Punchline
When a ‘word war’ serves a purpose
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
The protracted word war between the country’s prosecutors and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency was inevitable as was in the case of the ‘Alabang Boys’ case. That the word war did not happen sooner is what should actually surprise us. In fact, the word war between Dagupan City’s prosecutors and the local PDEA unit over the Bagul case brings into sharper focus the rift between the two government offices that has long been simmering.
Is it a good thing? Yes and No! But first we must understand the premise and the origin of this seeming unhealthy partnership. Both are in the frontline in the country’s war against illegal drugs. To have one without the other, the war is lost from the onset. This is a fact not lost to the drug lords. The fragile relationship between the two is considered the Achilles heel of the government’s efforts, thus the logical primary target of the drug lords.
To win and keep the government at bay, the drug lords’ mission can only be: bribe both or either one.
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Yes, the ‘family feud’ should serve the government’s efforts because it makes both offices more vigilant and conscious about the output of their respective work. The prevailing suspicion that both are or either one is in the pocket of the drug lords makes both sides wary of each other, watching a failed mission a cause for making a bribery charge valid. Since no one wants to be suspected of being on the take by failing, the public can expect a higher rate of success in the war against the drug lords.
And no, because the word war between two leads the wary public to lose its confidence and capabilities in both, and worse, lose respect for their collective and individual integrity as prosecutors and enforcement agents. Charges and counter-charges of bribery only serve to make people believe that the war is being won by the drug lords.
The issue at hand, however, between the local prosecutors and the agents does not help to diminish the loss of confidence in both since the allegations of both against each other are valid.
Indeed, why did it take the PDEA too long to move for the inquest of the suspect? On the other hand, why are the prosecutors sticklers for technicalities in law to justify dismissal of drug cases when they can be more cooperative by instructing how the law can better be used to crush the drug lords and their networks? There are loopholes and there are loopholes that can be used in favor of the people, not of the blood-sucking drug lords and pushers.
The new scoreboard stands at P1 million and 100 ruined families for the drug lords, and zero for the community that suffers all because the city prosecutors and PDEA agents would rather win a debate on who did wrong and who got what.
The recent news of finally an arrest and filing of a case against another suspected drug dealer as a result of renewed coordination between the two offices is a testament to how the drug war can be won.
So yes, the initial word war served the purpose.
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ARE FESTIVALS GOOD OR BAD? The Bangus Festival in Dagupan City had an impressive kick-off with its colorful and crowd-drawing activities. It has been so grand that there are those who are inclined to believe that the holding of such expensive and seemingly ostentatious festivals in this decade of economic crisis is insensitive and if not ill-timed. Government funds are better used to create jobs and provide for the poor, they say. I said the same thing some 5 years ago.
I take a different view today given today’s global economic difficulties.
The economic crunch today is about recession. For the layman like me, it simply means there is not enough money moving around to stimulate the economy, i.e., to buy products, engage services, etc. For this reason, our copycat government has made us believe that it is prepared to provide for a P3 billion stimulus package fund, largely patterned after the US’ Obama formula. As the phrase ‘stimulus fund’ directly infers, we need to make people earn some in order to stimulate spending.
So what better way to make people earn for their products and services than to stage a festival that everyone enjoys and supports, where commercial sponsors are prepared to part with their promo budgets, where the community gets into a spending mode.
Take the street dancing events alone. If there will be 4,000-5,000 street dancers set to participate in the Festivals of the North, imagine the amount of money that will reach dry goods retailers, sewers, bamboo suppliers, groceries, etc. in order to stage their street dancing which otherwise would not be spent if the Bangus Festival were not held. It’s not difficult to understand that labor must be engaged to implement production plans, hence more people will be paid salaries or allowances which they otherwise would not earn for the period. With hundreds of thousands of visitors and residents expected to participate or witness the scheduled activities, imagine what the hundreds of ice cream vendors, bangus producers and sellers, coal makers, pigar-pigar eateries, sales staff, waiters, balut vendors, etc. stand to earn during the period which opportunity to earn would not be there if no festival was held today.
Unlike the Obama or Arroyo stimulus package, our festivals are a result of the initiative of the government with the active collaboration of the private sector.
If I may say so, Guv Spines and the province’s mayors could very well set their eyes on staging grand festivals as their way of stimulating economy in Pangasinan.
Meanwhile, City Mayor Al Fernandez’s government should take a bow and accept the city’s plaudits for a job well done. But I reserve much of the credit for Veem Belen Fernandez for her outstanding entrepreneurial spirit that inspires the community to think and act out-of-the-box! She’s certainly cut out to organize such festivals.
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