EMBATTLED Councilor Reynaldo Advincula has admitted doing business using a city hall-owned property in Barangay Indahag but he strongly denied earning millions of pesos by harvesting fruits and selling these.
‘‘I did not earn P4 million,’’ said Advincula in denying accusations made by Indahag barangay chairperson Carmelito Damo that the councilor has been harvesting fruits from the property since 1998.
Damo earlier told The Cagayan de Oro Kournal that Advincula earned at least P4 million out of the mangoes and other fruits harvested from the government-owned property.
Aside from the Indahag property, Advincula has also been accused of using his position to do business at the local government-owned Cogon public market.
While Advincula said he was aware that he did not own the fruit trees in the Indahag property,
Advincula admitted to this paper that he was among those who financed the spraying of the mango trees. He did not identify the other financiers.
The sharing scheme, according to Advincula, is this: 70 percent of the profit goes to the financier, 20 percent to the watchers and 10 percent to the owner of the property (city hall).
Although Advincula claimed that it was Mayor Vicente Emano who asked him to keep squatters away from the 15-hectare property, it is unclear if the business venture was santioned by city hall. Neither is it clear if city hall was aware that it was supposed to receive a 10-percent share.
Advincula denied he raked in profits. ‘‘Break even,’’ he told The Gold Star Daily.
Since the venture allegedly yielded no profit, Advincula said he gave the farmers the 10-percent share supposedly intended for city hall.
"No millions," maintained Advincula, adding that the financiers only received 60 percent instead of 70 percent because the price of the chemicals used in treating the mango trees soared.
He claimed he did not even recover his investment.
Advincula earlier claimed that he has been providing funds to farmers in the area so they could till the land and that all he has been asking in return is for them to give back his money.
Advincula also denied that he has been using the property to breed goats.
The 15-hectare property was acquired by city hall during the Magtajas administration; it was intended for a relocation program.
Meanwhile, Advincula lashed back at Damo for allegedly issuing certificates to non-deserving land beneficiaries in Indahag.
By doing so, Advincula claimed Damo deprived impoverished residents of Indahag the opportunity to own lands.
Advincula said he has received complaints that Damo refused to issue certificates to farmers who have been living in Indahag for years.
"Why did Damo issue certifications to (former councilor Celestino) Ocio and the family members of former mayor Pablo Magtajas? Are they supposed to be beneficiaries?" Advincula asked.
That can be read at Gold Star Daily
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