Intergalactic

By BenCyrus Ellorin

IN response to insinuations of City Hall to clear the roads around the Provincial Capitol, Gov. Bambi Emano, gnawed, roared, as if ready to punch “to protect Capitol property.”

His argument then was that the City Hall has no jurisdiction over the Capitol. Last we know, the Provincial Capitol of Misamis Oriental has its address in Cagayan de Oro City. Legally, City Hall and Capitol are two different and distinct municipal corporations because Cagayan de Oro has become a chartered city.

Misamis Oriental having its seat in the city makes the Capitol like any corporate locator in the city. It’s like Del Monte having its cannery in the city and pineapple plantations in Bukidnon.

It turned out however that the governor is not just defending territory, but other interests as well like the agreement for the governor, Yevgeny Vincente Emano, to allow a certain Rhea Ritzie P. Nueva to lease, build structures and sublet these. 

The contract entered by Emano and Nueva has not gotten the nod of the Provincial Board. Not only that, it remains unclear whether Nueva is a real person or a ghost. 

As the controversy stirred, no Nueva surfaced. There was not even a Nueva sound bite. Given Nueva’s failure to surface, can anyone blame those who are now thinking that the controversial lease contract was bagged by a Jane Doe? 

But there’s talk that the governor may be a victim here and that the chief architect of this 2013 deal has gone to — if we are to use the governor’s joke — Mars or Pluto. 

In hindsight, the scariest moment in the political life of Mayor Oscar Moreno was when the Office of the Ombudsman slapped him with an order of dismissal and perpetual disqualification from public office over an agreed tax settlement that had been argued to be something that required the authorization of the City Council. But as history would tell, Moreno was able to overturn the ombudsman’s penalty order because the Court of Appeals ruled that the tax adjustment agreement between the local government of Cagayan de Oro and Ajinomoto Philippines was part of the local government’s taxation powers exercised by the city treasurer, adjunct of the Bureau of Local Government Finance-Department of Finance.

But in the Emano-Nueva contract, it is for local enterprises, which could be among the contracts requiring authorization from the provincial legislature. Emano argues that the local revenue code gave him blanket authority. Many disagree, including the vice governor who presided over the approval of the provincial revenue ordinance in 2005.

The final nail on the coffin would be a case filed against the governor. It could be filed by any taxpayer or the ombudsman could look into the matter as it did, overzealously, in the equipment rental cases against Moreno.

Should a case be filed, the default response of Emano would be political motivation. I think it would be better if an independent good governance watchdog initiates the legal action. It’s best if the ombudsman takes on this public issue —with a pending civil case to boot, filed by the Philippine Red Cross.

Checkmate or near checkmate? The governor suddenly became scarce in his comment. And after a while he was back, still spewing, but talking in tongues, about “Mars… Pluto… exploring the universe.”

He is also tried to sidetrack the issue to foreign travels of City Hall officials. No, City Hall’s trips were earthly, but the governor’s travels are intergalactic. Whew!

To start with, nobody is taking an issue about Emano’s travels. Rather, it’s about his deal with a certain Nueva and the simple and basic questions that, until now, remain unanswered.

Talking in tongues is so like the boy who lost his marbles. Sidestepping the issue is like forcing us, the public, to instead play Jackstones or perhaps Chinese Garter with him.

(BenCyrus Ellorin is a former journalist.)