Bacolod Councilor Arturo Parreño said he will ask the City Legal Office to investigate the alleged irregularities involving the collection of proceeds from cock derbies being held in Bacolod City.

Parreño, who is chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, said the city has an existing ordinance that regulates tax exemptions given to the derby operators.

He said the ordinance mandates that identified beneficiaries (such as day care centers, Home for the Blind) are entitled to a portion of the derby proceeds amounting to P1,500 per day.

He said the ordinance has a colatilla that only the regulation officer is authorized to submit the receipts and amount given to the beneficiaries.

Parreño, however, said that during a recent public hearing, they discovered that some of the identified beneficiaries like Barangays 40 and 28 have not received any funds, and if they had received any, it was not the exact amount. In August 2006, the Mayor appointed Roberto de la Cruz Jr. as acting sports and regulation officer to replace a certain "Yorac" who passed away. He said De la Cruz has not collected any amount since he only reported last April.

He said they learned during the hearing that SP Secretary Nilo Alejandrino is the one collecting the amount because De la Cruz requested for assistance, being new to the job. Parreño said he will write the cockpit operators to give the amount directly to the regulation officer and he will furnish them a copy of the ordinance so they will know how much the beneficiaries are entitled to receive.

He said the estimated amount involved run to thousands. He said if there is an average of three derbies held a day, this would mean a collection of about P9,000 per week.

Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson said that during the inaugural session on Thursday they will approve the internal rules and the different committees to be created. He said the councilors will also be assigned their committees.

He said the Mayor has said he will deliver his State of the City Address on the third week of July, so the inaugural session will be purely a City Council affair.

Sayson said the new set of officers will also have their pictures taken in order to update the city's web site.*CGS

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