Rama swears in ABC officers; Zafra to take ABC seat in Council
WHEN the Cebu City Council holds its regular session next week, Tisa barangay captain Philip Zafra will already sit as an ex-officio member.
He took his oath yesterday as president of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC).
Zafra and the ABC board of directors took their oaths of office before Mayor Michael Rama at City Hall. They are all political supporters of Team Rama.
Zafra, the mayor’s former chief of staff, said his top priorities would be projects for garbage, drainage and health care in the barangays.
He said he would meet next week with new Department of Public Services (DPS) head Rolando Ardosa to assess the barangays’ capabilities.
Zafra will also ask for an inventory of all garbage trucks and a review of the system for garbage collection and segregation.
Zafra called on former ABC president and T. Padilla barangay captain Michael Ralota to turn over ABC’s financial records and properties.
Ralota was out of town and could not be reached for comment.
Zafra was scheduled to convene the ABC board for a meeting so they could pass a resolution requesting Ralota for a formal turnover of records and properties. As of yesterday, they only received a laptop and an iPod.
The ABC building at the South Road Properties (SRP) and their City Hall office in the legislative building has been cleaned.
He will retain some of the nine ABC staff members assigned at the SRP office and replace some of them with accountants and engineers.
Zafra said he is confident that the ABC still has funds. He said 14 barangays issued a promissory note for their P25,000 dues. Also, the ABC has yet to collect the one percent share of the IRA shares of the city’s 80 barangays.
Basak San Nicolas barangay captain George Rama remitted yesterday his barangay’s dues of P25,000. He refused payment during the last three years when Ralota was still ABC president.
Captain Rama said he will ask Zafra that if possible, the ABC would waive his barangay’s unpaid dues for the previous three years.
