NO SURRENDER. NO RETREAT. The city of Dagupan greets the New Year with no approved budget. This is not new. The same situation happened last year when approval of the budget took the city council sometime to approve it, forcing the city to operate on a reenacted budget initially for a few weeks.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, that some councilors are demanding some concessions from the mayor and won’t give their stamp of approval to the budget unless she agrees to their demands.

If this is true and many believe it is, isn’t this a classic example of blackmail and backstabbing, too, on the part of certain councilors who belong to the mayor’s ticket in the May 2016 election?

Mayor Belen Fernandez could not hide the fact that some councilors may have again wanted to hold her hostage over the annual budget when she issued a terse message to them on New Year’s Day with the appeal, “Tao muna bago sarili.”

Remember that time and again, she kept on telling these people she could not grant their wish for Priority Development Assistance Fund which was often misused in the past, that was why it was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the Philippines.

Belen is not about to grant the latest demands notwithstanding the threat to her administration so she’d rather make the public know about the pressure being put on her by the uncooperative councilors, a few of them are actually her political allies, so that the people of Dagupan may know.

She believes that kowtowing to the councilors’ wishes would throw to the winds all the gains already made by her administration on good governance and transparency and cast doubt on her integrity.

She echoed in a New Year interview by this writer that every centavo that goes to the city coffer should be funneled back to the people in terms of public service and not to somebody else’s personal pockets. Ouch! – Leonardo Micua

 

IT’S MORE FUN WITH CLEAN FACILITIES. Another morning visit to Lingayen beach with relatives before and after Christmas gave me some good and bad impressions to share.

Starting with the positive impressions, these are: the roofs of nipa huts that serve as picnic areas are being replaced (thanks to the taxpayers’ fund set aside by the provincial government for its upkeep), the well-paved baywalk area (which is a project of Congressman Pol Bataoil) and the concrete benches (from private donors whose names are inscribed there) and the solar lighting (thanks to the corporate donors that funded it) and yes, Yolanda, no more beggars asking for money or food from picnickers.

But street vendors selling kwek-kwek, betamax, adidas, isaw, helmet, fishballs, among others have mushroomed. It’s okay, they’re trying to earn a decent living. But my Middle East-based visitor commented, “Sana naman takpan nila yung tinda nila ng maski transparent plastic kasi naghahalo-halo na ang dust and smoke.”

After jogging for 30 minutes, we looked for a comfort room but I was a bit hesitant to show the location as it might give another bad image. We headed to the one near our location. And just as I was afraid of, the one we used behind the Pasalubong Center was unkempt, muddy. “Umatras ang ihi ko,” commented another guest from Baguio City.

Well, of course, it’s an entirely different world when you see and visit the majestic Urduja House that is fit for a royalty. The Urduja House fronting the beach is the official residence of Pangasinan governor and his family and where his special guests are entertained. It’s indeed picture perfect!

While the historic Lingayen Beach is one of our top tourist attractions that draws thousands of swimmers and beach lovers and frolickers especially during weekends and long holidays, I hope those responsible for the maintenance of the facilities would take these observations on a positive note. Alang-alang naman sa milyong masang taga-Pangasinan at sa kanilang bisita!

It’s more fun in Pangasinan kung malinis ang kapaligiran!— Tita Roces

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