ANGELES CITY–“It’s a treasure hunting expedition.”
Thus said Tony Horn on Tuesday as he testified before the Angeles City regional trial court branch 60 against a mining firm allegedly conducting “clandestine activities” in Diamond Subdivision in Barangay Balibago in this city.
Horn said he is a former administrative officer of MECO-OPSEC, the firm that reportedly operates and doing “deep and wide excavations” inside the house of respondents Norman and Matilde Haynes, owners of Manila Exploration Co.-Annex, Ltd.
Using a ladder (lowered by a rope), Horn said the hole was about 250 feet deep and the horizontal excavation (forming a tunnel) was about 116 feet.
He stressed that he was not sure of the exact measurement since “I did not measure it but I have gone down the hole about 23 feet deep. Natatakot ako,” Horn said.
Former city councilor Louie Reyes has earlier filed a petition before the regional trial court here asking a mining firm to stop what he described as “clandestine activities” near his house in the same subdivision.
He said the diggings, using machineries and equipment, create “intolerable noises and most of the times, emit nauseating odor as those of harmful chemicals.”
“Upon the filing of this petition, a Temporary Restraining Order be issued restraining the Respondents from pursuing their prohibited activities within the property…” said Reyes in his petition.
The petitioner has discovered the operation sometime in July when he saw deep excavations where huge concrete culverts and metal pipes were being installed.
“Regardless of whether or not the respondents had secured license of permit from appropriate government agencies for such activities being undertaken, on their lot, the same remain to be illegal and prohibited within a residential subdivision,” Reyes said.
In his petition, he said that “an insider at the respondent’s circle” gave some vital information regarding the respondents’ operation.
“The excavation has gone as deep as more than one hundred (100) feet and that a tunnel has been constructed beneath the ground and that in all probability, the tunnel has encroached beneath other lots owned by the respondents,” he said.
“The danger posed by the deep excavations on the adjacent properties cannot be underestimated. The lives of the petitioner, his relatives and the tenants/occupants of the apartment units are severely exposed to extreme danger especially so in the light of recent experiences of calamities brought about by highly unpredictable weather changes,” he added.
Reyes also wrote a letter on June 8, 2009 to the district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways but the latter has yet to act on the complaints.
The petitioner and some residents in Diamond Subdivision also wrote a complaint letter to Mayor Francis Nepomuceno on August 24, 2009.
Reyes is now asking the respondents to pay P300,000 for moral and exemplary damages including attorney’s fees and costs of the suit.
NO BASIS
Atty. Karlo Nicolas, the counsel of Manila Exploration Co.-Annex, Ltd., told Punto Central Luzon that Reyes’ petition has no basis.
“My clients are not doing anything illegal or contrary to law. We will be presenting evidences to prove that the petition has no basis,” he said.
He also said that MECCO-OPSEC is not the same company that Horn was referring to. “He was telling it was the same company but it’s not.”
S.E.C. REGISTERED
Manila Exploration Co.-Annex, Ltd. is registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a mining firm based on its Articles of Partnership:
“The purpose of this Limited Partnership are 1) To purchase real estate, and to secure leasehold rights, and to enter into joint venture arrangements, for purposes or conducting exploratory drilling, electronic prospecting, and excavatory search for the ultimate recovery of potable water, or precious metals, and other valuables located upon, within or below privately owned real estate, public lands/waters, and real estate purchased by this Limited Partnership…”
Thus said Tony Horn on Tuesday as he testified before the Angeles City regional trial court branch 60 against a mining firm allegedly conducting “clandestine activities” in Diamond Subdivision in Barangay Balibago in this city.
Horn said he is a former administrative officer of MECO-OPSEC, the firm that reportedly operates and doing “deep and wide excavations” inside the house of respondents Norman and Matilde Haynes, owners of Manila Exploration Co.-Annex, Ltd.
Using a ladder (lowered by a rope), Horn said the hole was about 250 feet deep and the horizontal excavation (forming a tunnel) was about 116 feet.
He stressed that he was not sure of the exact measurement since “I did not measure it but I have gone down the hole about 23 feet deep. Natatakot ako,” Horn said.
Former city councilor Louie Reyes has earlier filed a petition before the regional trial court here asking a mining firm to stop what he described as “clandestine activities” near his house in the same subdivision.
He said the diggings, using machineries and equipment, create “intolerable noises and most of the times, emit nauseating odor as those of harmful chemicals.”
“Upon the filing of this petition, a Temporary Restraining Order be issued restraining the Respondents from pursuing their prohibited activities within the property…” said Reyes in his petition.
The petitioner has discovered the operation sometime in July when he saw deep excavations where huge concrete culverts and metal pipes were being installed.
“Regardless of whether or not the respondents had secured license of permit from appropriate government agencies for such activities being undertaken, on their lot, the same remain to be illegal and prohibited within a residential subdivision,” Reyes said.
In his petition, he said that “an insider at the respondent’s circle” gave some vital information regarding the respondents’ operation.
“The excavation has gone as deep as more than one hundred (100) feet and that a tunnel has been constructed beneath the ground and that in all probability, the tunnel has encroached beneath other lots owned by the respondents,” he said.
“The danger posed by the deep excavations on the adjacent properties cannot be underestimated. The lives of the petitioner, his relatives and the tenants/occupants of the apartment units are severely exposed to extreme danger especially so in the light of recent experiences of calamities brought about by highly unpredictable weather changes,” he added.
Reyes also wrote a letter on June 8, 2009 to the district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways but the latter has yet to act on the complaints.
The petitioner and some residents in Diamond Subdivision also wrote a complaint letter to Mayor Francis Nepomuceno on August 24, 2009.
Reyes is now asking the respondents to pay P300,000 for moral and exemplary damages including attorney’s fees and costs of the suit.
NO BASIS
Atty. Karlo Nicolas, the counsel of Manila Exploration Co.-Annex, Ltd., told Punto Central Luzon that Reyes’ petition has no basis.
“My clients are not doing anything illegal or contrary to law. We will be presenting evidences to prove that the petition has no basis,” he said.
He also said that MECCO-OPSEC is not the same company that Horn was referring to. “He was telling it was the same company but it’s not.”
S.E.C. REGISTERED
Manila Exploration Co.-Annex, Ltd. is registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a mining firm based on its Articles of Partnership:
“The purpose of this Limited Partnership are 1) To purchase real estate, and to secure leasehold rights, and to enter into joint venture arrangements, for purposes or conducting exploratory drilling, electronic prospecting, and excavatory search for the ultimate recovery of potable water, or precious metals, and other valuables located upon, within or below privately owned real estate, public lands/waters, and real estate purchased by this Limited Partnership…”
