Panglao Mayor Leonila Montero is expressing her dismay over the way a seacraft owner secured the special work passes for the seacraft’s crew.
The incident of the processing of the special work passes, that caused the dismay of the mayor, happened the night before the scheduled trip. In this case, the scheduled trip was yesterday, Saturday, June 6, 2020 and the processing of the special work passes was done last Friday night, June 5, 2020, just a day before the scheduled trip.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Montero said that the abruptness of the processing of the work passes, despite there are reports reaching her that this trip was scheduled days ahead, was a form of disrespect to the schedule of the mayor in her office.
The mayor obtained information from reliable sources that the trip involving the seacraft, which is a motor banca named Apekop, was already scheduled days before. She is surprised why the processing of the special working passes would be done a day before the trip, when it could be done at an earlier time.
The mayor is disappointed with the manner which the seacraft owner shows as he would transact business with the Panglao local government unit (LGU) for the approval of the special work pass. The mayor describes the manner of Apekop Management in processing their special work passes as “disrespectful”. .
She even went on to say that she seems to smell something fishy about the reason for the seacraft owner’s style of processing special working passes which is always done hurriedly and at the nick of time.
The mayor emphasized that the trip was supposed to happen yesterday (Saturday), and the seacraft owner coordinated with the LGU regarding the special working passes he wanted to secure, only the night before (Friday), a source told The Bohol Tribune.
In the latest processing of the special work pass done by the seacraft owner of Apekop, the mayor did not sign any special work pass as the seacraft owner approached the town government after office hours and on a Saturday, when the town hall was closed.
Montero said she has no clue if the trip pushed through even without her signature on the application for a special work pass of the crew. But if it did, the mayor said, she will not hesitate to exercise her powers under the law.
A source said, further, that allegedly, this is not the first time that the seacraft owner approached the local government unit (LGU) for the approval of the special work permit at the nick of time, which is a night before the scheduled trip.
The same source explained that there is a need to issue special work passes to the crew as the seacraft is Panglao-based. Furthermore, the source said, the special work pass serves as a documentation for the seacraft‘s crew as they venture into another area, which is outside the province of Bohol.
According to the source, there were allegedly two prior instances when the seacraft owner transacted business with LGU Panglao to secure the special work passes for the crew, only the night before the trip.
The first incident happened some time in March 2020, the source said. During that time, the seacraft was allegedly hired by the Department of Tourism (DoT) to transport Canadians stranded in Bohol. The Canadian embassy coordinated with the DoT for the stranded Canadians’ trip out of Bohol.
In that instance, the seacraft owner approached the LGU for the special work permit, the night before the trip. Despite the short notice, Montero still signed the special work permit for the seacraft crew. The same source said that the DoT coordinated with LGU Panglao for the trip by saying that there were Canadians who will be transported from Bohol to Cebu, but failed to mention what seacraft was tapped for transport. It turned out to be Apekop.
Then, on April 21, 2020, the seacraft was again tapped by the DoT after the Canadian embassy asked for the former’s help to repatriate Canadians.
It was the same story: the seacraft owner approached the LGU for the approval of the special work passes only the night before the trip.
Relative to this matter, the mayor said, “Enough is enough” when the seacraft owner tried to secure a special work pass to be approved on Friday night for a trip that was supposed to happen yesterday. The trip yesterday was supposed to transport an LSI or some LSIs who were stuck in Bohol. The passengers were supposed to be bound for Dumaguete, the source said. The trip yesterday was allegedly coordinated by the Bohol Tourism Office (BTO), the source said.
The source also said that a BTO employee coordinated with the LGU in a short notice.
The Bohol Tribune got the telephone numbers of the coordinators from the DoT and the BTO but failed to get their side of the story as of press time yesterday since they did not answer the calls despite the indication that the phones were ringing.
The Bohol Tribune is open to accept and publish the other side of the story to be represented by the DoT and BTO..