Punchline
Using technicality to serve the wrong
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
The suspension order of the provincial board meted to Anda Mayor Nestor Pulido reminds us of the way the Department of Justice prosecutors sought the dismissal of the case vs. the “Alabang Boys” – the use of a seeming lapse in technicality to promote a self-serving agenda.
The DOJ prosecutors obviously tried to bore a hole in the case filed by PDEA against Brodett et al. to justify a dismissal. They could not fault the arresting agents for conducting a buy-bust operation but they raised the littlest technicalities they presumed would weaken the prosecution of the case and eventually lead to the dismissal of the case in court. They were quick to establish the premise for the acquittal of the suspects, not for winning a conviction.
In the case of Mayor Pulido, 6 of the town’s sanggunian members (including the vice mayor) and 7 of the provincial board are invoking a technical lapse to wallop their erstwhile ally by citing the mayor for supposedly releasing funds illegally without a formal declaration of a state of calamity by the sanggunian.
Evidently, Pulido’s accusers refused to acknowledge the fact that the occurrence of a tsunami can cause immense destruction within minutes, unlike the occurrence of a typhoon inland where a sanggunian would have the luxury of meeting after two days of massive flooding to pass a resolution declaring a state of calamity. Their mindset simply defied logic to make others believe there was no urgency to release funds to feed the refugees who were hungry while in the midst of panic, insisting that the mayor should have waited for the sanggunian to meet and debate the situation before releasing a measly P40,000 to buy rice and food stocks.
Why they cannot understand that the images of the widespread destruction of lives and properties in Indonesia caused by the tsunami were more than enough to send the whole town scrambling in complete panic after huge waves struck the town’s shores, is beyond me. All they could see was the opportunity to get back at their object of political hatred. They argued that since Mayor Pulido did not observe the legal process (involving them) in responding to the emergency situation, ergo, the mayor acted illegally and should be sanctioned. It didn’t matter that the timely response of the mayor averted a potential major crisis in the town.
The mayor’s detractors, even on hindsight, would hear nothing of the policy issued by the National Disaster Coordinating Council that empowered the mayor to act legally. They were blinded and consumed by their agenda to see Mayor Pulido punished and humiliated publicly.
Curiously, not one among his accusers cited Mayor Pulido for the “criminal” use of the supposedly “illegally” disbursed fund. There was no allegation about it. Their silence on this matter can only be construed to mean that they all conceded that the funds were used for legitimate purposes, that there was an emergency and that the funds served the emergency situation that was cited. But in their agenda, this was irrelevant.
In their convoluted sense of public service, all that mattered was there was a perceived technicality that warranted a sanction. And like the DOJ prosecutors who thought a technical lapse would serve their purpose to protect the guilty, the 7 board members and their allies in Anda’s sanggunian were adamant in invoking a “technicality” to pursue their political agenda.
Board members Von Mark Mendoza, Tyrone Agabas, Danilo Dizon, Angel Baniqued, Jeremy Rosario, Alfonso Bince Jr. and Kazel Celeste; Anda Vice Mayor Napoleon Celeste and Councilors Dante de Castro, Aldrin Cerdan, Cecil Celeste, Alex Raguindin and Edward Domalanta, are, in our book, a total disgrace as public servants in this particular case.
They did their constituents in Anda a great disservice.
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TOILETS FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN. As if it were a national policy, toilets are usually considered the least important facility in public schools. In most instances, not only are very few built to serve hundreds of students, but these are poorly maintained, poorly lit and located in isolated areas in school grounds.
In Sta. Barbara town, this is no longer the case. Mayor Rey Velasco has directed the construction of a toilet in each classroom (average 40-50 students per classroom) in all the town’s public schools, equipped with efficient water service, for the children’s health, protection and convenience. He credited the town’s overseas residents for making the project possible with their regular flow of donations.
This certainly counts as one classic example of “out-of-the-box” type of public service – and money well spent!
The congressmen who usually have classrooms constructed from their pork barrels should consider this requirement as the new template.
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TONY DE VENECIA PASSES AWAY. We condole with the family of Tony who passed away Friday afternoon due to a lingering illness. He was a respected prominent figure in the city’s business circle in the 60s. He will be missed.
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