Just yesterday, we saw a picture of an email from someone claiming to be Trade Minister Erwin Contreras. We say "claiming" because the minister told us that's not his email address - and indeed our records show him using another similar address for the past few years.

It is sent from contreraserwin67@gmail.com, which - again - Erwin Contreras says is someone impersonating him, and it is addressed to darknightcavetubing@gmail.com. The mail is titled Road Declaration, and it says, quote, "Paumen, you will be relieved that the Road Declaration, for your Access Road has enough Support to get signed this week. You can thank Carnival, as they demanded that the Tours sold through Darknight are available for December, Erwin"

So, why is this road declaration important? Well, as we've reported, Paumen runs his operation from a road which passes through Modiri's land. The Government acquired the land for public purpose, but Modiri sued and the court ruled that the Government unlawfully acquired the land for an improper purpose. The court reversed it and at the start of this current cruise tourism season, Modiri set up a blockade right where the road enters his land. So, Paumen has been forced to suspend all tours, because according to him, it is not financially feasible to go around Modiri's land.

Now, Paumen's employees have held protests twice in 6 weeks to beg the Government to intervene and declare the road public. That would force Modiri to end his blockade, and that's the context of this mystery email. Modiri tells us that this printed copy was pinned to his gate as a sort of threat, as if to send the message that he will fail in his effort to stop the Dark Night operation from passing through his land. When we contacted Paumen about the letter, he gave a contrary account, saying that someone trespassed on his property and took that of a confidential letter. He didn't dispute the authenticity of the letter.