Gullas helps settle dispute between lechon seller, client

'The problem was miscommunication'

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas helped settle a dispute between a lechon seller from Sitio Laray, Barangay San Roque and a client from Lapu-Lapu City who claimed to have been “scammed” over an undelivered lechon.

The dispute gained attention on social media and, thus, became a cause of concern for Gullas, who believes this may affect the reputation of Talisay City’s famous lechon (roasted suckling pig) industry.

“It is important that we put an end to this and settle this matter, especially that we are about to celebrate our yearly fiesta celebration,” Gullas said in a Facebook post on Thursday, October 1, 2020.

Talisay City celebrates its annual fiesta in honor of their patron saint, Sta. Teresa de Avila, every October 15.

On September 29, 2020, the mayor conducted a probe on the incident and called both the lechon seller from Laray and the Lapu-Lapu client.

Gullas asked the seller to explain why the lechon was not delivered to the client in Lapu-Lapu City. The client also explained to Gullas why she posted her complaints online.

Gullas found out that the dispute was caused by miscommunication between the seller and the client.

He said that after the meeting between the two parties, he found out that someone claiming to be a cousin of the complainant allegedly called the seller to cancel the lechon that the complainant ordered.

The seller then made the mistake of cancelling the order without verification from the actual client who made the order.

The complainant denied she had a relative who ordered the cancellation and even asked the seller to identify who that relative was. Gullas said the seller couldn’t give a number of the person who supposedly cancelled the order.

“Ang problem lang gyud, kay pagtawag sa cousin, wala lang gi confirm sa lechon seller didto sa taw na ni order gyud. Kung gi confirm lang unta, mahusay ra ug mahibawan ang tinuod,” Gullas said in his post.

The problem is, when the cousin called, the seller did not confirm with the one who made the order. If this was confirmed, this could have been settled and the truth would have been known.)

Gullas said the complainant was contemplating on filing charges against the lechon seller and other individuals who “issued scathing words” on social media. But the mayor said the complainant was willing to let go of the matter provided that the seller issued a public apology.

Gullas urged the seller to simply apologize publicly over the misunderstanding and ensure it will not happen again, to which, he said, the seller was willing to comply with.

“I just decided to meet them because I didn’t want all our lechon sellers to be affected by this. Basin ma generalize ang tanan lechon sellers nato sa whole Talisay. It would be very difficult for our lechon sellers and our famous Talisay lechon to be put in a bad light because of one incident,” said the mayor.

The mayor ended his post by sharing lessons that others can learn from this incident.

“Forgiveness and patience is needed to solve every problem.  Always verify information especially from the source. Most importantly, think before your comment or post in social media. One of the biggest reason ni dako ang issue kay tungod sa tubag2x on Facebook. Think before you post. Never make decisions when you’re mad. Cooler heads will always prevail,” Gullas said in the post. 

Read: Go-to spots in Talisay City

/bmjo