Friday, April 25, 2008 Mandaue council denounces Jonas
THE Mandaue City Council has passed a resolution denouncing Mayor Jonas Cortes for padlocking the Mandaue City College (MCC).
They also expressed support for the students and faculty members in their move against the mayor.
“This is a naked show of force, a savage act that should be denounced as we should support whatever the students and faculty are contemplating against the author of this unnecessary assault on the rights of the students,” majority floor leader Victor Biaño told the council.
When Biaño proposed the resolution, Cortes allies Diosdado Suico and Jimmy Lumapas opposed the move saying the mayor was just enforcing the “deed of usufruct,” which gave the City Science High School the right on the building as they are now being driven out of a public school in Barangay Opao.
Before the MCC campus was padlocked, Cortes already planned the transfer of students from the Ibabao campus to the city sports complex, where another group of students is holding classes.
When told about the deed of usufruct, Vice Mayor Carlo Pontico Fortuna asked the council which building they were referring to.
He told the councilors that previous barangay officials requested DepEd to allow the elementary pupils to use the building for the meantime.
Sun.Star Cebu called up Ibabao-Estancia Barangay Captain Carmelito Del Mar Jr. for his reaction but he said he is not privy to the transaction.
Councilor Suico then suggested that the council form a committee to investigate the matter, but Biaño called for a voting, where the move to denounce Cortes’ action prevailed in a vote of seven to two.
Meanwhile, MCC students and faculty members, who held a mass in one of the rooms of Eversly Childs Sanitarium Hospital in Barangay Jagobiao last Wednesday afternoon, vowed to file charges against Cortes.
They are staying at the facility for their summer classes until Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz gets Health Secretary Francisco Duque’s approval for a two-year extension of their stay.
Ruiz said that once she gets Duque’s approval, she will use Sen. Ramon Revilla’s P4 million grant to MCC years back to improve the hospital basement.
Otherwise, the fund will revert to the national coffers if it remains unused by the yearend.
Ruiz also promised to find a more permanent location for the campus to pave the way for the bill she filed converting the City-created college into a state-owned institution.
She also suggested making the college a branch of Cebu Normal University, which she said is the fastest way of converting the MCC into a state college. (OCP)
