
Personnel of the Prevention Restoration Order Beautification and Enhancement (Probe) implemented a ceremonial closure of the facility.
“We are only here to witness the closure. The NTC mandate is mainly for regulatory functions,” Macaraya told reporters.