Loans for Cebu City but none to fix our roads?
I had to doff my hat to our fellow columnist, Atty. Paul Oaminal for his non-stop cry for justice for the death of 10-year old KeighMontemayor in Barili last October 23, 2017 who was electrocuted by a live wire strapped around a coconut tree. Let me reprint this report from the Facebook page of Oaminal on his call for justice for the children against CEBECO.
"The complaint for Reckless Imprudence resulting to Homicide has been filed against the CEBECO engr. and unidentified linemen for the death of KeighMontemayor (10 years old). Calling all Cebuanos to help the family and the Barili Police Station in the preliminary investigation conducted by the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors Office. The CEBECO is multi billion peso business that is why Cebu Provincial and Municipal Officials are so silent in this issue, we have to be vigilant so justice will not be sabotaged at this stage. (share so others may know how CEBECO I murdered a child and nearly killed two other children)"
While I would not say that the death of Montemayor was murder, but reckless imprudence. However, the fact those CEBECO officials didn't show that they cared for the children who were electrocuted when they strapped a live wire on a coconut tree only proves that CEBECO engineers are far from being professional about their work. Justice demands that CEBECO-I should pay for the untimely death of Montemayor.
I'm glad to see that Police Chief Inspector Jose Angelo Acupinpin, acting chief of police in Barili has taken cognizance of this case. Let's see if this case would die a natural death by the forgetfulness of people for justice would finally prevail over the death of a poor kid a nobody from Barili. Again, thanks to Atty. Oaminal we are with you on this case.
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Friends of mine showed me a Facebook report by Mayor Tomas Osmeña who apparently reacted angrily over the article we wrote about his being authorized by the Cebu City Council to get a loan of P3 billion for various infrastructure projects like the drainage for Cebu City and certain roads that need to be cemented. First of all, I do not react to anyone's Facebook unless he or she is my friend and since I'm not in the list of friends in Mayor Osmeña's Facebook page, I didn't care to respond to what he writes there. Incidentally, people tell me that they don't believe that Mayor Osmeña has the time to write comments on his Facebook page and that his son Miguel or someone else must be writing things for him. I couldn't care any less!
Indeed, when I write a critical comment about our beloved city of Cebu, I expect our City Hall officials to respond to our articles by writing to us directly and not use his Facebook page to respond to the article. Secondly, I would like to remind the mayor that as a journalist, who once defended him in so many issues, I have always been fair in my commentaries and I never resulted to name calling, which he just did in his Facebook literally saying that I'm mentally deranged. Well sir, I won't stoop down to your level.
Mayor Osmeña belittles my article because he said that the City Council only authorized him to contract a P3 billion loan with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and only when that loan is finalized can he give us details on how the money would be used. Really, Tom? In the first place how did the City Council come up with the P3 billion figure? Why not P5 billion or P10 billion? Surely that figure must have come from some kind of projected details of a proposed project?
In a private corporation, when the Board of Directors plan to construct a building with a corresponding road that would lead to the proposed site, one has to get a more or less figure of how much the project would cost so that the Board of Directors would now be able to authorize the President of the company to contract a loan in the Bank for the project.
Clearly, Mayor Osmeña is very onion-skinned! Perhaps we should ask him, why should we trust him to implement a P3 billion infra-project when he cannot even fix our broken, potholed or moon-cratered streets for certainly a very much lesser amount? Touché' Mayor!
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