By Felipe. V Celino
ROXAS CITY, Capiz – Mayor Ronnie Dadivas defended the distribution of Christmas cash gifts to select barangay chiefs here.
Dadivas issued the clarification after Councilors Midelo Ocampo and Jericho Angel Celino questioned why some Punong Barangays did not receive the Christmas gifts.
Dadivas said the cash gifts were rewards for performing barangay chiefs and officials, including Barangay Health Workers and tanods who served amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Daw indi man insakto nga hatagan mo ang wala naga obra sang trabaho nila,” he said, adding that he can vouch that the beneficiaries were performing officials.
Dadivas was irked when Ocampo delivered a privilege speech during their session this week which questioned the selective release of the cash gifts.
The mayor said Ocampo can visit his office and inquire about the distribution of cash gifts rather than deliver a speech.
But Ocampo said he had to deliver the speech because some village officials kept asking him about the cash gifts.
“Iban naton nga mga kapitanes nagapamangkot ngaa man wala sila nakabaton regalo, ngaa man ang iban may ara,” according to Ocampo, who is a former village chief of Milibili.
The recipient village chiefs received PHP10,000 cash gift.
Celino said they approved the budget for the cash gift without delay and deliberations as he believed that all punong barangays will receive the gift.
A former village chief of Brgy. San Jose here, Celino recalled that the SP approved an ordinance sometime in June 2019 institutionalizing the distribution of cash gifts to all barangay officials, including BHW and tanods, as their Christmas bonus from the city government.
