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Thursday, October 06, 2005
Oro priest: I don't decide on piso-piso program
By Lizanilla J. Amarga
ARCHDIOCESE of Cagayan de Oro media relations officer Monsignor Elmer Abacahin on Wednesday clarified that he doesn't decide on the distribution of the parcels of lands under Mayor Vicente Emano's multi-million Piso-Piso Land Resettlement and Relocation Program.
"I am not that powerful. It is still Mayor Emano who has the last say as to who are to be given or not to be given any parcel of lot under the Piso-Piso Land Program)," he told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro.
Abacahin issued this statement in light of how Mayor Vicente Emano told the three hearing officers from the Office of the Ombudsman that it was Abacahin who distributes the parcels of land under the P1.00 per lot program.
The mayor even reiterated the same statement when he was interviewed over dxIF Bombo Radyo last Monday as he further explained that the parcels of land under the Piso-Piso Program are distributed in a fair and non-political manner as it is Abacahin who decides on who are to be given parcels of lands or not.
"I told the Ombudsman that it was not I who really distributed the parcels of land under the Piso-Piso Program but Monsignor Abacahin," Emano said in the dialect over dxIF Bombo Radyo.
Emano was made to sit on the witness stand by the Ombudsman to answer for the 18 counts of graft charges filed by lawyer Ed Tamondong against him and several other city councilors.
Abacahin for his part admitted that he has a "major influence" on the decision-making, as it is he who is placed on the front of this program.
Emano said this as he admitted that applicants for the Piso-Piso land program first come to him for an interview and after which he would make an "endorsement" to the Estate Management Division (EMD).
"I have a major influence but ultimately I am only the only who interviews and endorses applicants it is the EMD who investigates whether these applicants would qualify or not. It is no longer my problem whether these applicants would qualify for the Piso-Piso Land Program or not," Emano said.
Furthermore, Abacahin clarified that the Piso-Piso Land Relocation and Resettlement Program covers several huge parcels of land in different barangays in the city but what he handles is only the 63 hectares in Barangay Cala-anan.
Abacahin said this as he reiterated that he is against land "dole-outs" as what the Piso-Piso program espouses.
"Look at our Archdiocese land program at Fr. Cronin, those lands there were not doled out but those beneficiaries were made to pay for them though in a gradual basis," Abacahin said.
(October 6, 2005 issue)
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