Case of donated chickens ‘closed’

THE Cebu City Council will not pursue the investigation on what happened to the chickens donated to the City.

The nine councilors allied with Mayor Edgardo Labella disapproved the motion of Sangguniang Kabataan Federation president Jessica Resch to invite Charoen Pokphand Foods Philippines Corp., the donor of 16,524 live chickens, and Ali Agri Exim Corp., which dressed the chickens.

Resch, an ex-officio member of the council, and her seven allies from the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan were outvoted.

Resch also brought up the matter of the donor looking for the deed of donation, but Councilor

Raymond Alvin Garcia explained that the transmission of resolutions from the Office of the Secretariat to the Office of the Mayor takes time.

Garcia said once a resolution is approved in the council, it is finalized by the Office of the Secretariat. Then the vice mayor has to sign the approved resolution before it is sent to the Office of the Mayor, he said.

Because the Office of the Secretariat has been undermanned since the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic struck the city, the transmission has further slowed, Garcia said.

He said if Resch really wanted to know about chickens donated to the City, he suggested she look into the chickens donated to the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC).

Garcia said they haven’t seen any documents on the 20,000 donated chickens.

Councilor Franklyn Ong, ABC president, said they’re just waiting for the request from the Office of the Secretariat.

In early June, Ong held a virtual press conference where he said the chickens donated to the ABC were complete and well documented. /