Advincula hits Sia, calls partymate irresponsible

COUNCILOR Reynaldo Advincula strongly denied he pushed for the approval of an ordinance that wrote off the debts of market stallholders, including his, as he called his partymate Councilor Juan Sia ‘‘irresponsible’’ for making such a claim.

Advincula and Sia are members of the ruling PaDayon Pilipino, the party of Mayor Vicente Emano.

Earlier this week, Sia said the market committee chaired by Advincula was responsible in railroading the approval of the ordinance. He said the then proposal was elevated to the city council even before Advincula could present the list of beneficiaries and their corresponding debts to city hall to the finance committee.

The amount of debts written off remains unclear. The ordinance did not state any amount nor did it identify the beneficiaries. But Advincula hinted in an earlier interview that the vendors’ debts had reached nearly P10 million.

But Advincula maintained that the ordinance was not endorsed by his committee.
"That (ordinance) did not come from my committee. How then can anyone say that I worked or pushed for the passage of that ordinance?" Advincula asked.

Advincula lashed at Sia, saying the councilor’s pronouncements only meant that the finance committee failed to review the controversial ordinance. ‘‘He is blaming others for the failure of his committee.’’

Advincula said the ordinance was endorsed by the City Economic Enterprise Management Board

(CEEMB) and directly came from the office of Mayor Vicente Emano.

"That (ordinance) was endorsed to my committee for approval as part of the process before it reached the plenary," Advincula said.

Advincula said at least four committees reviewed the ordinance before it was properly deliberated and approved by the council.

Sia has claimed that he demanded a list of the vendors and their corresponding debts from Advincula but he (Advincula) failed to show it to his committee.

"Sia should have insisted on it if he really wanted to see the list," said Advincula.

From Sia’s committee, he said the proposal was instead passed on to the committee on laws and rules chaired by Councilor Maryanne Enteria.

Advincula said he did not participate when the other committees tackled the proposal.

"Why did he (Sia) allow it to reach the laws and rules committee if the things he required were not met," Advincula said.

He said Sia should be held liable for allowing the proposal to be approved by the city council without the finance committee’s green light.

Sia earlier claimed he was surprised when the council tackled the then proposed ordinance given Advincula’s alleged failure to show the finance committee the list he required. But he said he voted in favor of the proposal.

Advincula said, ‘‘He (Sia) has been a councilor for quite a time already yet until now he doesn’t know what he is doing.’’

That can be read at Gold Star Daily