Capitol: No politics in cash aid

Any financial assistance for barangays will be turned over to its officials by the governor, vice governor and Provincial Board (PB) members, a Capitol official said yesterday.

Capitol spokesman Rory Jon Sepulveda told reporters that the system was set up last month. He denied that a barangay captain’s failure to encash a P20,000 check issued by Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale’s office was due to partisan politics.

“There is a monthly turnover. (The procedure) is that the PB members, the governor and the vice governor will pay a visit to a particular place and hand over the cash assistance),” Sepulveda said.

Magpale turned down Gov. Gwen Garcia’s invitation to run for vice governor under One Cebu.

Magpale will be the runningmate of Hilario “Junjun” Davide III as an alliance between her Bakud party and the Liberal Party (LP).

“This is not a reaction because of the recent happenings. Since May, the governor has already decided to have that system,” he said.

Last Thursday, a barangay captain of Canduling in Ronda town wasn’t able to encash a check for P20,000 financial assistance for socio-cultural activities from Magpale’s office.

Magpale said she found that unusual since it had never happened before. The barangay captain was told to wait instead for the governor to hand her the check. Magpale said the amount was part of the Legislative Aid Fund allocated for each legislator. In this case, it was part of her allocated pork barrel. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus