CARNIVAL operator Belezar Ola admitted receiving orders from the Mayor’s office Wednesday morning, April 4, to temporarily close specific rides at the carnival grounds to make way for repairs while maintaining operations at the Children’s Park.
Ola said Mayor Mauricio Domogan, in an order sent after the inspection of the City Engineering Office and the City Buildings and Architecture Office (CBAO), has asked for the repair of minor problems involving rides, railings and fencing.
“This will just take hours to fix, we are on partial operations,” said Ola.
In a conflicting statement, Domogan said on Tuesday afternoon he has ordered a full closure of carnival operations at the park saying operation will commence until all repairs are done.
Domogan said certifications from a safety engineer from the city as well as from Ola must be submitted to his office before any operations continue.
The mayor said he has also verbally told Ola who visited his office Monday afternoon accompanied by Councilor Elmer Datuin to cease operation.
Ola has maintained there have been no malfunctions and gambling at the Children’s Park carnival.
For weeks, the carnival has earned the ire of residents and netizens who allege gambling as well as unsafe rides are operating on site.
The carnival set up by Ola, president of Linked–in Corporation has been in a peril since its onset with complaints hounding its day to day operations.
Under the agreement with the city, the carnival will operate for 60 days until classes start by June. A lease of P500,000 has been set with a P50,000 bond paid to the city in case of damage to the park.
The operator said the order to operate the carnival was signed March 5, but was not able to set up immediately, lamenting his lease contract has been ticking without full profits coming in because of opposition.
Over the weekend, a viral video posted in social media showed riders stuck in mid-air seemingly terrified, but the operator has denied the incident explaining the male and female riders were not stuck in midair, not terrified and were neither children.
Ola confirmed the CEO and CBAO inspected the carnival Monday morning but recommended minor repairs on railings and wall installations to which they will comply with.