Home for the Holidays, or Not!
A new home for Christmas is a dream that many who live in less than ideal conditions wish for. A single mother in Port Loyola was poised to receive the keys to a new starter home this morning, but miscommunication between Area Representative Gilroy Usher Senior and the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing resulted in an embarrassing situation for Apolinaria Choc. She had invited several family members, including her children, to attend a brief handing over ceremony, only to realize that no one from the ministry would be attending. In fact, Choc got all dressed up for nothing. A handing over ceremony hadn’t even been penciled into the M.I.D.H.’s busy schedule. It’s the kind of blunder that has resulted in finger pointing, but who’s really to blame? News Five’s Marion Ali was at the ceremony that never happened and filed this report.
Marion Ali, Reporting
The scene was set, the ribbons were tied and ready to be cut, the balloons adorned the house and the homeowner, Apolinaria Choc, walked about anxiously awaiting the moment when she would receive the keys to her new home.
Apolinaria Choc
Apolinaria Choc, New Home Owner
“I excited, I never expect this – if I will be the one.”
Marion Ali
“How’s so?”
Apolinaria Choc
“Well I don’t know – thanks to my area rep that he da the one who come to me and ask that I need a help.”
But Choc never received the keys to her new house. Port Loyola Area Representative, Gilroy Usher, explained to the media that there seemed to have been a communication breakdown of sorts.
Gilroy Usher
Gilroy Usher, Area Representative, Port Loyola
“I do not know the chain of command that was followed to say that the handing over ceremony was cancelled. I just called and they told me that the information was conveyed to someone for me. I do not know if that was the slip down but up to when I left my house, up to when I texted you this morning, I hadn’t received anything that the ceremony was cancelled.”
Marisa Alamilla
Marisa Alamilla, Public Relations, Publicity Mgr., M.I.D.H.
“My understanding from his daughter this morning because I called his daughter, I asked her what happened and his daughter explained to me that someone called them and told them that there ceremony was to continue. And I thought, honestly that it was from my ministry somebody called so I immediately rechecked that and then she informed me that it was nobody from my ministry. It was her uncle. Her uncle can’t set a handing over. We set a handing over because we have to have a certain quality. So, all this snafu is out of Minister Usher’s camp.”
According to the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing’s Public Relations and Publicity Manager, Marisa Alamilla, the area representative’s office was notified of the postponement well in advance and, even though he was out of the country, Gilroy Usher Sr. was also notified.
Marisa Alamilla
“He asked me to go and do a final inspection on the house so that we could decide whether or not we could go ahead with the hand-over. When I did the final inspection I informed Minister Usher’s team, since he was out of the country, that we would not be able to do that hand-over because the house was not up to standard. Some paint that was not done properly; we had – minor matters – switches that were not properly placed, not technical issues.”
Alamilla said the ministry got in touch with the contractor, who happened to be the second of two that the area representative had recommended to build the house. But he had more pressing commitments at Usher’s residence.
Marisa Alamilla
“He could not rectify the problems that we had found because he was painting and doing some work on Minister Usher’s house and he was unable to stop what he was doing to come and finish the work so that maybe we could have handed it over this morning because its works that could have been done.”
When last we checked with Alamilla about the handing-over, she informed that the contract has been terminated and that the ministry’s personnel will rectify the minor faults that were identified. She said a new tentative date has been set for Apolinaria Choc to receive her house keys on December twenty-ninth. Marion Ali for News Five.
