ON April 30, 2008, then Iloilo City Engineer Marito A. Amatorio wrote a letter to some residents of Brgy. Ingore, La Paz, Iloilo City to demolish their structures that encroach the barangay road.

Punong Barangay Ernie Poral requested the assistance of the city engineer to pave the way for the installation of Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) pipelines to serve the water needs of barangay residents.

Joy, however, also a resident of the place, does not want to remove her constructed structure intruding the big portion of the road where the MIWD project is supposed to pass through.

As reported, she is a casual employee of the City Hall, assigned outside the office of City Mayor Jerry Treñas. In my interview with Poral, he said he has already sent a letter to the mayor regarding the matter.

As disclosed, the mayor called the attention of City Legal Officer, Atty. Edgar Gil and advice him to help Poral. Atty. Gil promised to talk with the parents of Joy regarding the issue. But to date, nothing happened yet.

Dementia praecox – an indication of a wide range of mental disorder that may have caused the delay of the MIWD project. As narrated by Poral, he suspects that Joy begrudged him for his giving her address to a lending company which had been looking for her.

Joy failed to realize that barangay captains have the obligation to know their constituents in order to provide them proper security and also information to those with important or legal purpose to certain residents they are looking for.

Her hatred drove Joy to write the Commission on Audit (COA) and Mayor Treñas that the Calamity Fund of P100,000 was converted into cash by Poral. But contractor Eddie Yap wrote COA disputing her claim. How could Poral convert a check in the name of his company? The accusation smacks of malice.

Worse, Joy learned that Poral had a loan with a woman surnamed Rafio of Calumpang, Molo. On how she learned about it, nobody knows. But Joy has convinced the woman that Poral is no longer interested to pay his balance of forty thousand pesos for the loan.

As the story goes, a lawyer in the City Legal Office admitted to Poral that it was Joy who prodded him to write a demand letter in behalf of Rafio as the latter is allegedly her aunt, copies of the letter were sent to the city mayor and many others.

To save integrity, Poral paid the remaining balance of his loan. But vultures breed during crisis, from the forty thousand pesos remaining balance, Rafio charged him eighty-five thousand pesos, otherwise, she will not sign her affidavit of desistance.

But whom the Gods wish to destroy they make her first non compos mentis – not of a sound mind. Rafio refused to sign the clearance for the settlement of the entire account when she always issues a receipt for every amount paid to her by Poral. With that eighty five thousand pesos she charged for a forty thousand balance, Rafio may now a candidate for violation of the Anti-Usury Law.

It was only a misfortune for the people of Brgy. Ingore as Joy won’t heed the request, more so, as Atty. Gil failed to do what has been entrusted to him by the mayor. Time is of the essence and the residents are losing hope usque ad nauseam – to the point of disgust!

This writer cannot blame Mayor Treñas as the settlement of this encroachment by Joy was already passed to the shoulder of Atty. Gil. But laxity is a much cause for dismay believing he should be the inter cedo – to come between, to intervene for the settlement of a simple barangay dispute.

If we study the case as what Mayor Treñas has always been doing, it is not only Barangay Ingore that shall benefit from this MIWD project but also the other barangays adjacent to Poral’s turf, the barangays of Baldoza, Loboc and Mansaya.

As a consequence of this problem, only God knows. But take this to heart; “People are created to be loved and things are made to be used. The absurd sense of values is when people are being used and things are being loved.”

Leave a Reply