BACOLOD City – The City Legal Office (CLO) will accommodate any complaint filed in their office pertaining to the viral social media post alleging that a member of the City Enforcement Team (CET) consumed the fish confiscated from vendors.
Legal Officer Romeo Carlos Ting Jr. said his office is now waiting for the complainant to approach and formalize the grievance.
“The complainant is welcome to file a complaint before the CLO so that an official investigation will be conducted,” he said.
A netizen, and reportedly one of the vendors, alleged that a member of the CET was frying the fish they had confiscated from the vendors at the Libertad Market.
According to Ting, the CLO has already initiated a motu proprio investigation. The findings revealed that there was a proper turnover of confiscated items to Balay Silangan, Ting said.
Confiscated products in the implementation of the city’s vending ordinance and local market code, under City Ordinance (CO) No. 1009 and CO No. 394, respectively, shall be retrieved by violators from the Local Market Committee after payment of corresponding fines.
However, perishable items will be donated by the city government to charitable institutions if a vendor fails to retrieve the confiscated products at a given time.
Ting further explained that the police record and a video refute the allegation. Even the pail shown in the post, which was claimed to contain the confiscated items, was different, he said.
Meanwhile, Atty. Caesar Distrito, spokesperson for Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, said the local chief executive assures fairness to all parties.
“The mayor is also doing his informal inquiry, as he is very particular about this kind of complaint. He wants all city employees to work with honesty and integrity,” the punong barangay of Singcang-Airport added.
Meanwhile, Ting confirmed that the CET does not issue citation tickets to violators of CO No. 1009 and CO No. 394. Instead, after the apprehension, the CET recorded it with the police station.
He noted that the enforcement team is always reminded not to accept any donations, particularly from vendors, when conducting operations./PN
