Sunday, September 07, 2008 Work together, please By Oscar C. Pineda Sun.Star Staff Reporter
MAJORITY of the barangay captains decided to speak in defense of the mayor in the middle of his clash with the Mandaue City Council.
Twenty-three out of the city’s 27 barangay captains and three barangay councilors urged the city council’s majority to cooperate with Mayor Jonas Cortes.
They also called on Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna to lead the opposition councilors in cooperating with the mayor for the fast implementation of projects.
The community leaders signed a manifesto last Friday, when another disagreement erupted between Cortes, on one side, and Fortuna with the opposition councilors on the other.
Fortuna said the manifesto did not come from the barangay captains, but was fed to them and they were only made to sign it.
The clash stemmed from the city council’s refusal to allocate funds for specific items in the mayor’s proposed first supplemental budget. The two officials are also pointing at each other as the cause of delays in the implementation of infrastructure projects.
But barangay leaders, in their manifesto, blamed the majority councilors. They said they have witnessed delays in the delivery of basic services and projects because the council has blocked them.
Barangay captains urged the city councilors to set aside politics and put the people’s interest first, by cooperating with the mayor.
In the last paragraph of their manifesto, written in Cebuano, the barangay leaders expressed frustration over the “politicking.”
Fortuna, however, believes that the move was instigated by the mayor’s camp. He said the chief executive invited the barangay officials for lunch in Lapu-Lapu City last Friday and made them sign the manifesto, which he described as based on “assumptions and biased information.”
“The mayor should not run to the barangay captains because the barangay captains cannot solve his problems,” said Fortuna.
“I’m sure barangay captains don’t want us to close our eyes to the pilferage of the city’s gasoline supply and apparent wastage of government funds,” he also said.
Four barangay captains known for opposing the mayor did not sign the manifesto. They are opposition-allied Barangay Captains Aquilino Cabahug of Barangay Alang-Alang; Zaldy Lumapas of Barangay Umapad; Vicente Domasian of Barangay Cambaro; and Joy Ouano of Opao.
In their place, Alang-Alang Barangay Councilor Mervin Bragat signed the manifesto. So did Umapad Barangay Councilor Nelson Rubio and Cambaro Barangay Councilor Junil Almodiel. (OCP)
