Punchline
F&S’ credibility issues
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
IT certainly looks like Guv Spines and his son Pogi, as president of the Liga ng mga Barangay (LnB), have a lot of work on their hands to convince barangay officials that they are dead serious about their “all-out” anti-illegal drive in the province.
If the arrest of a barangay kagawad of Malasiqui last week is any indication, that should tell the father-and-son (F&S) tandem perhaps one of two things: that barangay officials don’t give a hoot about the campaign or they don’t believe it because they already heard it before.
Frankly, I think it’s both.
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Taking it from this starting point, the Espino F&S team has to contend with real credibility issues in their touted anti-drugs campaign. Unless and until they are visibly in the driver’s seat, leading the way, this campaign will not get anywhere.
For Mr. Pogi’s sake at least, I am certain he will get more respect for his leadership if he roughs it up with the drug syndicates instead of just getting prayed over by friends.
The earlier he realizes early enough that respect for political leadership has to be earned, he might yet pull an upset over the political giant Cong Mark C. His biggest pitfall would be to relay on the knowledge that by being the son of Guv Spines, it’d be enough to demand the respect he wants from his constituents. Unfortunately for him, legacy is not and will never be transferable.
At the very least, he can attempt to prove that he is a chip off the block, but not the block itself. Perhaps it would help him to talk to the busted Malasiqui kagawad to learn more about how others view his leadership minus the fact that he carries his father’s highly regarded name.
Meanwhile, The PUNCH will keep up with the province’s scorecard in its campaign vs. illegal drugs in its front page.
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HOSPITAL RACKET. It is very reassuring to know that Guv Spines did not hesitate to file charges against the two hospital employees of Manaoag Community Hospital. Thanks to people who have faith in his leadership and complained to him. But I hope he will not stop there!
If lowly employees in a small hospital can easily outsmart the system, one doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that the racket is widespread. The tip I got from people familiar with the racket is to start from the records of PhilHealth transactions.
Guv Spines might just get the shock of his life to learn later how much of public revenues had been pilfered over the years under the ever noses of his trusted officials. But what could floor him is having to learn how many of the indigent people he sought to serve faithfully had been scammed by unscrupulous employees.
The Manaoag discovery is just the tip of the iceberg.
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PROVEN WRONG. All’s well that ends well between Dagupan City’s executive and legislative branches.
The news about the assurance given by Councilors Alfie Fernandez, Alvin Coquia, Karlos Reyna and Marvin Fabia to Mayor Belen Fernandez last Sunday, that they will pave the way for the passage of the 2015 budget augurs well for the city.
For weeks, the city’s sanggunian had withheld any action or deliberation on the city’s 2015 annual budget. When I was first apprised of the situation last December, I thought I heard wrong that the four were reluctant to join their colleagues in the majority over this non-controversial issue. As I gathered from my sources, they were, indeed, withholding their support and that led to speculations. Why?
My initial sources indicated that the four had wanted from Mayor Belen what they used to enjoy from former Mayor Benjie Lim, some largesse to be carved out from the budget. This was flatly denied by the group when I had the chance to engage them in a frank discussion.
To make a long story short, it appeared there was principally a common grievance about the handling of the budget for the sanggunian. To make the short story even shorter, I’ve come to learn that it was prompted by the failure of Vice Mayor Brian Lim to fight for the budget of the city council, and worse the expected delayed action of VM Brian in approving items in the budget since he’s always out of the city attending to his duties as JCI president! (And to think his fellow Jaycees thought it would be an honor for the city to have VM Brian as JCI national president, only to realize today that it is hurting the city instead).
With easy assurance from Mayor Belen of her help, it was easy as well for the majority councilors to finally have a meeting of minds.
As far as this corner is concerned, the ghosts of Judas and Brutus have been blown away sky high. And am happy to have been proven wrong about my published thoughts on the issue.
Get going, Dagupan…don’t look back! You’re already looking mighty good from where I sit.
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MAKING LAND TRAVEL SAFE. Land travel from Pangasinan to the south is becoming pleasurable but not without a price tag.
By traveling via TPLex (from Urdaneta), SCTex NLex to Manila, travel time can be cut by as much as 90 minutes on a regular day, and more if you can speed up to 120kph without being hassled by the roving patrol cars aided by speed radar cameras hidden along the way. (However, you are guaranteed to suffer the long queues at the exit toll gates that translate to longer travel time should you risk using the tollways during long holidays).
The price tag? About P510 one way! That’s still roughly a cool 12 liters of gas that you deprive yourself of based on today’s pump prices. Is it worth the money? I believe so if you believe P500 is worth the 1 hour travel time you save.
But you can keep at least P300 if you take on the MacArthur Highway and still cut on travel time. How so? About 75% of the highway, from Urdaneta to NLex has four lanes!
One can run 100-120kph easily on many sectors these days, but with one caveat – many motorcycle riders and tricycle drivers still insist on using the inner lanes like they always did, instead of using the outer lanes for safer travel. (Why they think they feel safer on the inside lane is beyond me).
This is where I believe the Pangasinan Provincial Police Office can make a lot of difference for the province’s motorists. P/Sr. Supt. Reynaldo Biay should call in the police chiefs of Urdaneta, Villasis and Rosales and coordinate with his counterparts in Tarlac and Pampanga to collaborate on the need to enforce the rule requiring motorcycle riders and tricycle drivers to be limited to the use of the outer lanes of the 4-lane highway.
Let’s hope the PNP can make land travel, safe, efficient and fast while saving many of us the cost of tollway travel.
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PRAYERS. I join our kabaleyans in the prayer, on the occasion of Pope Francis visit, that our government officials would see through the meaning of true mercy and compassion for the less privileged among us.
To God be the glory!
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