ACTOR Richard Gomez who is interested to run for mayor next year created a stir at the social networking site Facebook (FB) when he accused the local government unit (LGU) of refusing to cooperate in a relief drive for typhoon victims in Mindanao. Demands for his public apology fell on deaf ears after his information turned out to be false.
A group of concerned Ormocanons took the initiative to collect donations for victims of typhoon “Sendong” in Cagayan de Oro, Valencia and Iligan Cities. They were able to solicit 50 sacks of rice from Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez which started the brouhaha.
“congw lucy donated 50 sacks of rice from her pdaf for the victims in cdo and iligan before Christmas. but when the city mayor of ormoc found out about this, he did not lend his city truck to the organizers to pick the sacks of rice and other stuff. so the organizers had to spend extra money for the hauling and shipment instead of giving more for the victims,” Gomez posted on his FB wall.
Agnes Capahi-Siguenza, one of the volunteers who initiated the relief drive, did not let Gomez’s misinformation pass and gave him a piece of her mind which opened a floodgate of criticisms against the actor-politician. Most of the succeeding comments accused him of politicizing a noble initiative.
“mauwaw ta Manoy Rich oui...di ta pataka pahaba sa mga inosenteng katawhan sa ormoc ug mga bakak! kung gusto ka mohumot aron botohan ka paghimo ug mga matarong nga buhat ayaw anang puros ka lang pandaut sa imo mga kaatbang kay layo pa ang piniliay...” Juliet Orbiso Alcala typed.
“unsa man pagtoo nimo taga ormoc mga uwat na lang jud ug gibolokan ka namo? pagtoo nimo di mi kaantigo motimbang-timbang knsa nagsulti ug nagbuhat kamatuoran ug knsa ang wala? ayaw tawn ming mga taga ormoc smola pag ayo kay very bigs kaau mi para patuyukon sa imohang fingering-aling noh?”
Siguenza clarified that not only did Mayor Eric C. Codilla lend a vehicle to transport the donations to the port, he also allowed the use of the City Hall as drop-off point for the donations. She also posted a photo of the Canter light truck of the LGU that was used to transport the donations. Personnel of the General Services Office also loaded and unloaded the cargoes.
Not only did Gomez lie about the LGU’s purported non-extending of help, he also made it appear that Roble Shipping charged the donations by saying the volunteers spent their own money for the shipping cost. “He is twisting the facts, roble shipping did not even charge us a single centavo for transporting the relief goods to cebu!” Siguenza typed on FB.
She suspects Gomez’s intention was to malign Mayor Codilla. If true, Gomez solicited only a handful sympathetic comments on his wall. One of his supporters, publisher Lalaine Marcos-Jimenea, tried to rescue her newspaper’s benefactor from the backlash by commenting on John Patrick Ceniza’s comment thread: “So let’s move on and forget all this hullabaloo.”
But the Richard-bashing went on at Siguenza’s account. She said Gomez just wanted to brag about their rice donation which she belittled as compared to the LGU’s P1.5 million assistance to the three battered cities. “Wa man gani nagpasi-atab ang siyudad sa Ormoc nga mihatag ug P1.5M para sa tulo ka lugar nga nabahaan! Kanang imo 50 ka sako di na katandog sa hinabang sa siyudad noy!” she typed.
Ma. Lourdes Zamora seconded by saying Gomez would have gloated even more if they donated the much expensive Granador rice. “Nku ganador na rice iya gedonate ky grabeh man pgputak nija..pastilan pud ni manoy richard ug mo tabang gani tabang y dghan yaw2x ug mahimo dli nlang unta isangyaw,” she posted.
Siguenza agrees and typed: “NFA RICE is what they are donating — ano pa kaya kung GRANDOR RICE?! abot sa pluto ang advertisement and publicity?” Maricel Yu contributed that it is the congresswoman’s voters who are embarrassed with Gomez’s action.
“Tingali may tatak to ila face ang kada grains,” typed Lynn de los Reyes. She was referring to the Gomez couple’s fondness of putting up pictures of their faces everywhere which earned for them the moniker Epal King and Queen of 4th District in reference to the Anti-Epal Bill which proposes to ban signages of politicians.
Oneal Aberilla, also a volunteer in the drive, typed his reaction: “Ato ipa sosi sa CDO tingali naa tarpaulin nka butang nila ngadto.” Ronah Sacay-Dubal asked the most sensible question: why didn’t the congressional office deliver the rice themselves considering they have a fleet of vehicles?
Ken Enecio who also spearheaded the drive gave a detailed explanation on the controversy. According to him, they made a hasty decision last Jan. 5 to deliver the donations the following day. Given their limited logistics and time (the ship leaves 11:00 am), they decided to ship out the food items and clothes first and then the rice on Jan. 9.
“It is unfortunate that all of the good intentions me and the rest of my group had had to be politicized and blown out of proportions. This defeats our purpose of just lending a hand to Sendong victims,” Enecio laments. by Felix N. Codilla III
(West Leyte Weekly Express issue of Jan. 2-8, 2012)
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