A homeowner’s mandate

I wish to congratulate the members of the new board of directors of the Sto. Niño Village Homeowners Association Inc. (SNVHAI).

A total of 158 votes were cast on July 4, two Saturdays ago, between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. and before the day was over, all the “opposition,” as it were, to the hold-over board of SNVHAI, were elected and immediately proclaimed by the election committee composed of employees of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB). None from the previous board.

Congratulations therefore to Ernesto Rina who garnered the highest vote (95) followed by Braulio Sto. Domingo (92); Raymund Patuasi (91); Clarito Fruelda (91); Maximo Ricohermoso (89); Ligaya Bataclan (87); Antonio Castro (86): Francis Therese Palang (84); Albert James Alivio (84); Jacinto Jamero (82); Carmencita Leyco (82); Adrian Ybañez (79); Ma. Lourdes Matugas (77); Renee Canoy (77); and Rosario Kiamko (76).

For weeks, the elections had been postponed at least twice due to protests from certain parties.

No less than HLURB officers from outside the Central Visayas had to be appointed by the HLURB to chair and be members of the election committee in order to quell any possible protests of bias later on from either of the contending parties.

For over a year already, SNVHAI has been rocked by allegations of anomalies and questionable transactions from both sides and the only logical way indeed to settle the issue was to bring the parties to a vote.

As it appears, many of the homeowners eligible to vote were apparently in favor of change.

Now comes the hard part of determining the truth and ferreting it out to all the homeowners who have been receiving manifestoes and photocopied letters about these alleged anomalous transactions from both parties.

One of those that must have really convinced the voters to cast their precious votes in favor of total change was when an emergency meeting, albeit informal, of homeowners was held early this year to avert the alleged disruption of electric power and water supply because of allegedly unpaid bills by the association.

Many homeowners present even went to the point of giving out cash without any official receipt just to avert the crisis. That should have sent a signal that many were getting irritated with the current situation.

The homeowners of this once-peaceful and fun-loving subdivision have been polarized of late and one can only hope that the newly-elected board will reach out to the other side, the previous board, if only to end the animosity. But of course, there must first be the proper inquiry on whether allegations hurled by both sides are true.

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Last Sunday afternoon as I was on my way to Mactan passing through the Kabankalan-Maguikay Road currently under repair and cementing, the front and rear tires on the right side of my car apparently hit some kind of protruding steel bar. It was not on the left side of my car, where the painfully slow repair was carried out but on the other side where the sidewalk on the remaining lane was still to be paved. Somehow, the low wall of the sidewalk toward the end of this stretch under repair on the other side had a protruding steel bar.
Immediately, both tubeless tires burst and I had to park near the Holy Family Church. Had it not been for CFG Auto Parts in Banilad, which quickly came to my rescue, the car would have stayed there overnight. The end result was that I had to buy all four tires in order to balance the car. Now I wonder how many have experienced what I went through.
I tell you, it is not a happy and fun occasion to experience two tires bursting one after the other while you are trying to navigate through a rutted road amidst a repair that is taking extremely long to finish.