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Thursday, June 29, 2006
Carmen checks dad’s raps
The Carmen Municipal Council did not act upon the resignation letter of Councilor Gerard Villamor, whose plan to quit may yet provoke a closer look into the town’s water supply deal with a private consortium.
Instead, it created an ad hoc committee that will look into Villamor’s complaints against council secretary Reynaldo de Dios.
The council held a closed-door meeting to discuss Villamor’s resignation yesterday, where Vice Mayor Al Silvestre Damiles asked each councilor to express his or her views on the matter.
Absent
Only Villamor was absent among the nine councilors. De Dios was asked not to attend the meeting.
In an interview afterwards, Councilor Isabelo Apor said some of them want Villamor to reconsider his resignation, while some said they respect Villamor’s decision to quit.
Villamor sent a letter to the Sangguniang Bayan to apologize for the publicity that his resignation has created, saying the issue has been “sensationalized.”
He clarified that his resignation was supposed to be an internal matter and that the report printed in a local newspaper (not Sun.Star Cebu) was “inaccurate” and printed without his knowledge or consent.
He also clarified that his original intention was to resign only as majority floor leader and from his four committees.
However, when Sun.Star Cebu interviewed him when the news of his resignation broke out, Villamor said he was determined to resign as councilor if de Dios would not be stripped of his duties as council secretary.
“However, events transpired beyond my control and I have to respectfully request that you accept my resignation as councilor... Let this letter be my official notice. I leave my fate to your enlightened judgment,” Villamor said in his letter.
Section 82 of the Local Government Code provides that “the resignation shall be deemed accepted if not acted upon within 15 working days from receipt thereof.”
Apor said the investigation will look into the allegations that de Dios caused some “illegal” insertions in the Ayala-led consortium’s contract with Carmen to extract water from its Luyang River.
It will also investigate “why he (Villamor) is so mad at Rey (de Dios).”
Villamor will be invited to the investigation and the committee hopes to come up with a report before the 15-day reglamentary period lapses.
Grant
Also during yesterday’s session, the council passed a resolution giving the Manila Water Foundation until July 31 to secure, for the town, a grant for the rehabilitation of its water system from the Japanese Government.
The foundation, which is said to be part of the consortium, is making arrangements for the town to get a maximum grant of P3 million.
Ben Velasco, who represents the foundation, said the Japanese Government just wants to make sure the project will be sustainable.
Water meters
Also yesterday, the foundation brought some 200 water meters to be donated to the town, after the council previously requested for 500 meters for its water system rehabilitation program.
However, the council was divided on whether to accept the donation or not. In the end, five voted against it, so the foundation decided to just give the water meters to the National Government.
Apor, who was among those who voted against it, expressed apprehensions about accepting the donation, amid issues on the
town’s deal with Ayala.
The council earlier agreed to ask the National Water Resources Board to cancel the consortium’s permit to get water from the town’s Luyang River.
They were aggrieved that the agreement was signed with the mayor, but they were not informed about it—an oversight that lawyer Aristotle Batuhan, who represents the consortium, apologized for yesterday.
It took a meeting with the governor to convince the councilors not to oppose the private consortium’s permit.
The group has signed a P2-billion bulk water supply project to provide water to the Metropolitan Cebu Water District. Carmen stands to get at least 22 centavos for every cubic meter extracted, as royalty. (MBG)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 29, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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