Mayor orders CLO to probe BCGC ‘weekend crowd’

 

By Dolly Yasa

 

BACOLOD City – Mayor Evelio Leonardia has ordered the City Legal Office (CLO) headed by Atty. Joselito Bayatan to investigate the unexpected big crowd that converged at the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC) in the early hours of Sept 26, 2020.

Leonardia gave the CLO 10 days to conduct the investigation.

The CLO has to investigate as well if anyone or any group may have goaded the crowd to gather at the BCGC to claim financial assistance from the city government.

The crowd emerged in relation to an interview activity conducted by the Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD) for a DSWD Financial Assistance Program, a press statement from the Bacolod Public Information Office said Wednesday.

Leonardia said in his memo to Bayatan that “since this will not be the last time that the DSSD will be undertaking such interview work, the findings of the CLO will be useful in establishing future systems and strategies to avoid a repetition of the same incident.”

Earlier, Leonardia dismissed as “sabotage” the mammoth crowd that gathered at the BCG Saturday morning.

He also called the crowd as “organized hakot.”

The DSSD headed by Pacita Tero came under fire from netizens after photos of the mammoth crowd at the BGC circulated on social media.

The gathering violated social distancing protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The crowd, mostly jeepney and tricycle drivers and vendors, converged to avail of the financial assistance given by the DSSD to affected sectors after the city was placed under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine status from Sept 8-30, 2020.

Because of the incident, Tero said the DSSD suspended indefinitely the cash assistance distribution.