By ALMA B. SINUMLAG
www.nordis.net

BOKOD, Benguet — “We are already in the process of collating documents like affidavits for the final draft on the petition for a writ of Kalikasan,” Benguet Rep. Ronald Cosalan said in an interview here on October 27.

He added that before the petition will be filed, it will be processed by former Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno and human rights lawyer Pablito Sanidad. Sanidad will be the one (Sanidad) to file the petition to Supreme Court as he already committed himself on the matter.

He added that they are waiting for the affidavit of Ben Cabrera and at least 10 residents from Sitio Cinco of Barangay Tadiangan, Tuba of this province.

Ben Cab, he said, has signified his interest in joining as petitioner because his museum at the Asin Road was directly affected by the Irisan trashslide.

It can be recalled that in September, during one of the consultations in Sitio Cinco, Cosalan challenged the affected residents to file a case against the city and the petition for a Writ of Kalikasan was one of their options. The legal remedy evolved when a trash slides from Baguio City’s Irisan dumpsite destroyed properties in Barangay Tadiangan during the height of Typhoon Mina.

In the question on whether they will include the municipal officials of Tuba in the writ, he said, it is up to the officials if they will join them or not. He recognized that the municipality has already approved a resolution for actions that the city government should take.

In the two consultations he attended on the garbage issue in Tadiangan, most of the participants were residents and officials of Sitio Cinco and nearby barangays affected with the trash slides.

Earlier, City Mayor Mauricio Domogan dismissed that the Tuba residents has nothing to petition. Cosalan countered Domogan saying: “well that is his claim. But let us wait for the findings of the Supreme Court when this petition will be filed to that court.”

Lawyers who committed to help in the petition for a writ of Kalikasan are Atty. Francisca Claver and three professors of the University of the Philippines – Baguio. # nordis.net