Wednesday, September 24, 2008 Captains ask Cuenco, Faelnar to reconcile
BARANGAY captains are pressuring both Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) president Eugenio Faelnar and Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south) to patch things up for their sake.
With the way the two protagonists declare themselves in public, the only thing lacking is the venue and an intermediary.
Cuenco said he is okay with a one-on-one talk with Faelnar, but “not right now. Palugdangon usa nato ang tanan. (Let’s clear the air first.) And I (still) want the audit (on the P14.793 million released to Barangay Guadalupe) to proceed,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
Interviewed by reporters yesterday morning, Faelnar said he has no problem with any investigation by the Commission on Audit (COA) or by the ombudsman, saying the barangay can account for the entire amount.
The money represents funds from Cuenco’s Priority Development Assistance Fund, entrusted to Barangay Guadalupe in December 2005 through the Department of Agriculture (DA), for seedlings distribution, goat dispersal and farm projects.
Guadalupe officials last week handed over to the DA 7 a P7.633-million check representing the amount left after the barangay bought seedlings and hoses for south district barangays.
Faelnar met yesterday with the south district barangay captains and officials of the 10 north district barangays who likewise received seedlings.
The barangay officials testified that they received the seedlings, which were distributed to residents.
City Agriculturist Joelito Baclayon, who was also present, said he supervised the distribution of the seedlings and preparations leading to the supposed bidding this year for the goat dispersal project.
It was his office that identified and came up with a list of beneficiaries of the seedlings, which were distributed by the ABC and by the City Department of Agriculture.
Faelnar said he wanted to present Baclayon and the barangay captains to the public to dispel the suspicion that Guadalupe officials misused the money used in buying the seedlings.
The barangay captains said they did receive the seedlings, but not the goats.
In a long-distance interview, Cuenco assured the barangay captains his conflict with Faelnar will not reach the point where the barangay captains have to take sides.
Faelnar yesterday said he wants to speak with Cuenco alone before they hold a dialogue with the barangay captains together. This way, he said, there will be no disruptions when he starts speaking with the congressman.
He denied saying Cuenco has no projects in the south district, claiming that what he said was that north district barangay receive more projects than those in the south district.
Meanwhile, his falling-out with Cuenco prompted Mayor Tomas Osmeña to distribute copies of the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) principles to his allies to
remind them of the standards they have to uphold.
Osmeña said the memorandum was sent to all city councilors.
The six-page document contains 14 principles and a guide on how to make a political decision, which he said Cuenco violated.
When Cuenco violated two of the BOPK principles, that’s when he ceased to be a political ally, the mayor told a news conference yesterday.
“People were getting lost in definition so I’m bringing this document out this time to convince you that I’m not making things up,” he told reporters.
The mayor said he avoided writing down the group’s principles when he founded BOPK in 1987, mainly because the group is not bound by articles of incorporation and has no legal personality as a political party.
But when an internal conflict came up when he was no longer mayor in 1999, he wrote them down to serve as a guide to all BOPK members, he added.
Yet in a phone interview yesterday, Cuenco said he has never heard of such a document or guidelines and never received a copy since he joined the BOPK in the 1990s.
“That’s strange, that is so out of this world. Gimao-mao na man lang tingali na. He (Osmeña) never told me anything about that from the start. Tingali dugay na na and karon ra gi-resurrect, or maybe karon ra gihimo to justify his actions (Either that’s an old document he just resurrected, or it’s something he made recently to justify his actions),” said Cuenco.
When asked what Cuenco violated, the mayor said: “Look at number four, and he’s basically trapo (a traditional politician), that’s number one.”
The fourth principle states that “BOPK does not believe in the equity of the incumbent. An elected incumbent official may be removed from the ticket if his performance is substandard.” (RHM/LCR)
