Dispute between two Mambaling chiefs affect distribution of senior citizen financial assistance

Senior citizens in Barangay Mambaling wait at the barangay gym for the distribution of their cash assitance. | Contributed photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines–The senior citizens of Barangay Mambaling were the latest to be affected by the continuing dispute between elected Barangay Captain Gines Abellana and Mambaling first councilor and Acting Chief Anne Marie Palomo.

This after the distribution of the financial assistance for the senior citizens was delayed because of the standing feud between the barangay officials.

Read more: Who’s the real boss? Mambaling has 2 barangay chiefs

Barangay Councilor Owen Atillo, an ally of elected Barangay Captain Gines Abellana, told CDN Digital that the distribution of the cash assistance was supposed to be done at the Mambaling Barangay Hall on Thursday morning, June 13, 2019, from 8 a.m. to 12 noon.

He said they already sent notices to the Cebu City Treasurers Office (CTO) and the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) that the new venue of the senior citizen cash assistance distribution will be at the Mambaling barangay hall.

Atillo said that both CTO and ABC acknowledged that they have received the notice from Abellana.

Read more: Two Mambaling chiefs’ dispute may stall declaring state of calamity in barangay

Yet when Atillo and police escorts came to the CTO on Thursday morning to pick up the distributors and the cash, they found that they were already escorted by Mambaling first councilor and Acting Chief Anne Marie Palomo to a mall in the barangay.

“Ngano iya (Palomo) man sad intawon gikuha ang mga bagador? Nga wala man siyay katungod,” said Atillo in a phone interview.

(Why did Palomo escort the distributors when she has no right?)

Atillo said that Abellana had the authority over the distribution because he was “technically” the incumbent chief and the notices were accepted by the directed offices.

Atillo said the police escorts were concerned because the eight distributors held at least P4 million pesos for the 2,000 senior citizens in Barangay Mambaling.

Atillo said that, together with the police escorts, they ran after Palomo and the distributors and brought them back to the Cebu City Hall, where the CTO decided, the distribution will be done.

Because of this, the distribution was delayed for almost two hours since Atillo said they had to transport the senior citizens from the Mambaling Barangay Hall to the Cebu City Hall using the barangay’s mini bus.

Atillo said that Abellana is mulling to file charges against the distributors who failed to follow the protocol in the distribution which would have required them to be escorted by the police.

For her part, Palomo said that she was authorized to escort the distributors, being the “incumbent” chief of Mambaling. She said this had been in the past few months.

Palomo said the distributors were only following her directives as the incumbent chief of barangay Mambaling.

“The cash assistance has always been distributed in the mall. Why did he (Abellana) change it now when he knows he is suspended?” said Palomo.

Palomo said that she  properly escorted the distributors from the CTO to the mall in Mambaling and she even had a list of all recipients.

She added that when the police came to take the distributors back, she even complied and helped bring the senior citizens to the city hall through borrowed Kaohsiung buses.

Despite the dispute, Palomo said that the senior citizens were able to get their cash assistance at the city hall, though at a later time.

She said the CTO decided to intervene on the matter and chose a more neutral venue for the distribution.

Palomo hopes the issue on the incumbent chief of Barangay Mambaling will finally be settled by the City Council so the residents will not have to suffer.

On Tuesday, June 11, 2019, the Cebu City Council  raised the issue of Mambaling to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Office of the Ombudsman in Central Visayas.

The City Council believed that with less than three weeks to go, it could no longer handle the dispute as it could go on after the new administration and new council take over.

Read more: Honoraria dispute may lead to Mambaling brgy chief’s suspension

The Cebu City Council decided to suspend Abellana last January for allegedly withholding the honoraria of four councilors.

He argued that by virtue of his appeal to the Office of the President, he can be allowed to serve as the barangay chief until the President can make a decision over his appeal. /bmjo