Town hall faces power blackout as Buenavista dads at war on electric bill
Transactions in the seat of the Buenavista Municipal Government face inconvenience and hassle as town officials here remain at odds on an unsettled electric bill. The in-house row has placed the town hall and other government offices at the brink of power disconnection.
With the notice sent by the Guimaras Electric Cooperative (Guimelco) stating last Friday still as deadline for payment, over P600,000 in unpaid dues stands to cause the disconnection.
This, after no resolution was reached by municipal officials particularly between the Mayor's office and the municipal council on the matter of source of government funds set to be used for payment here.
In a report, The News Today (TNT) learned that Mayor Samuel Gumarin reportedly has ran out of options and will allow the disconnection leaving the town hall, police station, fire department and town jail soon to be powerless.
One problem that a key opposition official disclosed has since been presented to the mayor himself with a corresponding solution also presented yet reportedly dismissed and unacted.
"We have a problem in Buenavista not because we do not want to pay our electric bills but because we are questioning the source of funds that the mayor wants to use here," said Councilor Jonayreh Gaitano, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations when reached by TNT for comment. "We believe that the monetization of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) is not the proper source for our electric bill payment. In our previous committee meetings where the mayor was present twice, and in our committee report, we recommended the use of our P7 million surplus for this and the over P3 million that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) certified as available. Why insist on the IRA when we contend such to be highly irregular?"
The electric bill issue will be among the main items up for discussion as the municipal council meet in today's (Monday) session.
Gaitano for his part said he will personally call on Guimelco to ask about the impending disconnection even as he quipped, "maybe this is the time that we can put into good use the town's multi-million power generator set."