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City
lawmaker want "botika" to reopen
The City Council junks a resolution filed by Kag. Zenaido
Rama on Monday as they asked for the Botika sa Katawhan to
be re-opened.
The
Rama resolution, seeking for an inquiry into the operations
of the Botika, was voted down by the city lawmakers, 10 to
2. Only Rama and Kag. Edgar Kapirig voted for the resolution.
It
may be recalled that City Mayor Dan Lim and civic-leader Mariano
Uy declared Saturday last week the temporary suspension of
operation of the Botika until the issues raised by Rama are
resolved.
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Right
after the council struck down Rama's proposed measure,
Kag. Oscar Glovasa filed another resolution requesting
the mayor and Uy to re-open the Botika.
The
announcement of the Botika's closure however was met
by strong reactions from city residents who expressed
their anger through calls and text messages over Station
dyRD.
Most
of the angry reactions were aimed at Rama, calling his
queries into the Botika operation as a form of harassment
on a project that has benefited some 8,000 poor city
residents.
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In
a privilege speech during last Monday's Sangguniang Panlungsod
session, Kag. Leonides Borja, health committee chair, said
that the city council should not be a party to the suspension
of Botika operation by conducting an investigation based on
a "defective resolution."
He
called on his fellow lawmakers to "reject the resolution"
filed by Rama and moved for a voting.
Borja
pointed out that "there is no question that the investigation
will certainly be good for the Botika sa Katawhan in the long
run."
"It
will give Deputy Mayor Uy, as executive director of the project,
the opportunity to explain his side on the matter," he
added.
However,
"there is a perception that the investigation is merely
a political activity," according to Borja.
He
said that while the Rama resolution seeks to look into the
operation of the Botika, the alleged aspects that need to
be looked into are the manner by which the funds for it are
being raised."
According
to Borja, the resolution is "inconsistent with itself"
since it is really after the "manner funds are being
raised."
He
stressed that an investigation into the operation of the Botika
is "off-tangent and irrelevant."
"A
question into the fund-raising aspect of the Botika should
have been contained in a separate resolution," he said.
STILL
CLOSED
Until
yesterday, the Botika sa Katawhan is still locked-up.
In
an interview with the Chronicle, Uy said the operation will
not be restored until Rama and the critics of the Botika will
be satisfied with an inquiry.
The
public pharmacy will not be re-opened unless the investigation
is completed, according to Uy.
In
his resolution, Glovasa said the closure of the Botika "prejudice
the poorest of the poor residents in the city who are availing
of free medicines."
The
mayor and Uy were furnished copies of the resolution.
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