A Nasty invasion

By Ermin Garcia Jr.

From day one, I have since voiced my objection to the plan of the Dagupan City government to construct a seafood processing plant only because it will be operated and managed by the city government, and that has not changed. Government simply has no business undertaking a venture that is best left to the private sector.

Having said that, the city government, however, still cannot forever be held hostage by a group of settlers in Sitio Russia in Bonuan Binloc who dare defy and reject options for their relocation to block the construction of the processing plant.

Mayor Al Fernandez, being the astute politico that he is, has bent double-backwards to accommodate them to a fault, evidently to avoid violent and or legal confrontation with potential voters. But at the rate things are proceeding, an ugly confrontation is now inevitable and the rest of the city’s squatters are naturally watching keenly from the sidelines. The outcome of that confrontation will be a portent of things to come for both the government and illegal settlers in the city.

Will the city government have the muscle to enforce the law or will the sitio Russia squatters hold sway? If Mayor Al eventually backs down, the city will soon see a new and nasty invasion by squatters, grabbing public and private lands in the city without fear or any care about the law.

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WHO’S THE BOSS? Mangaldan Mayor Herminio Romero was viewed as one among the rising political stars in the province until illegal gambling reared its ugly head in his town. He is now on notice by his town’s barangay kapitans, they who minced no words to denounce his leadership for allowing illegal gambling to take a foothold in the town the expense of the communities’ children.

While he staged the destruction of confiscated video karera machines in public view to impress upon his constituents his determination to finally stop illegal gambling in his town, he ought to know that it was no longer enough to appease his town. When the kapitans dared to come out in the open, to stand up and be counted in the fight against illegal gambling, he can no longer think all these will soon come to pass, and then it will be “business as usual”.

Notably, the Liga (under the leadership of Kapitan Melchor de Guzman) has done something that no other Liga has done in the province – to denounce collectively and strongly the proliferation of illegal gambling, from ‘jueteng‘ to ‘hataw‘ to ‘drop ball’, and pinned the responsibility on the mayor and councilors – and it can no longer be taken lightly.

Their message to Mayor Romero is crystal clear: His subsequent posturing will already be deemed hollow, empty, sheer lip service and suspect until all the gambling lords are chased out of Mangaldan.

What gave lie to the mayor’s sincerity was his latest directive to his police chief, P/Supt. Geraldo Roxas, to wage an all-out campaign against illegal gambling in response to the kapitans‘ Nov. 17 resolution, That was actually a rehash of his own earlier directive dated to his police chief in reaction to our column item (Nov. 2 issue).

Did Mayor Romero actually believe he can easily sweep the worms (now out of the can) under the rug by simply issuing statements for publicity purposes? Or is he already utterly helpless and completely under the control of the gambling lords that all he can do is to issue orders meant to be ignored by his police chief? Either way, he deserved what the kapitans dished out to him. Had the police complied with his order, the kapitans would not have crafted that stinging resolution.

Normally, incompetent subordinates are fired promptly by no-nonsense chief executives. But curiously, in this case Mayor Romero did not even think of castigating Mr. Roxas for failing to comply with his initial order to eradicate illegal gambling in the town. By issuing essentially the same order to his police chief after two weeks, only meant one thing – he was ignored, humiliated and yet did nothing about it.

Now, Mangaldanos are curioser than ever.

Is their mayor afraid of the police chief? Does the mayor still give the orders or is it now the police chief who gives the orders?

Will the real boss please stand up? I sure hope its still Mayor Romero.

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SHOTGUNS FOR THE COPS. Guv Spines will not do it. Smiley PD Barba refuses to do it. The onor-onor provincial board is afraid to touch it. Hence, the shotguns will remain in the hands of the barangay kapitans as nothing more than a political insurance when these could very well be used to help fight criminality by trained cops.

But wait, perhaps the mayors and chiefs of police, who presumably have already learned vital lessons from the Victory Liner shooting in Lingayen where 6 cops were needlessly wounded, can take the initiative and ask the kapitans to turn over their shotguns to the police to give the latter better odds at surviving a shootout with dangerous armed crime syndicates.

Our policemen deserve to be armed fully and well. If the PNP provincial command and the Espino administration cannot help them, perhaps the mayors, the town police chiefs can talk the kapitans into doing a good turn for them, they who protect our lives with their own, by voluntarily turning over the shotguns to the police stations.

I wonder if Guv. Spines, Smiley PD Barba and the board members will stand in the way of the mayors for their amor propio. Tsk-tsk.

(Readers may reach columnist at punch.sunday@gmail.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/punchline/
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