A response from the Barili Mayor

For our talk show “Straight from the Sky”, we bring you the newly-elected President of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and industry, Inc. Felix Taguiam. He is the 49th president of the CCCI in a very long line of presidents in its 131 years as a business organization. Because he was elected only last February whatever plans he had for his presidency vanished with the coronavirus.

CCCI really started as a social club for business owners to tackle whatever problems that came up. I was vice president external 33 years ago when it was still a social club. However, we changed its constitution and today the CCCI has become a very important business group helping the Visayas and Mindanao.

So please watch our show tonight on how Cebu’s economy has lost with COVID-19 on SkyCable’s channel 53 at 8 p.m. with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. We also have replays on MyTV’s channel 30 at 9 p.m. Monday and at 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday.

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Last May 6, I published a letter from Barili about someone who only received 5 kgs of rice in their barangay while other towns got 25 kgs. I submit that I couldn’t verify this, even if I went to Barili. How do you think I could verify this when it’s easy to hide stuff in their homes? Anyway, I decided to write it in the hope it would have a positive result. Hence, I had a talk with Gov. Gwen Garcia who told me her brother, Marlon, the Mayor of Barili would respond to my letter. So here is Mayor Marlon’s letter, abridged.

“Dear Mr. Avila, I write in response to your column that came out on May 6, 2020 wherein you published a letter questioning the assistance given by the Municipality of Barili claiming that the people were given “only five kilos of rice and nothing else,” and comparing Barili with other local governments.

“The situation is not the same for all local government units. We have different fiscal standing, and we do not serve the same number of people. Each chief executive is bound to respond to the crisis in a matter he sees best for his locality. While those in the community may think only for their own benefit and what possible things they can get, we at the helm of governance will have to have a bird’s eye view not just for one sector, not just for one aspect, and not just for one period of time.

“Despite the Covid-19 crisis, we in Barili are making sure that other government services do not come to a halt. Operating on a skeleton workforce, we have done our utmost in delivering not just relief packs for those who need them most, but also to deliver other services needed by other sectors. And it’s not true that we are giving only rice. We give quality premium rice. We also provided households in all 42 barangays with corned beef, milk, coffee, bihon, other needs. We have long completed our first round of distribution, and are wrapping up with the second round.

“The third batch of relief packs are being packed as of now, and these also contain added items such as laundry soap, alcohol, and a month’s supply of Vitamin C. In Barili, we put premium on quality instead of quantity, aron sulit ang moabot sa tagsa-tagsa ka panimalay. We plan to continue with the distribution as long as necessary, and as many times needed.

“Lastly, I would like to take exception to your publishing of the letter when you yourself admitted that you “cannot verify the veracity” of it. Even media interns would take to heart verification as the most basic tenet of journalism, followed by taking the side of the other party. Whether this is recklessness, negligence, or malice, only you know your truth. But perhaps, the answer can be gleaned from the last portion of your column that says “I really don’t know if any of the siblings of Governor Garcia are running Dumanjug ug Barili….” This seems odd knowing that you are always present in Capitol gatherings and have access to the governor’s staff, and that verifying information today is as quick as an internet search. However, granting that it’s true you do not really know of me, let this letter be my introduction to you: I, Marlon Garcia, mayor of the town of Barili.” At this point, let me just say that the letter writer was very happy that they finally received their food allowance from Barili!