BACOLOD City – “It’s time we move on.”
This is Councilor Em Ang’s take on the issues that stemmed from her and six other Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) members’ travel abroad.
“Shameless promoters of negative propaganda and disinformation will just feed on this,” said Ang during the SP Aug. 10 session.
The city council must “move on from the issue and proceed with doing real public service,” she stressed.
Ang, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran and councilors Caesar Distrito, Cindy Rojas, Renecito Novero, Bartolome Orola, and Dindo Ramos flew to Long Beach City in July for their 16-day official trip to attend the Californian city’s version of MassKara Festival.
Councilor Ricardo Tan – who led the SP being the acting vice mayor at the time – blasted them when the city council failed to reach quorum during its regular sessions for two consecutive weeks.
Due to no quorum, the SP was not able to transact any business, leaving a pile of pending resolutions, Tan stressed.
Tan said the SP members did not consider that public interest will be jeopardized should they leave Bacolod en masse.
Tan also hit Mayor Evelio Leonardia, saying the latter should have intervened by stopping other SP members from going abroad since he “has the power.”
In her speech, Ang addressed the issues thrown at her and the six other SP members.
Their political enemies have questioned if they really had secured clearance from the Department of Interior and Local Government before they went to California. Their travel expenses were also quizzed.
Ang said “not a day or moment was wasted on that trip” and “no public funds were expended.”
Before they could leave last month, the SP members said they would spend their personal money for the trip.
“Sometimes one person’s penchant for running off with his mouth can muddle even the most perfect messages and sincerest intentions. And since the local election is just around the corner, voters might think that we are simply creating political noise,” Ang said.
The lady councilor added that Bacolodnons “need leaders who are less interested in promoting their own interest and their own party.”
“We did a massive and extensive promotion of our beloved city at our own expense. But we do not mind because our takeaways from that trip is not only in tourism promotion and convention and festival management but also in economic development, sustainability, traffic and solid waste management, sound environmental practices and investing in technology,” Ang stressed./PN
