Concerned citizen Zenaido “Djingo” Rama warned the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) about city hall’s P240 million loan where the authority to negotiate and apply given to the mayor by the widely divided city council was fraudulent in the first place. Rama feared that the huge borrowing will be misused to fuel the campaign trunk of the loan proponents. “Obviously, the loan of P240 million, to be frank and honest about it, is intended to be used for election purposes,” said Rama in his letter to lawyer Marissa P. Anino, senior manager and branch head of the DBP in Tagbilaran City. He trusted the DBP to uphold public interest against the motivation to perpetuate in power at the expense of people’s money. Rama asserted that the Tagbilaranons “are not insane and foolish that they cannot understand the motive of the city administration.”

Writing as a taxpayer, the former city councilor who is staging a Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) comeback said he “stands aggrieved and violated whenever public funds are being wasted and stolen by public officials.” Rama recalled that by the mere tyranny of number, the city council authorized thru an ordinance the mayor to avail of the P240 million loan with the DBP to repair the “ugly” roads, which he earlier tagged as “holemarks” of the Lim administration. The measure initially bumped into a 6-6 vote deadlock but was ultimately approved when the SP presiding officer, Vice Mayor Nuevas Montes, vote for it to break the tie “in the service of her mayor,” as some observers put it.

But first thing first, Rama said.

He told the bank that the loan ordinance is “tainted with illegality because Cogon barangay captain Philip Besas,” who voted for it, “is not legally recognized by the DILG and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan as an ex-officio member of the city council.” Taloto barangay captain Faro Cabalit is the legal head of the Liga ng mga Barangay in the city and he should thus have been part in the voting of the ordinance, according to Rama. “By all means, the ordinance is devoid of legality and, thus, it can be declared null and void by the anti-graft court,” the “Mr. Expose’” while he was in the city council told the DBP official. Rama said that while it is true that the ordinance is “illegal and questionable,” the Tagbilaran people have amplified their “disgust and objection” to the P240 million loan proposal. It is an undeniable fact that the city taxpayers have not been blind and deaf to the true state of the city, he said.

He reminded the DBP that before the 2010 election, city hall borrowed P50 million for the anapog road materials which were just washed out during rains. The anapog were allegedly used to repair the worsening roads in Tagbilaran, and Rama asked if the condition of the roads have ever bettered. “Unfortunately, the P50 million for anapog was rendered totally worthless as it never served its purpose,” Rama assailed in his letter to the bank, adding that the huge money from the taxpayers “has gone forever.” All through these nine years of the Lim rule, the Boholanos, not just the Tagbilaranons, have been suffering from the “horrible” roads in the city, according to Rama. Rama said the people have expected the current city leadership to have solved the problem, but as the 2013 election is nearing, “we have completely lost our collective hope that the awful roads would ever be fixed by the city administration.”

He just asked that if the Lim administration has not been able to address the despicable road concern for all these nine years, how can it fix the deepening problem in the remaining two months of its power. Bad roads are a development concern that is extremely visible to the sight, but yet city hall has seemed so blind to it. Rama recounted the so many road funds in the past and recently, including the more than P40 million of the P101 million supplemental budget approved last December, but the city roads have remained neglected. In his letter which was furnished to Pres. Benigno “Aquino III himself, Rama, therefore, appealed to the DBP “to exercise extreme caution in handling the loan application of the city hall.” He also sent copies to Central Bank Monetary Board Chairman Amando Tetangco, Jr., DBP-Manila Chief Executive Officer Gil Buenaventura, Commission on Audit Chair Ma. Gracia Pulido Tan, the Sandiganbayan and Ombudsman, and Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. He urged the bank “not to make the unforgivable mistake of partaking in what is rather deemed as a suspicious plan of the city in getting the P240 million loan.”

The people is closely watching the attitude of the bank as to how the state-owned finance institution would treat the loan which to Rama is “dubious” In the end, he wished the DBP would listen to the sweeping public sentiment because the voice of the people against the loan is “too loud and clear to be ignored.” Rama warned that if the bank belittles the public outcry, it “would not certainly be spared from legal and administrative consequences.” Citing again the wasted P50 million loan and expressing growing fear for the P240 loan to be likely squandered, Rama told the bank that the present city hall “has no moral ground” to avail of the new, far bigger loan. The Lim administration of the city “has not been proven to be a trustworthy caretaker of public funds,” said Rama who is seeking a city council return under the Liberal Party with the “straight path” advocacy guiding his intent. (Ven rebo Arigo)