LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – A municipal official and a licensing officer were charged for alleged grave misconduct by a chicken dung dealer following the reported illegal closure of the latter’s vending area within the disputed area in Shilan recently.
In a 2-page sworn affidavit submitted before the Benguet provincial board here, Nora B. Lagadeo, legal age, chicken dung trader and a resident of Pico, here accused Mayor Romeo Salda and licensing officer Lawrence Ballud for closing her chicken dung vending area without the benefit of due process of law.
Earlier, Salda allegedly issued her a closure order after findings from his license inspectors that she was allegedly engaging in the business of chicken dung or storing chicken dung within the territorial jurisdiction of the municipality.
She claimed that the issuance of the closure directly addressed to her is patently improper because in the first place, she is not the lawful owner nor has direct control or management of the said business or storage area as the case may be.
“The information gathered in the course of inspection by the license inspectors designated by Mayor Salda identifying her as the owner of the business or the storage area is entirely fake. I admit that I was in the place at that time of the closure but that it does not mean that I am the owner or manager thereof. I was there because the owner was asking for help to attend to her business. In fact, the true owner and manager of the business is my older sister, Rose Lagadeo Maliones,” Lagadeo stressed.
During the time of the closure, she claimed that she was publicly embarrassed because they called up the media who took her videos and that her name was ruined considering that she was reported as the owner of the chicken dung storage area.
Because of the alleged gross negligence on the part of the local chief executive and his licensing officer in coming out with the result of their inspection and investigation identifying her as the owner and manager of the closed business establishment, she asserted that she suffered public humiliation as they allegedly imputed to her an offense which she never committed and that she was publicly embarrassed.
Ballud claimed that Lagadeo was given sufficient time to contest why she was the one being issued the notices of violation and the closure order of the chicken dung business and storage area but she filed to do so until late last week.
He asserted that when the notices of violation were issued to her last May, Lagadeo never contested the same even when they served the closure order last May 29 with her name on the face of the document, she never complained about it, thus, it was only last June 6, 2018 when her sister, Maliones, complained about the matter.
Ballud revealed that it was the caretaker of the business that informed them that it was Lagadeo who was in charge of the business and that when they visited the area several times, it was Lagadeo whom their people had been calling to talk with them.
Mayor Salda said that the issuance of the closure order to Lgadeo was considered to be legitimate because it was the result of the investigation conducted by the assigned licensing inspectors, thus, they will anser the complaint against them once they will receive the summons from the provincial board where the same was filed.
By HENT
Banner photo by: ARMANDO M. BOLISLIS
