Chiriquí Chatter

I just received the following email related to the lack of progress in getting assistance from the Panamanian authorities.

Hi Don Ray,

Thought I’d send along a progress (or lack thereof) report on the happenings at Playa Las Lajas:

The property owners spent this past week networking: making new contacts and reconnecting with previous contacts. The physical work of building the retaining wall and sandbagging (band-aids at best) was completed 10 days ago; both wall and sandbags withstood last weekend’s high tides reasonably well, but breaches did occur. Small outbuildings (outhouse and patio) were the latest victims of the Rio San Felix (photo attached, taken August 15th).

Ing. Luis Lombardo, Provincial Director of MOP, has ignored all of the group’s phone calls this week. Messages were left both on his cell phone and at his office. This past week, we had been advised that MOP’s resident hydrologist, Ing. Mina, was to inspect the site. We have not been able to confirm that he in fact did make the trip. This week, we were able to obtain contact numbers for Ing. Lombardo’s superiors at MOP in Panama City. Since the numbers came to us late on Friday afternoon, we were unable to speak directly to anyone in authority. Obviously, they will be called again tomorrow.

A friend of this group, a building contractor here in David, is traveling to Panama City this week and plans to visit the MOP offices on our behalf. He has expressed disbelief at not only MOP’s inaction, but Ing. Lombardo’s defiance of a direct order from the Governor of Chiriqui, Virgilio Vergara, of 150 hours of heavy equipment time.

This past week, e-mails were sent to Sr. Ruben Blades, Minister of Tourism and Investment (IPAT) at his address gerencia@ipat.gob.pa and calls made to his office at 506-226-7000 - none of which he responded to. His assistant Rosie assured me that Sr. Blades reads all of the incoming e-mail. When asked if he responded to any or all of them, Rosie’s silence answered that question. Here’s a portion of the e-mail written to Sr. Blades, after outlining what had happened, who we’d contacted and what we’d done:

“We realize that these efforts are merely band-aids; a much larger effort than we can afford must be undertaken as soon as possible and this cannot be done without the backing of the Government of Panama. MOP’s engineers are fully aware of the situation and of what needs to be done - they also know that time is of the essence. Over the next 2 months, the heavy rain that has been predicted together with the highest tides of the year spells disaster for Playa Las Lajas.”

This, along with some of the photos I’d sent to Chiriqui Chatter pretty much sums it up. I’m sure I’m now on Sr. Blades’ Blocked Senders list!

Thanks again, Don Ray for your support. Thanks also to your readers who have provided contact info.

Regards,
Linda & Stan