Who’s silent about jueteng?

By Ermin Garcia Jr.

The pressure to keep jueteng alive and profitable in the province is on.

The tact being applied now by the local jueteng operators is to silence the local media. But for the jueteng lords to start raiding the media circle only means one thing – the negotiations with the police hierarchy and the mayors are a done deal.

So, if jueteng is evidently operating in your community and you meet your mayor and chief of police, size them up, with a gaze that says: “How much does he get kaya?”

In case you are at a loss and need a reference point for payola levels, don’t hesitate to call members of the Krusada ng Bayang Laban sa Jueteng. They have a peg on how much governors, town mayors, regional and provincial police directors, chiefs of police, congressmen, provincial board members, councilors get monthly. 

For starters, nobody receives merely an equivalent of a measly monthly salary.

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      Even Archbishop Oscar Cruz can no longer contain his own wonderment.

Why are the distinguished Pangasinenses in police service, Chief PNP Arturo Lomibao and Regional Director Fred De Vera now unusually quiet and seemingly tolerant about the resurgence of jueteng?

Even the usually outspoken provincial director Alan Purisima who boasted and took the credit for making Pangasinan jueteng-free suddenly lost his tongue. 

Gentlemen, the resurgence of jueteng in the province says a lot about what you refuse to talk about.

To Mayor Benjie Lim’s credit, the city has managed to keep the city still   jueteng-free! I believe Dagupan has become the last bastion of defense contra jueteng in the province.

And why doesn’t Speaker Joe de V appear remotely concerned about the resurgence of jueteng in Pangasinan? Hmmmmm.

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Also, talks about radio commentators, editors and columnists being on the monthly payola are again making the rounds, but curiously more of envy rather than of concern for uprightness.  

The attempt to silence the local ABS-CBN with a monthly payola makes one wonder whether the attempts with other media institutions and practitioners have succeeded.  

I guess the only way to find out is to listen to the commentaries and the news reports, read the columns and news items. What they say or write about will say a lot about what they can’t say or write about, courtesy of the jueteng lords’ blessings.

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TRUANT CITY COUNCILORS. Last week, the Dagupan City government paid for the registration fees and allowances of all city councilors to attend the annual convention of the Luzon chapter of the Philippine Councilors’ League.

But guess how many and who showed up after claiming their allowances. Only Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez, Councilors Michael Fernandez and Alex de Venecia stuck it out to meet with their counterparts for three days. Councilor Joey Tamayo came for a day’s work. The rest, nag-mooney-mooney elsewhere as onor-onors can be expected to do.

Shame on them! It looks like their flagrant absenteeism during regular sessions has caught up with them like a cancer. They can no longer shrug it off.

Worse, they will refuse to make themselves account for the allowances given them. (They already refuse to make Councilor Nic Aquino to account for the monies he received as chair of the 2004 city fiesta and the recent Bangus Festival).

This is not what Dagupeños deserve for paying more taxes but it’s also truly deserved for tolerating the onor-onors in every way. 

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DEATH CONVICTS VS DEAD MILITANTS/JOURNALISTS. Did you notice how President Arroyo was quick to call for the automatic commutation of death sentences of convicts whose sentences were reviewed and affirmed by the Supreme Court? This, after she, as then vice president, joined anti-crime advocates in calling for the execution of Leo Echegaray.

Then notice how she continues to deftly avoid assuming responsibility for the unabated murders of militants and journalists who were neither charged nor convicted in court. She won’t even lift a finger to stop the senseless murderous rampage being mounted by her government.

Why do I get the feeling that it pays to be a murderer (especially if the victims are militants and journalists) under the Arroyo government?

Why do I get a feeling that our people are not the least outraged by it all?

Why have our professional soldiers and law enforcers become blind followers of illegal orders? 

What has happened to the Filipino?

What happened to us?

***

ENGLISH SIGNS BY PINOYS. On the lighter side of things.

If you find yourself extremely bored walking aimlessly on a hot dreary day, or trapped in a traffic jam, try this one habit to perk you up instantly.

Try to catch a big or small billboard to read. But I suggest you pick out the smaller signboards ones that are heavily laden with English words.  

Here’s one we saw at Dagupan market area adjacent to the McAdore Bldg. It’s the sign that reads “Tricycle Waiting Area Rules and Regulations.”

It was as officious as it can get, listing all the ‘dos and don’ts’ by the association of tricycle operators and drivers of the area. Anyone who reads it is self-assured that the association is bent on keeping its members as respectable citizens. 

Here are a five of those rules:

“2. No member of the association shall ask payment of fare more than what is required of the law or ordinance regarding tricycle fare, neither ask a passenger/s how much he/she will pay for he/her fare in transporting him to his destination.  

“3. All members of the association, especially driver members, are expected to be always courteous, polite, honest, frank and respectful towards their paying passengers.

“4. No member of the association while conveying passengers shall wear loose short pants where gender is expose and sleeveless shirt or “sando.” As much as practicable and when available, member drivers should wear rubber shoes or sneakers.

“5. Rules in the display and carrying of the member ID shall always be adhere.

“6. It is improper and unbecoming of a member one who takes a passenger when it is not his turn to do so. “Salot” is a taboo.”

Don’t you just love Pinoy English and his love for signboards?

To better appreciate and, yes, understand our English signs, one must attempt to translate these back in Pilipino or in the dialect. That’s where the fun lies. It’s only in the translation that one will understand the context of its origin and then and only then will one appreciate that the message was, indeed, crafted perfectly, and only as a Pinoy would say it.

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