MALOLOS CITY—The Bulacan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) insisted that they are an a political group and disowned earlier statement of their chair questioning calamity fund of the province.
They chamber also said that they are now concentrating on relief efforts on affected Bulakenyos while coordinating with the national and local government units for assistance to affected businessmen.
“Jun Rivera’s statement was given in his personal capacity, because that was not the stand of the chamber,” said Reden Kalalang, vice president for corporate communications of the BCCI referring to Teofilo Rivera Jr.
Kalalang was interviewed over the telephone on Wednesday, October 19, a day after the BCCI board of directors met on Tuesday afternoon. Rivera, however, did not attend the said meeting.
As an association of local businessmen, Kalalang stressed that the BCCI is a politically neutral organization. “We are an apolitical group.”
Kalalang also stressed that they are now concentrating on relief efforts to help Bulakenyo and will also coordinate with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade and Industry to assist flood affected member businessmen.
In a statement over the weekend, Rivera, a former board member and current chairman of the BCCI board of directors demanded transparency on the use of the P93-million calamity fund of the provincial government.
Of the said funds, Rivera specifically asked for proof on the disbursement of P32-million for relief goods by the provincial government.
For his part, Provincial Administrator Jim Valerio said that Rivera’s claims were baseless.
Valerio said they are now consolidating reports on the relief operations conducted by the province in response to floods that submerged the towns of Hagonoy and Calumpit for over two weeks.
“We are now putting records together to pay for relief goods we ordered and distributed,” he said.
Valerio also said that relief goods handed by the province do not necessarily go to Hagonoy and Calumpit.
He said that there are other towns in the province where relief goods were distributed after the onslaught of typhoon Pedring on September 27.
Earlier, the Provincial Public Affairs Office (PPAO) issued a statement saying the provincial government distributed more than P32-million worth of relief goods to typhoon affected Bulakenyos.
The said press statement quoted Alvarado saying “We already conducted relief operations in almost all the affected barangays in Calumpit, Hagonoy, San Miguel, Obando and some parts of Paombong and Malolos City.
We even visited the areas in Hagonoy that had been isolated to bring them food and potable water.”
Alvarado however remained mum on the challenge of Rivera for transparency on the use of calamity fund which constitutes five percent of about P2.7-billion annual budget of the province.
