Punchline
Mayor Lim lies again
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
I LISTENED to the interview granted by Mayor Benjie Lim in connection with the worsening garbage problem in the city, and as I had expected he continued to downplay the failure of his administration to resolve the issues, including the ghost of the 30-hectare in Barangay Awai, San Jacinto, that he pledged as early as 2001!
Throughout his monologue, he flippantly referred to the Awai lot as if the city still has possession of the lot and that the city has the title to it, because it does not. This has been confirmed by the City Assessor and City Auditor! The mayor continues to lie.
And as he proceeded to regale the local media with his supposed grasp of the situation, I was aghast at his temerity to admit to the illegal activities that the city was resorting to like it was the norm! But of course, it was not as if the city was not aware of it but for him to even justify these like he had carte blanche to do anything without regard to the country’s laws clearly demonstrated his arrogance in governing the city’s affairs.
I hope the mediamen that had taped the interview would keep it as evidence that can be presented once a complaint against him and the city for violation of the country’s environmental laws is filed. The evidence shows that he was aware of the violations but nonetheless proceeded violating them. Touché!
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NO DEBATE, NO ACCOUNTABILITY. Outside of the interview, the mayor was reportedly asked if he would accept my challenge to debate with me on the fraudulent purchase of the Barangay Awai ostensibly for a sanitary landfill, about it being overpriced and the city having lost possession of the property. His glib reply: “Bago ako maki-debate sa kanya, mag-mayor muna siya (referring to me)! I guess that meant he refuses to account to the city for the loss of the city’s P16 M that was paid to his business associate, Jose Mariano Cuña.
Curiously, the city auditor has not recommended to the Commission on Audit any action that should be taken for the lost property. Auditor Ofelia Celi has only gone to the extent of reporting “missing properties” in her 2010 annual report but she did not give details. To date, she has not even responded to the sanggunian’s inquiry about the list. Is she covering up for Mr. Lim and the onor-onors?
More curiously, former City Legal Officer Geraldine Baniqued has kept mum on the issue for the past decade. She, too, must account for her own acts in that fraudulent deal involving the city that she endorsed.
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GONZ IS ON FIRE. Watch Fire Player Gonz Duque. He is not one to threaten legal action and later backs down. Gonz demonstrated this when he filed a case with damages against Mr. Lim and the city for illegal collection of business taxes after he and other school owners were humiliated in public by the mayor virtually calling them “tax cheats”!
This time, Gonz is ready to file another case vs. Lim et al (city officials possibly including sanggunian) for failing to protect the environment and the communities, for violating R.A. 9003, the Solid Waste Management Act of 9003 as amended, with impunity.
Gonz has reason to be enraged, nay, furious. Garbage continues to pile up along his barangay’s streets (and in many other barangays) with no respite in sight. He fears an eventual spread of disease in the city. Today, the Lim administration goes through the motion of containing the garbage disposal problem by applying “band-aid solutions” albeit illegal, just to cover-up its continued failure.
As Gonz correctly observed, the Lim administration appears only to be interested in projects that involve “deals” as in million-peso construction projects for his favorite contractors, i.e., P40 M 20-bed Lying-in hospital, P10 M Tsunami Hill, P11 M Daongan ed Dawel, P400 M MC Adore property, P230 M Malimgas Market, etc. not to mention “Instant-Profit” schemes like feeding program for children where items can be bought overpriced by almost 100%, management of fiesta and Bangus Festival that he feels he does not have to account for.
The only seeming concrete action taken by the Lim administration for the protection of the city’s environment in the past was the purchase of the Barangay Awai, never mind that the deal was tainted with graft, but the property was lost.
It will also be recalled that the sanggunian allocated P100,000 for each of the barangays in April 2011 to help ease flooding in their respective communities. And what did the city hall do with it? Onor-onor Emong Valllejos withdrew the sum that was used to pay for the booking of the kapitans for a group tour to Singapore! After issuing conflicting reasons for the expenditure, City Administrator Vlad Mata finally said the expense was justified because it was for Lakbay-Aral! Bah!
For the city’s sake, I say God speed Gonz! Make the Lim administration see the right priority for the city. Stop all the wheeling and dealing!
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STILL A MAJORITY OF ONOR-ONORS. Onor-onor Alvin Coquia’s claim that all’s well in the “majority” is pure unadulterated self-serving and hypocritical. His basis? They are now in good terms with Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez! Hello?
Without the Judas 5 showing remorse by correcting the wrong they committed for 30 pieces of silver, the trapo politicos clearly only want to sweep their mess under the rug while leaving the city high and dry.
If the Magic 8 is intact, then the least that the Judas 5 can do is to file a motion asking for the pendency of the obscene resolution they approved pending completion of the discussion of the resolution without prejudice to a possible withdrawal of the authority granted the mayor depending on the results of the discussion. Until they do that, they will remain onor-onors in the eyes of the Dagupeños because they have not redeemed themselves.
When Onor-onor Coquia insisted there was nothing wrong in the passage of the resolution, I became more convinced that he has been completely compromised. What does that make of the observations of Veem Belen with whom the Judas 5 kissed and made up? The least he can do is to agree with her but he won’t.
In sum, the image of an “intact majority” may all be well for the trapos in the Liberal Party but certainly not for the city. For all intents and purposes, there is still a majority of onor-onors in the city council that will not hesitate to turn its back on the people.
Veem Belen should watch her back, her side and what’s in front of her.
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MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT BSL’S DEALS. Here’s a set of questions sent to Punchline by an anonymous reader: “If a letter of request will be sent to the city, will the city be obliged to give copies of the official document on the payment of Sixteen Million made by the city to Cuña? No land was received, so was it a fraud sale? Who signed the Acceptance that the land was received by the city? What was COA’s post audit finding? Was there a violation to the Procurement Law which penalizes such an offense with 15 years imprisonment. Ghost delivery? If the MC Adore sale will push through at 75 million, could Benjie Lim be charged with plunder if the actual market value of MC Adore is 400 million? Could Managen be included in the suit?”
Some quick answers. The city can be compelled by the Ombudsman to present the official documents pertinent to the sale. Will city hall give an ordinary citizen a copy? Not a chance. Was it a fraud sale? Since the title to the land was never transferred to the city, the sale can be deemed fraudulent. Unless city hall can prove otherwise, I believe all that the city has is a copy of the title under either Cuña’s name or the original owner’s name. The city auditor Ofelia Celi reported the “missing assets” to COA but did not specify that one of these is the San Jacinto lot. It was the city assessor who confirmed in a hearing at the sanggunian that the city does not have the title to the San Jacinto property that the city already paid for. (Mrs. Celi has not confirmed this, neither has she reacted to the issues raised by The Punch. The Ombudsman can easily determine a violation of the procurement law since the purchase was overpriced. And no, Mr. Lim cannot be charged for plunder for the sale of any city property but he can be charged and convicted in violation of Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act if he is found to have applied illegal procedures in the sale and acquisition of the properties and or to have personally benefitted from the negotiation. So far, no buyer for any of the properties has been confirmed. Please note that Managen only submitted an offer to buy.
In order to obtain official determination of the status of the concrete answers, a simple complaint or request to the ombudsman for an investigation by a Dagupeño is all that’s needed for now. Filer need not identify himself or herself.
The PUNCH has done its duty reporting on the issue, it’s now up to the city’s taxpayers to take action. Will someone stand up for the city and put an end to the stealing and dealing in the city? If none, then the city deserves to be governed to the ground.
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