Pimentel, Canoy on sports center: Public

By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent .

TWO former Cagayan de Oro mayors on Monday greeted with raised brows claims that the Misamis Oriental Integrated Sport Center is a private entity.

Former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and lawyer Reuben Canoy said the sports center on Apolinar Velez Street has always been public property.

Pimentel served as mayor of the city from 1980 to 1984 while Canoy served from 1972 to 1976. Incidentally, the two former mayors are now members of a committee created by President Duterte to review the 1987 Constitution and make recommendations.

“That is a public facility. Government money was used to build it,” said Pimentel.

He said the only way the facility can be considered private now is if it has been sold. “Basin gibaligya na nila ang sports center.”

“Kinsay tag-iya sa yuta nga gitukoran sa sports center ug kinsay nagbayad sa construction diha? Kung pribado ang tag-iya sa yuta ug pribado ang nagbayad sa construction sa sports center, basin husto sila,” Pimentel pointed out.

Former mayor Canoy said the plan to construct the sports center started as early as 1969 and it was during his mayorship when city hall, the capitol under the then governor Concordio Diel and the education ministry (now Department of Education) pooled their resources to build the facility.

The sports center was the venue for the first Palarong Pambansa outside Metro Manila in 1975. It would subsequently be the venue for the  1977, 1978 and 1988 Palaro.

Canoy said the funds used in the construction project came from the coffers of the national, provincial and city governments, and there were donations to the government by private individuals.

“Na-a pay gihatag si kanhi President Marcos kaniadto nga P1 million nga gidugang namo ni Gov. Diel pag-gasto sa construction diha. Na-a pay kuwarta sa katawhan sa Cagayan de Oro ug Misamis Oriental nga ilang gi–donar aron mahuman  gayud ang maong proyekto,” he said.

Canoy also recalled that city hall, capitol and the then education ministry agreed to create a seven-person management board for the sports center. He said the board’s members include the provincial governor who served as chairman, the Cagayan de Oro mayor as vice chairman, and the education ministry representative as treasurer.

He said there was never an agreement among the three owners of the sports center to form a public or private corporation.

“Public sports facility lang among gitukod,  dili  government-owned or -controlled corporation,” Canoy said.

The separate reactions of the two former mayors of the city came amid a controversy over the 2016 appointment of ex-councilor President Elipe as general manager of the sports center.

A city hall worker identified as Ernesto Molina filed complaints for nepotism, election rule violation and abuse against Elipe and his brother-in-law, Misamis Oriental Gov. Yevgeny Vincente Emano.

In his complaint, Molina said Elipe should not have been appointed to the position because he is related by affinity to Emano, chairman of the Misamis Oriental Integrated Sports Council.

Molina also said it was a violation of an election law that losing candidates cannot be appointed to government less than a year after the elections. Elipe lost in the race for a seat in the provincial board in 2016, the same year he was appointed to the position.

Gov. Emano laughed off Molina’s accusations, saying it was not he who appointed Elipe as general manager of the facility but the sports council.

Emano also asserted that the sports center is a private facility and therefore, he cannot be accused of nepotism or violating the election rule on appointments.

He said Molina, being a city hall worker, is ill-motivated even as he accused Mayor Oscar Moreno, his family’s political enemy, of being behind the administrative and criminal complaints.