Nueva Vizcaya cops did not intend to hurt barangay residents in allowing fuel trucks to enter

April 7, 2020

The Nueva Vizcaya provincial police director  on Tuesday said they did not intend to hurt residents of Barangay Didipio and were given clearance by the local government to allow entry of three fuel trucks of mining company  OceanaGold Corp.

In a statement, Police Colonel Ric Saavedra said coordination was made to ensure they will provide assistance for the safe arrival of the three tank trucks after they received an order from PNP headquarters in Camp Crame last March 13.

Saavedra made the statement after a video circulated on social media showing how police dispersed a human barricade stopping the trucks from entering.

Saavedra said the fuel trucks arrived at 5:30 pm Monday but were blocked by people.

“At this point, the chief of police ( Kasibu) once again tried to have a dialogue with them to allow the passage of tankers, however, they did not accede,” he said.

Dispersal of the barricade ensued and  a man named   Ronald Pulido inserted himself under one of the tank trucks.

“With the fear that he may be injured if the truck made an advance or retreat, the arresting personnel had to pull him out and placed him under arrest for disobedience,” Saavedra said.

He said after the dispersal Pulido was brought to the police station for further inquiry.

Saavedra said their action is in no way to support or go against any mining activity.

“Contrary to claims, no violence was intentionally used and that maximum tolerance was employed by all tasked PNP personnel as can be seen at the videos that were already uploaded by netizens,” he said.

“It is not the intent of the PNP to support or go against any mining activity as we stand on neutral grounds. The incident took place emanating from the implementation of a legal order,” he added.

Saavedra said the passage of the fuel tank trucks was approved with certain conditions such as the barangay can monitor the usage of fuel and the company may not dispense fuel without the presence of barangay officials.

He added the Kasibu police station chief had a dialogue with Barangay Captain Ereneo Bobola and Kagawad Celia Bahag around 11 am at the ECQ checkpoint where it was agreed that the delivery will be approved for the time being.

“It was further agreed that mentioned barangay officials will explain the result of the dialogue to the members of the community so that any untoward incident may be prevented,” Saavedra said.

Subsequently, inspection of the fuel depot of the company was conducted by the barangay officials of Didipio  with representatives from the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO)  to check the current status of the fuel trucks.

“The PNP at all levels is steadfast in ensuring peace and order and public safety to provide a peaceful place to live, work and do business,” the police official said.

For its part, Anakbayan condemned the dispersal, calling it “an opportunistic PNP attack on anti-mining advocates amid the ongoing enhanced community quarantine.

The group said Pulido was the chairman of Didipio Earth Saver’s Movement Association (Desama).

They claimed police attacked the residents to allow the entry of a fuel tanker for illegal operations of Oceanagold, a foreign company whose financial or technical assistance agreement expired last June 2019.

“The PNP claim that they are acting on the basis of a letter from the Office of the President signed by Executive Secretary ( Salvador) Medialdea to justify the attack on the blockade,’ it said.

 “Filipinos are under lockdown, but greedy foreigners are not! In the face of this health and economic crisis, in a time when millions of Filipino families are falling deeper into poverty and hunger, the Duterte regime still puts the welfare and profits of foreign miners at the fore, like how he put the operations of POGOs,” it added.

Anakbayan called for the immediate release of Pulido and  junking of trumped-up charges against him. They also call for the immediate cessation of all mining activities during the Luzon-wide lockdown.  Ella Dionisio/DMS