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BY MAE SINGUAY
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BACOLOD City – Councilor Caesar Distrito believes the Kasadya Bacolod Development Foundation, Inc. should submit to the Sangguniang Panlungsod an audited financial statement.
Otherwise, it will risk courting charges, Distrito said.
In November the councilors asked the Silver MassKara Festival Organization (SMFO) and the Kasadya to furnish them copies of audited financial statements.
But Kasadya chairman Rhoderick Samonte said he will not submit. He said he has not received any official communication regarding the request.
“There is nothing that I should do,” and as far as financial matters are concerned, everything had been reported to Monico Puentevella, the mayor when they handled the festival 2013 to 2015, he said.
“They (Kasadya) collected money at the Paglaum Sports Complex where the street dancing (arena competition) was held,” he said. “They collected money from kiosks on streets and solicited money from businesses.”
According to Distrito, Kasadya held a “public activity,” was given authority to administer a world-renowned festival and collected money from the public without authority from the city council.
If the organization does not explain its finances, all these might constitute malversation, the councilor warned.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod will deal with the financial reports of MassKara Festival organizers in January 2017.
Right now the councilors are focused on the P2-billion proposed city government annual budget, Distrito said.
“We will give them (organizers) until January, and we will deal with them accordingly,” he said.
If the city council does not receive anything in January, it will refer the matter to the City Legal Office, said Distrito.
He said SMFO director Eli Francis Tajanlangit told them they will file their report soon./PN
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