Am-among fest tiff

LETTER

May I request publication of this letter in response to the news articles written by Mr. Roger Sacyaten, Provincial Tourism Officer, who at the same time is posturing as spokesperson of Mayor Pascual Sacgaca.

Said articles were published in the Sept. 12 issue of the Mountain Province Exponent and Baguio Midland Courier titled, No ‘Fireworks’ for the 6th Am-among Festival and Bontoc’s Am-among Fest Set on Sept. 15-19 respectively.

Instead of promoting the highlights of Am-Aong to entice more tourists, the articles delved on maligning the undersigned. The most damaging was the statement of Mayor Sacgaca, quoted as follows; “My predecessor realigned some amount from the allocated budget for the festival.”

Students in political science conversant in local governance will not believe such statement, much more myself because I know the background of realignment. It needs legislation by the Sangguninag Bayan. It is a collegial action deliberated and approved by a simple majority after which it needs executive approval.

The issue at bar involves the amount of one hundred twenty five thousand pesos (P125,000.00) re-aligned from the Am-Among Fund which the undersigned submitted to the SB for approval and was granted. Hon. Sacgaca, then the ABC President and just elected mayor at that time, was a signatory to Resolution 485 that re-aligned the amount.

But when the amount was not spent for the tourism center, the undersigned verbally recommended to the vice mayor and some SB members that the amount be reverted to the Am-Among Fund.

However, the SB enacted Ordinance 1, s. 2010-13 allocating the amount for Legislative Programs and representation expenses of the office of the vice mayor which Mayor Sacgaca approved.

What I can’t understand is the temerity of the two gentlemen to name me as the culprit for lack of funds, hence many activities like the Agro-Fair were excluded in the festival. The two concluded without first verifying their facts. Mr. Sacyaten supported his presentation through an interview of selected local officials close to the mayor who accordingly conceptualized certain events like folkdances. Documents of the previous Am-among attest that folk dancing was part of the program, hence, not new.

Be it also known that the past administration did not empty the coffers of the municipal government that the good tall and handsome mayor use as an excuse in not granting financial request to our constituents and to the job applicants. I left the amount of P3.6 million to the discretion of the new administration.

If indeed Mayor Sacgaca is in control of the executive supplemental budget then he should have augmented the Am-Among Fund to accommodate other activities. But alas, he didn’t but opted to hide under the cloak of realignment and portraying the undersigned as the culprit. In fact, we also handed an approved financial assistance in the amount of P150,000.00 which we requested last year from the National Commission on Culture and the Arts to supplement the 2010 Am-among Fund.

According to an insider the grant from NCCA is ready for pick up by any representative from the Bontoc LGU before the Am-Among. I hope the foregoing facts will vindicate me from the opinionated view of the writer and indiscretions from the good mayor.

Franklin Odsey
Bontoc, Mountain Province