On the Balili controversy

Those tears shed by Provincial Board member Juan Bolo could be the same tears that should be shed by Cebu taxpayers on the millions of pesos that seems to have been wasted on the purchase of the Balili property. Since only 4.5 out of the 24.7 hectares of such property are dry land, per DENR survey, the province paid P80,800,000 for the 20.2 hectares which, being submerged and planted with mangroves, cannot be titled. In other words, what the province got for its money are mere scrap of papers, not land titles.

What an irony! A premier province with all its brilliant legislators and legal minds getting short-changed in a costly transaction! Even if the amount is less than what was paid, still the fact that that LGU entered unto a contract on uncertain conditions is an embarrassing thing.

More than embarrassment, however, is the fear that given how the entire transaction was carried out, from the idea of purchasing the property to the consummation of the deal, a process which did not go through the regular procedure, what is the guarantee that similar lapses will not occur in the future?

The Cebu provincial government may be financially stable, but this does not mean it can afford to squander millions of pesos to the prejudice of its pro-poor projects. For the poor abound throughout the length and breadth of this island province - in fishermen's villages in coastal areas and in depressed farm lands in its rugged hinterlands. In these places one finds impoverished folks whose hand-to-mouth existence cries to high heavens for the milk of human kindness, as the Bard of Avon puts it.

How many foot gears could have been bought for the unshod children of farmers and fishermen? How many vitamin pills could have brought back the glow in the anemic eyes of rural folks? Indeed, how many lives could have been saved if those millions were spent on vital medicine for countryside hospitals?

With the loss of such a big amount of money the next thing now is for the province to take steps to recover it. This would surely precipitate into a court case which would take perhaps years before it can be resolved. Side by side with this, the provincial government should follow-up the annulment process of the lot titles, particularly those illegally secured, so that once this is done it can petition the national government to have this property donated to it, thereby acquiring the lots without cost.

In the meantime, the controversy rages on the question of who is really behind this bureaucratic blunder. Being the CEO of the province, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia gets pointed out because of the doctrine of command responsibility. Although she seemed to have convinced those present in her press conference last week that her role in the transaction was above board, yet she cannot escape the lingering stigma of fiscal mismanagement. Of course, from legal viewpoint there is such a thing as a ministerial action. But the aura of something unethical prevails.

From the Governor's explanation and from the information which surfaced in the hearings conducted by the fact-finding committee, it appears that BM Juan Bolo was the one who directly facilitated the transaction. From the start of the negotiation to the preparation of the documents and up to the issuance of the checks the shadow of BM Juan Bolo seems to have been ever present. For this, how can he escape the suspicion that he was personally interested to have the purchase consummated?

This writer has had a long association with BM Bolo. From the latter's tenure as mayor of Talisay in the early 1980s to his services as provincial board member in the 1990s, then as member of the Cebu Boy Scout executive council where we worked together for more than ten years, and still later as members of the board of trustees of the Cebu Normal University - from all these I came to know "Kuya" John Bolo (we call each other "Kuya") as an upright and fair-minded fellow.

That's why despite the web of suspicion that seems to have span around his person, I still believe that BM Bolo's hands are clean. He may have committed an indiscretion for getting involved in such a questionable deal, but who can fault him for bad faith?

Moreover, the entire fiasco was the handiwork of the entire klatch of leaders at the Cebu provincial capitol. All of them, from the governor to the board members and to the technical personnel - they all have a hand in this shameful happening.

* * *

Email: [email protected]