NAGA CITY --- Making true his promise that he would formally answer the open letter issued by the Council of the Laity only after the Peñafrancia fiesta in deference to the solemnity of the celebration, City Mayor Jesse M. Robredo in a letter dated Sept. 23 said the controversy spawned by alleged violation by the city government of an agreement on how the fiesta should be celebrated could have been avoided if the council “exercised due diligence and prudence” before issuing the open letter lambasting the city government.

        Curiously, the Council of the Laity’s harsh letter came within the novenario of the fiesta which the council members themselves would like to regard as sacred, solemn, and devoid of temporal distraction and animosity.

        The mayor in his letter recalled that as an expression of unequivocal support to the preparations for the 300th year of the devotion to the Lady of Penafrancia in 2010, he issued as early as Feb. 2009 an executive order creating the Naga City Tercentenary Council tasked to coordinate with the representatives of the Archbishop of Caceres on the matter.

        He said the position of the city government was to accommodate requests of the archdiocese subject to existing laws and regulations (that’s why there is a local government unit in the first place, a city hall legal officer had quipped).

        While it was agreed that that all events in public plazas/areas be regulated, a special concern was relayed to the Archbishop’s representative regarding legal impediments in prohibiting non-religious activities in private places/areas especially if such activities conformed with rules and regulations for issuance of city permits. Aside, the mayor said the judges and lawyers who are members of the Council of the Laity that signed the controversial letter should have understood such basic operation of law regardless of race, gender, creed, and religion.

        Nevertheless, the mayor said the city government made the assurance that it would do everything within its powers to persuade the organizers from pursuing said activities. In a separate radio interview, the mayor stressed that the civil government could ask or regulate but not prohibit an activity that is organized and carried out within the bounds of the law, religious or otherwise, Catholic or non-Catholic. Nonetheless, he said, he was able to talk with the gay community who eventually acceded to defer within the novenario the holding of their annual miss gay beauty pageant as in fact, they cancelled it altogether for the whole month of September even if no law, local or national, has been violated.

        The mayor revealed that on Sept. 9, while he was out of the country, the Archbishop called his cellphone to express concerns on the program of activities published by the city government committee on fiesta activities which included, among others the Miss Gay Young Bicolandia set on Sept 16 at LCC Mall. The mayor informed the archbishop that no permit was issued for the activity and to demonstrate good faith, he sent Vice Mayor Gabby Bordado and Florencio Mongoso to personally see the Archbishop in his office. Fr. Edgar Adversario was also there who conveyed his other objection – the Ginebra Night where a permit was issued for the videoke singing contest. With the issues settled, the meeting with the Archbishop ended on a positive note that paved the way for the printing of a revised program of activities the following day, Sept. 10.

        But two days later, on Sept. 12, the mayor was surprised to receive the letter from the Council of the Laity of even date “lambasting the city government for supposedly violating a bilateral agreement and for acting in bad faith.”

        “I don’t want to believe that certain unscrupulous elements are really out to sow the seeds of discord using the Council as the fertile ground to perpetrate such an un-Christian act,” the mayor wrote referring to the letter signed by the members of the Council.

        Media reports, as allegedly confirmed by some of those who signed the controversial letter, claimed that the letter had been passed around by a priest known to be a Robredo detractor and found its way published in full in a local paper owned and published by Ina Foundation where the same priest, sans his name printed on the editorial box, allegedly oversees its weekly publication.

        The mayor expressed no surprise at the alleged ploy saying that the identified priest has been throwing poison arrows at him at almost every turn and in whatever place, including the pulpit.

        What surprises him, he confided, is that judges, lawyers and a former fiscal who know their law could easily be coaxed to affix their names in a document that is devoid of truth and fairness, law and reason. “Inasmuch as the city has always been open to dialogue with all sectors of the community, I hope that in the future the council [of the laity] will find time to verify the facts, in the interest of truth and fairness, before expressing its concerns,” the mayor underscored in his letter.

        When contacted by Bicol Mail, Boy Apin, a contractor-member of the Council of the Laity welcomed the mayor’s explanation as he admitted they were not aware of the negotiations that went on between the Archbishop and Vice Mayor Bordado when the council met to draft the open letter. He also admitted that during that meeting, Fr. Wilmer Tria was present as spiritual adviser of the Apostleship of Prayer.

        This paper also tried to contact Atty. Minetta Estanislao, president of the Council of the Laity, but in vain. She could not be reached at her phone number nor at the law office when this report was being written.