Bacolod Councilor Vladimir Gonzalez said on Thursday, September 8, that his company will continue its land recovery operations on his private property at Purok Bayanihan in Barangay Banago, Bacolod City.
The barangay officials have no authority to stop the operations of Home Invest on his one hectare private property, and he does not need their resolution of no objection (RONO), Gonzalez said.
He also said no family was dislocated by the land recovery operations.
Gonzalez issued the statement after the Barangay Banago Council held a heated public hearing on Thursday on the work being undertaken in his property, which Barangay Captain Ricky Mijares said has no barangay permit.
His land was eroded through the years so Home Invest secured a certificate for recovery of private property from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Gonzalez said.
They also have a Certificate of No Objection from the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office and a certificate from the City Engineer’s Office that there is no impediment, Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez asked why similar activities undertaken by other landowners in Banago were not questioned by the barangay captain.
“If there is a need to file a preventive suspension I will push this in the city council,” he said.
Gonzalez said on Wednesday that the RONO secured by the Bacolod Reclamation Gateway Corp. from the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod was for the proposed 247-hectare reclamation and port project in Banago.
The reclamation project is totally different from the ongoing recovery of titled property being done by Home Invest, Gonzalez said.
The Bacolod SP Committee on Laws, Ordinances and Good Government headed by Councilor Al Victor Espino will hold a hearing on the complaint lodged by Mijares against Gonzalez next week.*