AT ROAD INAUGURATION: Nerry stole limelight from Jonas?

CEBU, Philippines - A staff of Mayor Jonas Cortes has accused sixth district representative Nerissa Soon-Ruiz of grabbing the limelight from the mayor during the inauguration of the Cabancalan-Canduman road last Wednesday.

The road was inaugurated by President Gloria Arroyo, who made a five-minute stop-over to unveil the marker of the bridge.

Roger Paller, the press information officer of Mayor Cortes, said that one of the mayor’s staff complained saying that it was supposed to be Mayor Jonas Cortes and the President who were supposed to unveil the marker of the bridge at last Wednesday’s inauguration.

The staff, whose name Paller won’t divulge, said that she was the one who attended the briefing conducted by the Presidential Management Staff and that what was agreed upon was that it was to be the President and Mayor Cortes who were to unveil the marker.

But on the inauguration day itself, she alleged that Soon-Ruiz herself stole the limelight from the mayor, unveiling the marker side by side the President.

In a separate interview, Sally Malig-on, the chief of staff of Soon-Ruiz, said they had no hand in the program of activities that day and it was a member of the PMS that approached Rep. Soon-Ruiz asking that she unveil the marker together with the President.

Malig-on said there might have been a possibility that the member of the PMS had approached Soon-Ruiz because the marker does not bear the name of the mayor but only the name of the representative.

“It is rightful man sad siguro nga gi-recognize nila si Inday Nerry, wa man ta mag-ingon nga giangkon na nga proyekto kay sa gobyerno man na. Apan nakatabang man gud siya aron mahimugso na nga proyekto and we have documents to prove that. Apan di na angayan awayan ang importante nga humana ang proyekto,” Malig-on said.

“We don’t want to grab credit and it’s up to the people to make judgment kinsay ilang mahinumduman anang proyektoha,” Malig-on said.

Malig-on also said the reports that came out from a radio station yesterday which alleged that Soon-Ruiz did not have a hand in the completion of the project were baseless .

According to Malig-on he and the DPWH even called for a press conference in March last year to announce to the media that the project was about to commence after receiving the Special Allocation Release Order from DBM.

He said that during that press conference, he showed to reporters a letter of Soon-Ruiz addressed to the President and DPWH indicating her request to have a bridge constructed in the area.

He said it took the congresswoman two years pursuing it before it was approved.

“Nakatilaw pa gani ug kasaba ang DPWH gikan sa Presidente ana, if not one of those sidetrip nga gidala ni Inday Neri ang Presidente sa maong lugar dili ma-hasten ang implementation anang proyektoha.”

In an interview with Cabancalan barangay captain Regidor Cosedo, an ally of Mayor Cortes, he said if there is anyone who is to receive credit for the completion of the project it is no less than Mayor Cortes himself.

Cosedo said he was a witness when Mayor Cortes who had just assumed office at that time personally asked the President for an allocation for the construction of the bridge.

The mayor asked for the project as he also wanted an alternate route to decongest both Mandaue and Cebu City.

The barangay captain said it was also the mayor’s father, former mayor Demetrio Cortes’s dream, that a bridge be constructed in the area. It was also the mayor’s father who oversaw the maintenance of the road.

Soon-Ruiz camp criticized Mayor Cortes for not fulfilling his promise in 2007 that the city undertake the road asphalting at Cabancalan side but was only able to do it after learning that the bridge was about to be inaugurated.

However, Paller said there was a delay in the asphalting of the road because there were some portions of the road that were privately owned and the city had to negotiate with the owners.   (FREEMAN NEWS)