Waterless Patag folk threaten to stage rally, file lawsuit

ANGRY residents of Patag yesterday threatened to stage a rally to call on city hall to pressure VT Lao Construction to speed up the ongoing repair of the Ysalina Bridge.

They also threatened to file charges against those responsible for the disruption of the water supply to their communities.

The warning came as a result of a water crisis in Patag that stemmed from the retrofitting of the Ysalina Bridge, also known as the Carmen Bridge, this week.

‘‘We will call the attention of Mayor (Vicente) Emano in a protest rally in front of city hall,’’ one of the residents said. They were contemplating a lawsuit but ‘‘that would be the last resort.’’

Patag is among the barangays that have been badly affected by the ongoing bridge repair. Most of its communities have become waterless since Wednesday after the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) was forced to temporarily cut off a pipeline attached to the half a century-old Ysalina Bridge.

"The worst thing next to traffic (has) now happened, (there is) no water supply," said Engr. Jose Abucejo, a former COWD assistant general manager and a resident of Buenavista Village in Patag.
Abucejo described the situation in Patag: ‘‘It’s torturing us.’’

He called on city hall to quickly act on the problem.
COWD said the water crisis resulting from the bridge repair not only affected villages in the western area. It said the entire city would suffer from low pressure.

COWD chairperson Rey Java said the supply of water to the communities would not normalize until the pipeline is restored. And restoration would not be possible until the construction firm is finished with the retrofitting.

Badly hit areas include Carmen, Patag, Balulang, Bulua, Bulua, Kauswagan, Bonbon and Bayabas, Iponan and some areas in Barra, Opol town, Misamis Oriental.

A group of residents at Mendoza compound in Patag blamed city hall for the water crisis, saying it did not prepare for the bridge project.

One of the residents said he would rather have traffic jams than no water supply.
They said over 100 families in Mendoza Compound and Buenavista Village alone have been suffering due to the complete absence of a water supply since Wednesday.

"The COWD should help us (by) providing potable water. The local government is the one liable," said another homeowner.

Meanwhile, homeowners’ and youth associations’ in Patag have appealed to Patag barangay chairperson Maricor Calizo to act on the problem.

Maura Sabud, one of the complainant of the homeowners’ group, said Calizo should bring the complaints to city hall to pressure local officials to look for ways in solving the problem.

Sabud also asked the local fire department to help in delivering potable water for Patag residents.

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Parents of food-poisoning victims want people responsible identified

A GROUP of parents have called on the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to step in and identify the people who should be held responsible for the food poisoning of close to 90 workers of the Gaisano malls in the city a few weeks ago.

The group, composed of parents of some of the victims, said it was dismayed over the failure of local authorities to go public with the results of their investigation into the food poisoning.

"It would be hard for workers to file a complaint. They are only ordinary workers,’’ a parent of one of the victims said. He requested anonymity, saying his daughter is still working as a cashier at one of the Gaisano malls.

The group said it was puzzled because the team created to investigate the Gaisano incident has yet to release a clear investigation report.

"We want to know the result of the investigation and their recommendation. Who should be made to pay?’’ the group asked.

They said they were happy at first because many investigators and doctors came. ‘‘But all of a sudden, there was silence. It’s as if no investigation was ever made,’’ they said.

On the day Gaisano workers were rushed to hospitals, officials immediately formed a team composed of experts from the Department of Health (DOH), the city hall-run JR Borja Memorial Hospital and the state-run Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) to investigate the Gaisano incident.

Councilor Simeon Licayan, chairperson of the city’s health committee, also said at that time that a medical team from city hall led by Dr. Joselito Retuya was tasked to investigate. He said city hall’s actions would be based on the team’s recommedations.

"We’re still waiting... no one has really identified the people who should be held liable," the parents of the victims said.

Councilor Reynaldo Advincula said health authorities were certain the workers became sick after eating pancit (noodles) served by the employees’ cooperative. He however said the people who should be held liable have yet to be identified.
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"The Carmelite Code"

SEVERAL years before the publication of Dan Brown's thriller “The Da Vinci Code,” a group of nuns at the Carmelite Monastery in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines put up a mysterious sign that was never decoded. The sign showed an arrow that some Biblical archaeologists believed pointed to an underground vault that possibly contained the Holy Grail. The sign no longer exists today. Posing as cryptologist is Elson Elizaga. (Photo by CLARA MARIE ASUNCION Q. GONZALES ELIZAGA)