ILOILO CITY — The city government has repossessed donated furniture and equipment from Museo Iloilo.
THE Museo Iloilo in Iloilo City. (Tara Yap)
Mayor Jerry Trenas confirmed that the donation made by the administration of Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog was taken away by the city government.
The donation was revoked two weeks after the Treñas administration evicted the Department of Public Works and Highways-Iloilo City from city government land and cancelled seven DPWH projects.
The furniture and equipment, Treñas said, belong to the city government and public funds cannot be used by a private entity such as Museo Iloilo.
Among those reclaimed last June 7 and June 10 were 100 chairs, three airconditioners, steel cabinets, closed-circuit television units, a vacuum cleaner, ladder, and the glass-panel door.
The museum is operated by the Iloilo Cultural Research Foundation Inc. The president is Gina Sarabia-Espinosa, the sister-in-law of Treñas and the wife of former Mayor Jose Espinosa III.
Treñas defeated his brother-in-law Espinosa for mayor in the 2019 elections.
The Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) of the Department of Tourism (DOT) is the owner of the museum’s structure.