longcuts

I proxied as principal sponsor to a barangay captain who got married last Saturday morning somewhere in Duero.
While waiting for the mass to start, I chanced upon former congressman Boy Jala talking to another wedding sponsor.
Seeing me, he went near me and murmured his displeasure over the plan of some municipal kagawads to hold a Lakbay Aral.
“Mapordoy gyod ang gobierno ug mao ni ang mag-uso,” was his remark.
I concurred and cited the trip of the municipal mayors to Guam.
“Junket ra gyod to,” was my comment.
“Gi-disallow man to sa COA,” was his reaction.
“Mao bitaw nay rason nga nagtapal ang mga mayor sa gasto nila didto. Ang uban, nagproblema asa ug itapal,” was the reaction of a DILG official in one of the towns of Bohol who was nearby.
* * *
When I asked DILG Provincial Director Rose Mascarinas about this, she denied any personal knowledge about the disallowance.
She told Longcuts that while the DILG favorably endorsed the Guam trip, she was ignorant about the disallowance.
That is the job of the COA, she told me.
Personally, she was in favor of the trip, citing tremendous benefits.
When we asked Corella Mayor Vito Rapal about this, he confirmed that there was indeed a COA disallowance, though it was considered an official travel.
When I asked if there has been any sisterhood agreement between Guam and any Bohol town, nada, was his answer.
His impression of Guam?
They have nice roads, nice buildings and 4-lane traffic system, unlike here where we only have 2-lane traffic, was his reply.
When asked about transfer of technology, there’s none, was his reply.
* * *
Instead of the Filipino taxpayers paying the bill for that Guam junket, thanks COA, the mayors are the ones footing the bill.
And rightly so, I should add.
Right from the time I learned about it, I already expressed serious misgivings about the propriety of the trip.
Thoroughly unnecessary, was my firm belief.
I even questioned the so-called sisterhood agreements that were supposed to be established.
Per admission of Mayor Rapal, nothing substantial was achieved, save perhaps the multi-entry US visa that they got.
Methinks the mayors were more interested in the US visa than anything else.
The US visa alone, never mind the trip, made the P56,000 plus bill looks like sisiw.
Of course, there were fringe benefits.
* * *
A Bohol mayor brought along her husband to Guam. While in Guam, she was the model exemplar of a perfect wife.
Away from the children and the usual hassles of work, they had a perfect getaway vacation. It was as if they had another bout of a very fulfilling honeymoon.
Sated and very satisfied, the husband could not ask for more. Like having a newly changed-oil engine, the husband was looking forward for more quality time with his wife.
When they reached Manila, the husband got the biggest shock of his life.
Actually, the husband was making arrangements for their connecting trip for Bohol while the wife was left behind, purportedly handling or watching for their baggage.
While the husband was making the pila, the wife told him over the cellphone that she was about to board her plane for the US.
He was shocked, he could not believe it.
And he could not argue because the call was suddenly disconnected.
* * *
Actually, this scheming wife became a municipal mayor by mere accident. But once in position, she learned fast. And the way she performed her double role in Guam proved this.
All the while she was taking care of her husband, making love and making nice conversation with him, performing her loving and caring role with exquisite finesse, she was also planning her own secret getaway.
If only she were pretty, if only she had nice figure, if only she had brains, I’m sure she could be perfect in showbiz.
Anyway, the husband was shattered. He could not believe it. But there was nothing he could do. The cellphone of his wife was suddenly “cannot be reached.”
Suspecting another secret liaison, the husband decided to investigate.
He was right. The wife went somewhere, not really in the US, and met her paramour, who is also married. There, the wife had another sexual congress for 2 days straight.
Well, the mayor-wife might be severely handicapped in the face, figure and brains department, but she has an abundant supply of libido.
Anyway, with the disallowance of COA, she is now making refunds for her and her husband’s trip.
* * *
City kagawad Djingo Rama reminded me last Friday to be objective in dealing with the privilege speech of city kagawad Oscar Glovasa.
He wanted me to also seek the side of Vice Mayor Toto Veloso because according to him, Oscar Glovasa sought the forgiveness of Toto Veloso.
Why ask forgiveness, I queried.
It turned out that Oscar Glovasa had it all wrong after Toto Veloso did some research, was Djingo’s reply.
Interesting story, really, from Djingo Rama.
Anyway, Toto Veloso was quoted to have accused the majority of cover-up in the un-liquidated cash advance issue which saw print in the Bohol Chronicle and read many times in DYRD. Oscar Glovasa refuted this accusation using records from the sanggunian.
He proved the falsity of Toto Veloso’s accusation point by point.
Now here comes Djingo Rama with his fancy story that Oscar Glovasa asked forgiveness from Toto Veloso.
I texted Toto Veloso and sought for his comments if this story from Djingo Rama were true.
I got this reply.
“Yes, nag apologize for transgressing mura man to abt sa iya privilege speech wherein hisgot pod cya na his com was awaiting my report for d 2007 unliquidated as d requesting ofcl kuno nga nagsulat sa coa.”
* * *
When I asked for his reaction to the apology, Toto Veloso texted back.
“Mao ako tubag wen we reciv d list gi refer namo sa joint com on apro nd pub accountability nd nvestigtn. Mao ako ingnan naunsa mani ako naman pahatagon report sa com. Mao btw gi refer sa com for der findings and recommendations.”
When I asked Kagawad Oscar Glovasa about this, he said he apologized not because he committed some errors but because he used the term “demand.”
He thought the term “demand” was too much, it should have been prudent to use the term “request” after all, Toto is the presiding officer.
This was when he said in his privilege speech that “….today, I am not opening an investigation but I would not only request but demand from the honorable vice mayor and all SP members to submit to the chair of the appropriation committee their written comments and observations on the findings of the COA report…..”
* * *
Last Saturday, city kagawads Oscar Glovasa, Edgar Bompat and Dandan Bantugan guested the weekly Ang Mayor sa Dakbayan radio program.
Glovasa was bristling over the banner story in the Bohol Chronicle last Sunday over the “another cover-up” issue in the discussion of the unliquidated cash advances of the city.
The report quoted vice mayor Toto Veloso as the source of the story.
In his privilege speech last Thursday, Glovasa clarified that there could be no cover-up because the committee on appropriations chaired by Glovasa is still waiting for the comments and observations of the members of the sanggunian on the COA report.
He said the members of the sanggunian, including the vice mayor, were given sufficient time to study and make comments and observations on the report.
“Kon gidali-dali pa unta ug tackle sa akong committee ang maong issue, basin ug pasanginlan na sab ko ug railroading. Kana kay gihatagan sila ug dako dako nga time pagtuon sa maong report, mao nay pagmatuod nga walay cover-up,” Glovasa explained.
So the question, was the banner story in the Chronicle accurate or not?
Kagawad Dandan Bantugan has the answer.
He said yesterday that vice mayor Toto Veloso admitted that he never said there was any cover-up in the sanggunian.
So if Toto Veloso didn’t say there was cover-up but it was reported that he said there was, then who could have invented this word?
More when we return, stay tuned for more!