TIFF BETWEEN MAYOR, SOME BARANGAYS HEATS UP AS MAY 14 POLLS APPROACH

“Where did all the money go?”

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña vowed yesterday to file more cases against barangay officials who have failed to liquidate financial assistance from the City.

In his press conference, the mayor pointed out that Barangay Tinago received more than P14 million intended for vaious projects, including an assembly, a summer sports tour- nament, security arrangements for the Ironman competition that would pass through the community, and some infrastructure projects.

Of the total amount, only P10,000 was liquidated and is now under pre-audit as of Dec. 31, 2017, the mayor said.

“They were given more than enough time; we gave them extensions but still no liquidations,” said the mayor, who has so far filed seven cases against barangay officials. Erring officials who get reelected on May 14, he also said, can expect no support from him.

As the campaign for this Monday’s elections heads into its final days, the mayor also spoke against Apas Barangay Captain Ramil Ayuman.

“Don’t waste your vote on Ayuman because he is going to jail, and so with the other barangay captains,” Osmeña said. He was asked to respond to Ayuman’s allegation, made in a Facebook post, that the mayor would field some City Hall employees to serve as election workers in his barangay.

Osmeña clarified that he doesn’t get to assign watchers, much less identify election inspectors, in the May 14 elections. He also countered that it was Ayuman who offered some teachers assigned to Apas to an all-expenses-paid trip to Pinamungajan. “(He is) trying to get their sympathy. I don’t know for what purpose. He treat all of them. That’s a big expense,” Osmeña claimed.

He also challenged Ayuman to liquidate the funds the barangay supposedly received since 2015 from the City. “That’s the corruption of the previous administration,” the mayor alleged. / ELITZ CABALLERO & ILVEYA NAVA, CNU INTERNS