Tagbilaran Mayor Dan Lim yesterday appeared fed up with the antics of Vice Mayor Jose Antonio Veloso that filing a case before the Ombudsman has become an option after the later refused to act on his letter request for the controversial P50-million loan package intended for the rehabilitation of various city roads. “I will formalize my complaint against him for prejudicing the interest of the city for his own political ends,” the mayor said yesterday in an interview. The P50-M loan package has become an election issue after his political opponents and critics pounced on it in the hope that it will weaken his political base. “The problem with my critics is that they want to hostage the interest of the people in their desperate attempt to score pogi points,” the mayor said.
Lim pointed out that the P150-M loan package had already secured approval before the city council and the first tranche had in fact been released. Instead of approving the supplemental budget, however, the opposition has tried to demonize it while stalling for the approval of the second tranche. The mayor said that while Veloso has refused to calendar his letter, he and his group have been hurling all sorts of accusations against him. “This is a cheap publicity stunt,” the mayor said. He pointed out that he and the members of the majority bloc in the city council have already been called all sorts of names but it turned out that they have not even seen the documents. “They have already accused us of impropriety and now they say they want to study the documents? What kind of people are they?” he asked. Lim said he is filing a case not only to teach Veloso a lesson but also to prove that this is no small matter. “Perhaps he doesn't understand the implications of his actions so I will ask the Ombudsman to let him know,” he added. The mayor said that wherever he goes, one major complaint is the state of the city roads. He lamented that the people are getting impatient “and they have a reason to feel that way”.
Lim said this is precisely the reason why he has ordered that the project be fast-tracked. “Unfortunately, our opponents think that they can win reelection simply by making unfounded accusations,” he said. Lim said that he does not begrudge his critics from launching their own political gimmicks but stressed that he will not allow them to do so at the expense of the people's welfare. “If they think I have committed irregularities in the conduct of this project, they can always go to court. But they should not commit the mistake of believing that I will allow any more delays to accommodate their gimmicks,” he added.
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