Playing with Fire

By April 1, 2019Archives, Opinion

Fighting back with accomplishments

By Gonzalo Duque

AS I write this column, I remember that today is President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s 74th birthday. Happy birthday, Mr. President!

May you have more birthdays to come!  Certainly, we wish that he will finish his term as president of the Philippines.

The President has done a lot already in so short a time that he is in office. We are pretty sure that he will do more good for the benefit of the whole nation in his three remaining years in office..

Mabuhay ang Pangulo!

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Today is also the official start of the campaign period for those vying for local positions. We say, the political circus has begun with many local candidates suddenly finding  themselves frequenting many vote-rich villages more often than they ever did, even under the scorching rays of the sun.   

But for us, the campaign period started way back last year with many wannabes, including the incumbents, engaged in posturing themselves so that they can capture the eyes of the electorate.

Others went to the extent of employing trolls to throw mud in social media at their would-be opponents. 

The voters must be wiser today than before by not falling for mere promises but rather on the solid accomplishments of the candidate whether in or outside the government.   

As we had written in our column before, that if you think that the candidate has no solid performance to show but only the color of his money, I advise you to get his money and dump him bleeding and dry.

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I heard from a mutual friend that Mayor Belen Fernandez gave her best  State of the City Address  (SOCA) ever last week before over 8,000 people at CSI Stadia.

The difference between her recent SOCA and her past SOCAs is that in her recent address, she was in a very fighting mood. 

She kept on punching her detractors by highlighting her many tangible accomplishment, as compared to the scant accomplishments of her predecessor and even the one who would like to see her unseated.

Well, somebody wants to unseat Belen by blaming her for the floods that happened in Dagupan last year. 

Parang broken record na yang flooding na yan. It is because floods were everywhere last year –in Marikina, Quezon City and Baguio, among others– as a result of unprecedented monsoon rains caused by climate change..

But the people in the other flooded areas never blamed their mayors for the floods. Only in Dagupan!

Between Belen and Brian, who was with the suffering people of Dagupan during the floods? Of course, it was Belen! 

One netizen even posted on Facebook in praise of Super Belen: “Siya lang ang mayor ng Dagupan na talagang lumulusong sa baha”!   

Question: Can Brian stop the flood? Of course, not. The flood may even get worse under him. 

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On the issue of the transfer of city hall to another site, we just have to remember that the original plan of the Lim administration was to convert MC Adore into a city hall. 

It was Lim who bought MC Adore for P50 million. And when the city was through amortizing it from the Assets Privatization Office, he made an 180 degree turn by selling the property at a bargain price of P119 million.

Instead of remodeling the edifice, Lim sold it.  So, we do not have any more  relocation site for our city hall.  

Blame Lim but not Belen!

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