No termination for Mambaling BMO

Unlike the worker in Barangay Apas, Cebu City who was terminated, members of the Barangay Mayor’s Office (BMO) in Barangay Mambaling can keep their jobs despite having solicited sponsorship money illegally.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña said yesterday there was no malice or personal gain on the part of the BMO members in Mambaling.

“What they did was wrong but I think they were not aware that they were doing something against the law so I just gave them a reprimand and a warning to everybody. That’s it, no unauthorized solicitation using the name of the barangay or the city,” Osmeña said.

Members of the Mambaling BMO allegedly used the barangay’s seal to solicit funds for its Christmas party and the barangay’s participation in the recently concluded Sinulog, prompting Barangay Captain Wilfredo Go to ask Osmeña to investigate.

“It is obvious that it is not for personal benefit. The tenure of the letter was basically saying to help our barangay because they were representing Mambaling but they should have not used barangay Mambaling's seal,” Osmeña said.

Osmeña said he also noticed that the solicitation letter for the Sinulog contingent of Mambaling was noted by the parish priest, which, to him, evidence that the group did not try to hide anything.

In Apas' case, however, aside from solicitation using the city's seal, the BMO staff member who was terminated was still seen using the city's vehicle after termination.

To stop the solicitation of funds for Sinulog participation, Osmeña said he is eyeing at increasing the current P300,000 subsidy to local contingents.

ANOTHER PROBE

More than the solicitation issue, what the city is investigating in Mambaling is the operation of a carnival in the barangay, Osmeña said.

“Mambaling BMO is undergoing an investigation for the perya. That seems to be a more suspicious, questionable activity,” he said.

Osmeña said he received reports that the barangay did not authorize the carnival's operation near the city's Command Control Center (C3) in Mambaling.

Allegedly, the carnival is “stealing” electricity from C3.

“Many questions were asked especially how they authorized it, how much are they collecting, and there's also a report that they were using the command center as the source of their electricity. That I'm very suspicious,” Osmeña said.

Osmeña said he already asked the Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification, and Enhancement (PROBE) chief Raquel Arce to investigate the matter.

If allegations are proven true, those behind the carnival's operation will be terminated, the mayor said.