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Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Murcia Business Alliance questions town mayor
By Genalin D. Ducay
THE Murcia Business Alliance (MBA) challenged Monday Murcia Mayor Esteban Coscolluela to call a public hearing before operating the new Murcia Public Market.
Murcia is constructing a new market after the old one was burned down last Aug. 21, 2003.
The alliance also asked the mayor to lower the rates of the market stalls and show transparency in the implementation of the project.
MBA is an association of 140 vendors and business owners in the Murcia public market.
The group led by its president, Lina Lazanas, went to Sun.Star Monday to air their views on the proposed operation of the market.
They also want to refute claims earlier made by Coscolluela as published in the December 7 issue of Sun.Star's Speak Out column.
In his open letter, the Murcia mayor had said that contrary to the claim earlier made by the MBA that he has not been fair in his dealings with the group, MBA has never applied for accreditation with the town.
He also said in his letter that Lazanas is a delinquent taxpayer who only started operating a meat stall in the town's temporary market last year.
Coscolluela made the statements after the MBA said in an interview in another paper that it is mulling charges against the mayor for questionable policies in the operations of the soon-to-open public market.
According to the mayor, the MBA's accusations are politically motivated. He said the MBA leaders are closely identified with his rivals.
Lazanas said the mayor did not notify the public about the project. She also said no billboards were seen on the construction site and the allocation of funds was not posted anywhere.
The group said they have been requesting for the documents on the project, such as the published result of the pre-bidding of the market, the agency estimate for the total cost of the project, the winning contractor and the sources of funds. But no records were reportedly shown.
With the public hearing, the group said the issues would be threshed out.
Other documents that they want the mayor to produce include the National Bureau of Investigation probe result on the fire incident that burned the old public market to the ground and the liquidation report of the 2003 calamity fund appropriated by the Municipal Council for the fire victims.
The group also wants to see documents on the loan from LandBank--how much is it and the number of years it would have to be paid. The money was used for the construction of the new market.
As to the rental and tariff rates, the alliance said that it was not brought up in a public hearing and that the decision was agreed upon by a selected few.
The group also pinpointed Monday to specific statements made by the mayor in his open letter.
On the statement that MBA spokesperson Rafaelito Gayares is not a permit holder of any business, Gayares said this is solely because "the business is listed in my wife's name, Jocelyn Gayares. It's a conjugal property. And a spokesperson for any cause need not have a business permit as a pre-requisite."
On the mayor's assertion that Lazanas is a delinquent taxpayer, she said it is completely untrue.
"Indi nya ko kilala kay pangayaw lang sa mo. Pangayaw. (He does not know me for he is just an outsider. Stranger)," she said.
"I've been a market block owner since time immemorial and of good standing. We are paying our obligation to the municipality," she added.
As to the accreditation of the group, she said MBA is accredited by the City Council.
The MBA also brushed off the statement that they are affiliated with the mayor's political rival.
"We are not funded by any official. We are on our own in our cause," Gayares said.
"We just want him to show us the papers to settle the problem," he added.
(December 13, 2005 issue)
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