Bucao and nine councilors to file counter-affidavit

ON OMBUDS COMPLAINT

Upon the request of the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas (OOV), Talisay City Vice Mayor Alan Bucao together with nine other city councilors are now preparing to submit a counteraffidavit on the complaint filed against them by an urban poor organization.

Last October, City of Talisay Federation of Homeowners Association (CT-FEDHOA) filed a complaint for violations on the Local Government Code against Bucao and councilors namely Arturo Bas, Socrates Fernandez, Gail Restauro, Manuel Cabriana, Rudolfo Cabigas, Valeriano Ylanan, Richard Francis Aznar, Julian Daan and Raul Cabañero, the president of the Association of Barangay Council.

CT-FEDHOA claims that those city officials were not doing their jobs and had been sitting on their application for accreditation for over three months.

Diel Lanzon, CT-FEDHOA chairman, told reporters that he was glad that the OOV has taken some action on their complaint.

“Nabati nako nga nalipay ko base sa atong sitwasyon sa pamalaod sa Pilipinas. Aduna pa diay paglaum gibuhat ug duna pa'y hustisya sa among claim. Nag-reklamo mi tungod sa pagpasagad sa among grupo, sulod sa taas nga panahon, wala gyud mi nila gitubag. Kutob sa among mahimo mo-fight gyud mi para sa among katungod,” he said.

In a separate interview with Bucao, he said they are now drafting a joint counter-affidavit to be submitted to the OOV probably by Thursday.

He added that they have nothing to worry about the complaint since they followed the correct process for accrediting any association.

The content of their affidavit would primarily cite the recommendation of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) not to accredit CT-FEDHOA because they have yet to comply with the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Local Government Code.

Bucao said that before approving the accreditation of the group, they sought advice from the office of the DILG.

The DILG stated in its reply that the city officials should follow the IRR of the Local Government Code Article 64, which states that they would only accredit community-based groups with project development and implementation track record of at least one year.

CT-FEDHOA was established only last July.

It was stated in the complaint filed by CT-FEDHOA that it has been more than 118 days since they applied for accreditation from the office of Cabañero, who is the current head of the council's Committee on Accreditation, but they have not received any formal communication.

For his part, Cabañero said he has yet to submit a committee report about the accreditation of the group because they were waiting for advice from the DILG. After receiving DILG's reply, they immediately informed the association that its needs to comply with the requirements first.

“Dili nato ma-accredit and CT-FEDHOA tungod sa IRR kay wala pa man sad sila ka-comply,” he said.