BACOLOD City Councilor Ricardo Tan expressed dismay that his fellow city officials have apparently displayed disrespect to him for not inviting him to the Inasal Festival, an event that was funded using people's money.
"I felt insulted by their intentional political actuation for not sending an invitation to my office to attend the Inasal Festival. As an elected official, though I am critical to some issues in the Sangguniang Panlungsod, still they need to send me the invitation. I am critical about government spending. I am disappointed with their actuations," he said.
The said festival is an official City Government activity by way of a city ordinance, "the brainchild of then city councilor and former vice mayor Alex Paglomutan."
This year's amended Inasal Festival appeared as the biggest "feeding program" of the administration party, Grupo Progreso, wherein those who were invited to eat were said to be their allies, Tan said.
"I served as acting vice mayor and presiding officer when the amended ordinance was passed. I am not forcing myself to get invited but since that I am a city official of Bacolod, they should have shown even a little respect to my office. We were supposed to generate a good record for such an event but it turned out to have generated a bad record wherein reports reaching me that there were so many meal tickets which were issued but the chicken inasal was less than the number of tickets released," he said.
For him, the said festival was not only mismanaged but ill-organized. "The Inasal Festival has a budget of P2 million. I openly denounced the lack of courtesy of people who organized the event. Enough of the color coding as they only divide the people. The city-funded event should be open to all and not should be politicized," he said.
