Attracting investors is a mayor’s duty
Attracting investors is one of the most important responsibilities of the head of a local government unit. How ironic then that former Naga City Mayor Val Chiong should be penalized for doing his job.
The facts are simple. A company applied for a business permit. Chiong welcomed its entry but another company apparently did not because both were engaged in the same business. Before the newcomer’s entry, the old one had been operating in Naga exclusively for some time.
Among the requirements that an applicant for a business permit must comply with is a Fire Safety Inspection Certificate. The newbie was able to produce the FSIC, issued by the Naga City office of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) with the concurrence of its regional office.
The national office of the BFP, however, intervened and reversed its field unit’s decision. The applicant was distraught, aware that any delay would cause loses. They sought the mayor’s help; they had appealed the withdrawal of their FSIC and were certain that the document would eventually be granted so would Val please allow them to operate in the meantime?
The mayor found the request reasonable and granted a temporary permit, renewable every three months. Val thought it was within his discretion to do so. More importantly, he knew that the entry of another investor would be a boon to his city.
The FSIC was, as promised by the business permit applicant, eventually issued. But by then Val had been charged with graft for “unlawfully”
What is surprising is that during his watch, Chiong had a harmonious relationship with the business community in Naga
issuing the conditional permit. And last week, the Ombudsman released a decision perpetually disqualifying him from holding any public office.
I’m curious. In applying the law, are we not supposed to interpret it not by “the letter that killeth but by the spirit that giveth life”?
Val must have thought of retirement from politics at one time or another. He has been in it for more than a decade, dating back to when Naga was still a town. Unlike other politicians who could not seem to imagine a life after public office, he did not seek any elective post when he served out his constitutional limit of three terms as mayor in 2016.
With his lawyer daughter Kristine Vanessa succeeding him, Val has reason to believe that his city is in good hands. He can afford to walk away and concentrate on his tennis. But not in this manner, not under these circumstances, he said. As he told Cebu Daily News, “lain lang silang paminawon kay graft man.”
What is surprising is that during his watch, Chiong had a harmonious relationship with the business community in Naga. One of them even established the city’s public library in 2015. SPC Power Corp. not only constructed the building that house the library, it also provided the books and computers and hired the librarian and his assistant.
SPC recently suffered a legal setback when the Supreme Court voided its right-to-match in the sale of the old Salcon plant but the company said it did not affect their commitment to maintain the library and grant Naga residents easy access to valuable information.