Playing with Fire
Paging City Agriculturist Molina for the nth time!
By Gonzalo Duque
HAVE you noticed that there is a plurality of political parties in Congressman Joe de V’s family?
Kuya Joe has not given up his snake pit Lakas NUCD party. His wife Gina is running under a coalition of parities led by Manny Villar’s Nacionalista Party. And his junior son, Joe III, is running for senator under Erap’s Puersa ng Masa.
Medyo technicolor ata yan, Manong Joe. It is untalusable to us. Confusing, to say the least. We couldn’t imagine how the family would discuss party matters.
Papaano kaya yan? Only in Manong Joe’s unique brand of politics can that happen ano? Coalition mogul ata yan! Ngayon pa lang, confused na me.
Nakakalula.
All the while, we thought a politician subordinates his personal interest to his political party. This theory was shattered by our multi party system today. But the party system under Maniong Joe’s own home is “akoti koti,” ika nga in the dialect.
* * *
We were supposed to be No. 15 among the hundreds of signatories to a manifesto by concerned Dagupan citizens who denounced the unchecked increase of illegal fish pens in the supposedly fish-rich rivers of the city.
We have written about this in this column several times in the past, denouncing as one cause of flooding.
These fish pens are simply too many, and, according to our informant, their owners/operators are not even paying tax to the city government. Ano ba yan, Ms. Emma Molina, pati ang panawagan ng aming dyaryo (Sunday Punch) that you clear the air about the illegal fish open operators basta nyo na lang iniignore. Manhid ba kayo? Do you know that you owe the public an explanation?
By the way, the country was celebrating People Power when we were writing this column. And so we ask, is City Agriculturist Molina waiting for a Dagupan People Power to jolt her from her smugness and utter disregard of a valid, legitimate, alarming and critical public clamor?
We heard our vacationing 35 or so Fil-Americans who came home to see for themselves the new improvements around, were also disgusted by the illegal fish pens.
According to Kuya Apring Dawana, who was our Barangay Tapuac captain in the 70’s (he was also ABC president under Mayor Opring Manaois), many of our US-based kabaleyans read about the notorious fish pens in our column in the Internet. They were angry.
We told Kuya Apring we wanted to join the FIL Am group when they visited the Provincial Capitol where they were feted by Gov. Spines Espino and Mayor Al Fernandez’s Fishpond where the mayor himself entertained them, but we could not avoid a sacred call of duty in Manila.
As you well know, being the president of Lyceum Northwestern University, past president of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities and other responsibilities in the Philippine education front, we are being tapped by education officials especially by College of Higher Education chairman Manny Angeles to steer the selection of at least seven presidents for seven state colleges and universities nationwide.
You are right. It’s a top-heavy responsibility that we couldn’t shirk. Education, as we all know, is a most crucial program of the country especially by our President.
That’s why, Kuya Apring, Mr. and Mrs. Mert Manela, Mar Panoringan, Manong Jess Sabolboro and all of you, Panagasinan-Americans, we’re sorry to have missed your company last week.
Abangan ang malaking bomba na babagsak sa illegal fish pens!
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