Councilors cry foul, take turns in lambasting Gan

By LITO RULONA
and NITZ ARANCON
Correspondents

COUNCILORS on Monday took turns in lambasting city council minority leader Leon Gan after he threatened to go to court for the alleged approval of what he called “illegal ordinances.”

Councilor Ian Mark Nacaya dared Gan to make good his threat to sue members of the city council majority and Mayor Oscar Moreno because of the supposedly unconstitutional ordinances.

Nacaya and Gan used to be political allies in the Padayon Pilipino. Now, Nacaya is the city council’s majority leader.

Meanwhile, Councilor Teoodulfo Lao Jr. cried foul over Gan’s pronouncements while Councilor George Goking called the council minority leader a failure as chairman of the city council’s committee on senior citizens.

Nacaya welcomed Gan’s threat, saying it would allow the Moreno administration to disprove Gan’s allegations.

Gan warned that he would press charges against his fellow councilors and Moreno after Councilor Lao delivered a special report about Gan’s earlier pronouncements about the alleged illegal ordinances and about a call for a revamp of city council committees.

Lao said Gan’s pronouncements were demeaning.

“Gisulti man ni Gan nga mga ‘illegal’ daw ang gihimo sa mga miembro sa konseho, ‘irregular’ ang ginahimo sa mga committee like engineering, environment, trade and commerce, peace and order, and market. It is unfair nga usa ka abogado unya miembro ka sa city council,” Nacaya said. “Igo lamang kini siya nagpakuha sa atensyon. Dili siya angayan nga mosulti nga illegal daw among gipanghimo.”

Gan has cited the declaration of a state of calamity as a result of the Jan. 16 flood, the approval of three supplemental budgets in 2016, the extension of the renewal of business permits, and the passage of the Parental Responsibility Code, among others, as among the illegal ordinances passed by the city council.

Gan said no law supports the extension of the deadline for business permit renewals while the parental code was allegedly merely copied.

He said the supplemental budget was also rejected by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) since there was no actual cash to support it.

“Any time, andam kami motubag sa iyang kaso. Walay irregular ang among ginahimo,” said Nacaya.

Nacaya said Gan’s accusations were flawed.

He cited the state of calamity declaration, pointing out that it was an emergency situation and officials acted immediately.

“Ang trabaho sa konseho para lamang to declare the calamity and release funds to help those people affected by flood. Unsa ma’y illegal adto nga nakita naman namo ang problema sa katawhan niadtong adlawa?” asked Nacaya rhetorically.

For his part, Councilor Goking hurled brickbats at Gan, saying the council minority leader was the one who failed as a committee chairman.

Goking said Gan has done nothing in the city council’s committee on senior citizens.

He said the committee failed to put an end to the conflict between the  the Cagayan de Oro Federation of Senior Citizens Association (Cafesca) under ex-councilor Alfonso Goking, and the Oro Senior Citizens Association (Osca) led by Eugenio Atreginio.

Goking said Gan has been criticizing other councilors over the way they have been running their committees, and yet his (Gan’s) committee has not shown any substantial accomplishment.

He said Gan should first do something about the conflict between Cafesca and Osca.

Goking said, “Chairman siya (Gan) sa senior citizens, unsa may iyang nahimo? Nganong mamasangil man siya sa among committee nga walay nahimo. Ang iya di-ay na-ay nahimo?”

He said the reason why many senior citizen in the city have not been receiving benefits from city hall is because of Gan’s failure to do something about the Cafesca-Osca conflict.

The two organizations have been fighting over the control of the building for senior citizens in Barangay 40, and over city hall’s financial aid. “Unya sa ilang conflict, naapiktohan ang mga    senior citizens,” Goking said.