Cebu Provincial Board (PB) Member Sun Shimura called on his colleagues to revoke last year’s resolution which lauded Daanbantayan Mayor Augusto Corro’s immediate assistance to his constituents who were hit by supertyphoon Yolanda.
In a privilege speech during yesterday’s session, Shimura said the resolution should be withdrawn because Corro is facing administrative and criminal charges before the Ombudsman-Visayas.
The charges stemmed from irregularities Corro allegedly committed in the distribution of relief aid during “Yolanda”.
“If we could only listen to the pleas of the Yolanda victims and forget the issues of politics,” Shimura told PB members.
Shimura is the son of former Daanbantayan mayor Maria Luisa Loot whom Corro defeated in the May 2013 elections.
Relief goods
He said he filed a resolution in November last year asking the regional office of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG-7) to investigate Corro.
Shimura said he received reports that the mayor only gave relief goods to village chiefs allied with the Liberal Party (LP).
Ten barangay chairpersons filed criminal and administrative charges against Corro, Vice Mayor Gilbert Arrabis and three of the town’s councilmen last month before the Ombudsman-Visayas.
The officials alleged that the mayor refused to give relief goods and aid to officials identified with Shimura’s mother.
Another 10 residents living behind Loot’s house in sitio Backyard, Poblacion also filed a criminal and administrative complaint saying Corro never acted on his “promises” to give them GI sheets, tarps and relief goods after the storm.
No complaints
Shimura’s resolution was withdrawn two weeks after it was submitted to the PB due to lack of approval from the majority.
“I could bring at least 200 people from the 10 barangays in the next session who could speak for themselves and prove that the distribution of relief goods was irregular,” Shimura said.
Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale defended the resolution and said it was a result of an investigation which the PB conducted in response to Shimura’s call for an investigation.
Representatives of non-government organizations (NGOs) and humanitarian groups serving in Daanbantayan were consulted and asked for feedback and not a single one aired a complaint, she said.
“Our basis for the resolution was based on the feedback from the NGOs who were able to work with the mayor. We did not receive anything negative at all,” Magpale told Shimura.
In response, Shimura said he was requesting the DILG to conduct the investigation, not the PB as said by the vice governor.
“If this is the case then it would be better if I file an incidental motion commending all the nine mayors of the fourth district,” he said.
Board Member Jude Sybico, who is allied with the LP, said the resolution may not be withdrawn because the move is not allowed under the PB’s house rules.