NEWS: Judge Clapis subpoenas DoF, DBM experts for say on P90 M bond float

On TRO, injunction vs. Nabunturan bond flotation
nov 13

NABUNTURAN- Regional Trial Court Judge Helarion Clapis here has ordered yesterday to send subpoenas to the regional offices of the Department of Finance and the Department of Budget and Management for their experts to testify and give opinions as neutral parties on the P90-million bond flotation project of the municipal administration which town oppositors seek to stop through court action.

Bond float oppositors last Friday filed at RTC-Branch 3 here last Friday a court case praying for injunction with application for writ of preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order (TRO) against respondents Mayor Macario Humol, Vice Mayor Romeo Clarin and Councilors Iluminada Cabuga, Darwin Tan, Edilberto Minoza, Vivencia Secuya, Cheryl Trinidad, ABC president Alfredo Manalop, sectoral representative Felipe Masambo and Sangguniang Kabataan president Jennifer Gamao.

Not included in the case were also oppositionist councilors Raul Caballero and Editha Arangcon.

Complainants of the case and authorized representatives of the people’s initiative petition were Councilor Alfonso Tabas, Jr. Emilio delos Reyes and newsman Cha Monforte.

The case filed was docketed as Civil Case No. 898.

The respondents have answered yesterday their comment and opposition to the case following Monday’s summons of Judge Clapis for them to enter appearance within 15 days from receipt of summons.

Only Minoza and Gamao were not present in yesterday’s hearing.

They were represented by their counsels prosecutor Ferdinand Villanueva and provincial prosecutor Graciano Arafol.

On the other hand, the complainants’ counsels were Atty. Rex Lopoz and Atty. Carlo Ancla.

In yesterday’s first hearing on the injunction with TRO, following hearing of arguments that a took a little over an hour, Judge Clapis said,  citing Rule 58 on the rules of court on injunction and a “limited knowledge of this court” on bond flotation such as about its fees and costs and how it affects the people of Nabunturan, “there is a need to issue subpoenas” to DoF and DBM “to testify and inform this court on the effects of bond flotation, whether or not it would be for the benefit or disadvantage of the people”.

He said that the court has the power to impose an injunction to a government unit if there is a need for “special probationary remedy to correct an error”.
He said there is a need for experts from neutral parties and not those coming from local parties on the bond flotation to enlighten his court whether he would issue an injunction or not.

He ordered his court sheriff Rene Suarez to serve the summons to DoF and DBM today and scheduled the next hearing Thursday next week, Nov. 20. (Rural Urban News) http://ruralurbanews.blogspot.com

Filed under: atty carlo ancla, atty. rex lopoz, comval nabunturan news, comval provincial prosecutor graciano arafol, councilor alfonso jun tabas, emilio delos reyes nabunturan ptca official, jr, nabunturan bond flotation, nabunturan councilor ABC president alfredo manalop, nabunturan councilor cheryl trinidad, nabunturan councilor darwin tan, nabunturan councilor edilberto minoza, nabunturan councilor editha arangcon, nabunturan councilor raul caballero, nabunturan councilor sangguniang kabataan president jen, nabunturan councilor sectoral representative felipe mas, nabunturan councilor vivencia secuya, nabunturan councilors iluminada cabuga, nabunturan mayor macario humol, nabunturan vice mayor romeo clarin, prosecutor ferdinand villanueva, regional trial court nabunturan judge gelarion clapis, rtc nabunturan judge helarion clapis, atty carlo ancla, atty. rex lopoz, comval nabunturan news, comval provincial prosecutor graciano arafol, councilor alfonso jun tabas, emilio delos reyes nabunturan ptca official, jr, nabunturan bond flotation, nabunturan councilor ABC president alfredo manalop, nabunturan councilor cheryl trinidad, nabunturan councilor darwin tan, nabunturan councilor edilberto minoza, nabunturan councilor editha arangcon, nabunturan councilor raul caballero, nabunturan councilor sangguniang kabataan president jen, nabunturan councilor sectoral representative felipe mas, nabunturan councilor vivencia secuya, nabunturan councilors iluminada cabuga, nabunturan mayor macario humol, nabunturan vice mayor romeo clarin, prosecutor ferdinand villanueva, regional trial court nabunturan judge gelarion clapis

Atik

BLOGISTA
By Cha Monforte

We’ve heard lately that several among the pro-bond flotation pushers in Nabunturan have already run out of reasons in justifying the exorbitant and extravagant P90-million public market building. Instead of rebutting squarely the project-bounded issues from the growing number of oppositors to the bond float that would only construct an excessively expensive market building, which would surely become a White Elephant, they have hoodwinked the people by the false reasoning that the Nabunturan cityhood could not push through if the SOB bond float could not be materialized. Santa banana!

We’ll pick this latest falsity on the discussion board. It’s clear as the sky that the Nabunturan would never be converted to a city now and in the near future. Reason: it fails on two of the three requirements of converting a town to a city. Nabunturan’s total income from the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) and local sources runs over P80 million only versus the required minimum of P100 million. Failure one. Based on the latest official census in 2007, Nabunturan has only 67,365 versus the required minimum of 150,000. Failure two. Only in the land area requirement does Nabunturan meet. The town has 245.29 square kilometers versus the required 100 sq. kms.

Simple statistics just cast a pale of doom to the bloated claim of Nabunturan officials that it is leading to a path of cityhood. The biggest obstacle of Nabunturan cityhood lies in its lacking population. Even if we take a greater annual population growth rate of 2.5 percent instead of its 2.3 percent, and by a progressing cumulative projection, the town population can only hit the required 150,000 by 2040 or 32 years from now. But since there’s this geometric behavior of the population to increase, we take Malthus seriously and cut by half my projected 32 years for Nabunturan to hit 150,000 persons. But in this still Nabunturan needs 15 years of waiting to become a city, at the very least.

Another selfish reason that stymies the cityhood bid of my hometown Nabunturan is the resistance of the existing cities to the conversion of towns to become cities as they don’t like seeing newcomers competing to bite for the IRA pie allocated for the cities. The existing cities and even the newcomers like the fortunate Cabadbaran in Agusan del Norte and Bayugan in Agusan del Sur which became cities just this year and Mati in Davao Oriental in last year fear that if there would be more cities to come, in the end they would be munching smaller slices of the IRA pie.

With this, it is understandable now that the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) has been fighting tooth-and-nail for the stoppage of city conversion in various fronts: lobbying the President to veto an approved cityhood bill, to Congress for a resolution declaring moratorium on cityhood bills and increasing conversion requirements, and going to the Supreme Court to ask for restraining orders to stop towns from holding cityhood plebiscites.

With this LCP selfish and strong resistance, it’s another waste of government resources and time for the Nabunturan officials to go into Lakbay Aral or study tours on cityhood or go into lobbying faraway national corridors of powers in Imperial Manila. And given the glaring population obstacle Nabunturan has or the lengthy years needed to hit the 150,000 population mark, it’s one great falsity to make the Nabunturan cityhood a crying reason of the bond flotation pushers. It seems they are now going bankrupt of their justifications and alibis for this all-too ambitious project that is doomed from the start.

For this cityhood false reasoning, we have this adage in vernacular: “Atika ang tatay mo, ayaw ko” (For online edition, visit my blog at: http://cha4t.wordpress.com)

Filed under: nabunturan bond flotation, comval sex scandal, macario humo, nabunturan, nabunturan bond flotation, nabunturan sex scandal

NEWS: Municipal councilors baffled on P40 M loan for Nabunturan bond float

The P40 million borrowing approved by the majority in Tuesday’s session of the Sangguniang Bayan of Nabunturan has baffled three councilors opposing the controversial P90-million bond flotation which is starting to be fully underway at present.

Opposing Councilors Raul Caballero, Alfonso “Jun” Tabas Jr and Editha Arangcon were reportedly confused over the item “P40 million borrowing” included in the P42.84-million second supplemental budget ordinance that was passed after Vice Mayor Romeo Clarin reportedly cut short Tabas by suddenly calling for the voting of the measure with words “para mahuman na ni” (so this will end).

By that, Tabas was reportedly restrained while on the thick of debating amidst the alleged ganging up of the majority members on him.
The pro-bond float majority immediately voted and passed the budget ordinance following rowdy deliberation with the questioning minority councilors.

Tabas said in an interview that he was confused over the purpose and source of the borrowing, which has not specified any government financing institution.

He said that the P40-million borrowing was not a transparent item as it neither said of a bank nor said it would go for the bond flotation’s obligations.

Caballero, on the other hand, said that the measure rushed by the majority only confirmed the suspicion that under the bond flotation the municipal government would borrow after all contrary to what has been propagandized earlier that the scheme would not contract a loan but only source money from the bond float investors.

In the budget ordinance sought as urgent by Mayor Macario Humol, the P40-million borrowing was stated to be the budget for the construction of the commercial market complex, the object of the bond float project.

Also on Tuesday’s session a resolution was approved by the majority which lifted the confidentiality of the bank accounts of the municipal government in its depository bank, Land Bank of the Philippines in so far as the Department of Finance and the Central Bank are concerned.

Proponents said it was a requirement under the bond flotation project to allow the DoF and Central Bank to assess the financial standing including the Internal Revenue Allotment remittances for the proponent local government unit.

As required, the DoF would still assess the feasibility study of the project before it will make its endorsement for the final go signal for the funding start of the project.

As this developed, bond float oppositors have reportedly heightened their signature campaign to repeal the controversial ordinance under the people’s initiative provision as spelled out under the Local Government Code.

Also on Tuesday, oppositors mostly coming from the market vendors whose stalls were gutted by fire three years ago signed the petition at the open municipal gym at the public market. They were joined in by the minority councilors.

The town’s market vendors have been apprehensive that the project would dislocate them from their livelihood as the proposed public market building has high monthly rentals amounting to not less than P10,500 for the minimum 10-square meter stall based on the approved project’s feasibility study.

The bond float has been criticized to be exorbitant and expensive project that the oppositors said would not only dislocate the lowly market vendors but also strain the delivery of basic government services in the next ten years after the term of the last-termer mayor.

They said that that the town’s IRA is made the sinking-fund source and collateral for the obligations attendant to bond float. (Cha Monforte/Rural Urban News) http://ruralurbanews.blogspot.com

Filed under: nabunturan bond flotation, raul caballero, bond flotation, compostela valley, comval, comval sex scandal, macario humol, nabunturan, nabunturan sex scandal, raul caballero, romeo clarin