By EUGENE ADIONG
BACOLOD City — Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. said the libel charges that Northbound Terminal operator Crispin Chua filed against him were “pure harassment.”
They were “part of a calculated, well-planned and premeditated plot to divert the Bacolodnons’ attention from his numerous violations in building the Bacolod Northbound Terminal,” Gamboa said in a statement.
Chua earlier filed seven counts of libel against Gamboa for allegedly publicly and grossly defaming the businessman.
Gamboa said the terminal “poses danger to human lives,” as it failed to meet the requirements, standards and guidelines set in City
Ordinance 480 of 2009 and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board’s rules on terminals.
He said he “relentlessly pursued for the review of the contract” entered into by the city government and Chua because the terminal structures “conclusively defrauded and shortchanged the people of Bacolod.”
Gamboa authored City Ordinance 480 of 2009, by virtue of which the terminal materialized.
He said the terminal “could have been our show window to the world had it not been for the selfish interest of Chua and some people behind whose interest prevailed above public and general welfare [sic].”
He also claimed that Chua was a “dummy” and could not provide the city with a world-class transport terminal.
“These libel cases, too, were calculated, well-planned and premeditated,” and could be easily passed off as “soap opera,” Gamboa said.
He also said he was not being emotional when he called Chua a “pathological and congenital liar” but was giving a “fair, honest and true description of him.”
Chua earlier accused Gamboa of having an interest in operating the terminal and a political motive in pushing for the contract review.
“I have nothing against him,” Gamboa said. He said he could forgive Chua for the “series of lies” he said against the councilor, but the businessman must be made “answerable to the people of Bacolod.”/PN
