By NITZ ARANCON Correspondent REP. Rufus Rodriguez of the city’s 2nd District yesterday called for a congressional investigation into New Zealand pageant queen Nicole Harding’s complaints about how she and her fellow contestants were treated by organizers of the inaugural Mr. and Ms. Pancontinental 2015. Harding left the city on Sunday, complaining that they were made to stay in a hotel with mattresses on concrete floors and “crawling with bugs” with armed men out front. Harding said she quit the pageant, and left due to “my safety and security,” and that she was supposedly advised by the New Zealand Embassy that “it is best if I fly back to New Zealand.” Rodriguez frowned over Harding’s claims, saying he would ask the Lower House to start an investigation into Harding’s complaints. He said the New Zealander’s claims have put the city in a bad light. “Our hotels are clean, and we are a peaceful city,” said Rodriguez. “We want to protect our city.” He said a congressional investigation would determine if there is a need to lay down clear government rules and regulations when it comes to international beauty pageants and similar events. Councilor Lourdes Darimbang, chair of the city council’s tourism committee, said she would also start an investigation into Harding’s complaints, and invite organizers of the Mr. and Ms. Pancontinental 2015. Darimbang said the she was unaware of the pageant because the organizers never coordinated with the city council’s tourism committee. Eileen San Juan, a city hall consultant for investments and tourism, said the organizers did not properly coordinate their activities with city hall, and everything was on short notice. San Juan said the contestants arrived in the city on Saturday, and Harding left the following day or on Sunday. She said the group paid Mayor Oscar Moreno a courtesy call on Monday morning, and then the local organizers asked city hall if it could give the contestants a “city tour,” and sponsor their lunch. “It was done on very short notice, and we sponsored their lunch,” said San Juan, adding that Harding never met Moreno because she left a day before the courtesy call at city hall. Yesterday, the contestants were treated to a white river rafting activity courtesy of the City Tourism Council, said San Juan. She said the government may need to consider formulating regulations to govern those who plan to organize international events such as beauty pageants. At the capitol, Misamis Oriental Gov. Yevgeny Vincente Emano also sought an investigation into Harding’s claims after the New Zealander said they were told by a “Cagayan governor” that the city was unsafe, and that “this place is more unsafe than Afghanistan.” Emano said the capitol had nothing to do with the beauty pageant. He was quoted by the Philippine News Agency as saying that the pageant was “under the care of a certain ‘Maldita Mexica’ – Lourdes Stanley of Balingasag, Misamis Oriental.” He said the capitol was asked to sponsor a dinner for the contestants by broadcast executive Cheryl Macale. Allyn Peñalosa, head of the Provincial Information Office, said the capitol was requested by Macale to help, and it organized activities for the contestants but the organizers failed to provide a clear itinerary, and kept on changing agreed schedules. The PNA reported that the contestants were left to fend for themselves because of the lack of proper coordination, and the reported absence of Stanley who was allegedly tasked to arrange the visit here. The PNA report stated that Mylene Miranda, one of the organizers of the pageant, accused Stanley of breach of contract in a complaint she made at a police station for “record purposes.”