CEBU City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella yesterday asked colleagues in the City Council not to be affected by the ongoing investigation by the Office of the President on the disbursement of P84.5 million as calamity assistance to city officials and employees last December.
Stepping down from the platform of the presiding officer, Labella delivered a privilege speech.
He assured local legislators that they were not in danger because of the complaint filed against Mayor Michael Rama and the City Council which is pending with the Office of the President.
He said that one councilor approached him to ask, “Are we in danger?”
Labella told the councilor whom he did not name that the filing of a complaint by lawyer.
Remelio Delute “is part of the hazards of the job.”
“Despite the challenges that we face now, we will continue to serve the people. We will not be deterred by malicious imputations. Let us remain confident in our justice system: That it listens before it condemns, that it proceeds upon inquiry and renders judgment only after a fair trial. I urge you not to be disturbed but to keep true to your duties, to continue as we have, to conduct our lives as honest public officials,” Labella said in his speech.
Labella, a lawyer, denied Delute’s accusations of a “fabricated calamity” which city officials used as basis for the release of the P20,000 calamity assistance last December 2013.
“To be affected by the calamity is not manifested only in broken doors, dislodged posts or roofless house. There are such conditions as anxiety, muscle pains, upset stomach, hunger while joining volunteers, trauma from the earthquake, fear of tsunamis or supertyphoons, traumatic stress disorders, sleepless nights… these are conditions that the naked eye cannot recognize right away,” he said.
The Office of the President has directed Mayor Rama, Labella and 12 of the city’s 16 councilors to reply to the grave misconduct and abuse of authority complaint filed against them.
Labella said the council is preparing a joint reply to Delute’s complaint which they will submit before the July 16 deadline. Exempted from the charge filed by Delute were councilors Margot Osmeña, Leah Japson, Richie Osmeña and James Cuenco.
Mayor Rama, Labella said, will be sending his own reply as city mayor.
“It’s been said that there now haunts City Hall employees, including most of us in this august body, the cold thought of being fined or imprisoned for having given, and having accepted the calamity assistance,” Labella said.
The calamity assistance was released after the magnitude 7.2 earthquake on Oct. 15, 2013 and supertyphoon Yolanda on November 8. Labella said he supported the disbursement ce “as a way of rekindling the Christmas spirit after such catastrophic events”.