Punchline
P1.2 B pork barrel for Pangasinan
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
LAST week, this corner explained what the province can expect from our set of newly elected representatives in Congress given their annual pork barrel, known today as Priority Development Assistance Fund (PADAF).
Since the advent of Countrywide Development Fund, the forerunner of PDAF, in 1990, nobody knew except the congressmen and their favorite contractors / suppliers where their pork barrels went. It started with congressmen and senators providing some P20 M to P40 M each for themselves as their individual pork barrel.
Today, between our six congress reps that get P70 M each annually in pork barrel, the province stands to benefit from their P1.26 billion ‘worth’ of projects over a 3-year period! Note that I underscored the word ‘worth’ because the true value of projects delivered could actually be much less after deducting the scandalous kickbacks to the lawmakers who chose the projects. (The latest buzz inside Congress is, the kickback has already risen to as much as 40% of the project cost, leaving a net value of 40% after the contractor’s 20% profit margin!).
Happily, we note that newly-elected Rep. Pol Bataoil (2nd D) was the first to pledge full transparency in the disposal of his pork barrel in his district. Let’s hear it from his new peers in the province: Reps. Jess Celeste (1st D), Rachel Arenas (3rd D), Gina de Venecia (4th D), Kimi Cojuangco (5th D), Marilyn Primicias Abas (6th D).
Will they, too, pledge full transparency? Will they submit reports on their pork barrel to the local media notwithstanding the absence of any compulsion by law? I sincerely hope they will. It’s the least they can do in the spirit of good governance that they ardently campaigned for.
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COMMUNITY OF NETIZENS. It’s taking a small town In Pangasinan to show the way on how its residents can have a peaceful environment by making them netizens (Wikipedia defines it as a portmanteau of Internet and citizen) the easy way.
Everyday, when the hot temperature stops sizzling at the town’s plaza, residents, both students and professionals, gather at the plaza to take their favorite spots in the open area not for the daily promenade nor to practice dance sequences for an upcoming social event but to join cyberspace on demand.
You see, the once sleepy small town of Sison is perhaps the only town in region 1 that hosts free wi-fi 24/7 to its residents and visitors. With their wi-fi-enabled mobile phones and laptops, nobody has to remember a password to access free internet. The town’s library is fully equipped with wired table computers for anyone’s free use. (I am told, residents can even use the library’s phone for overseas calls, free!).
So if you are passing through the area and you need to do an email, or update your Facebook, Multiply accounts, just drop by the town’s plaza or the library!
If there is one other legacy that Mayor (now congresswoman-elect) Kimi Cojuangco surely can be proud of, it is being the first local executive that used Internet to help keep peace in the community.
Perhaps, she can be expected to sponsor a bill that will require all towns with Internet access to host free wi-fi in their town plazas and in all schools to replicate Sison’s happy experience.
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PANGASINAN’S HISTORY SOON. It’s heartening to know that some of our newly-elected board members are inclined to heed our suggestion to create a permanent Pangasinan Historical Commission in lieu of the special committee created by Guv Spines to do a research on the province’s historical events.
If the new provincial board can, indeed, make it happen, then the Board and Guv Spines will share in that legacy as the men and women who made Pangasinan’s history a reality for all generations to appreciate and to learn from. By creating a permanent commission whose members will expectedly have fixed tenures, our people are assured that the research will be continued for decades without political color.
And the proposed commission will set off in the right direction if fiery Gonz Duque is named as the first professional to head it.
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS. The Fernandez administration in Dagupan City will finally wind up its affairs in 10 days.
As an active non-paying member of the Society of Unsolicited Advisers in the province, I’d like to present to the incoming Lim administration the list of unfinished business of its predecessor for its reference. Hopefully, come-backing Mayor Benjie Lim will quickly make residents see the difference under his stewardship.
Firstly, there’s the uncontrolled number of fish pens all over the city’s tributaries. -The District Jail inside Tondaligan continues to spew the inmates’ daily wastes out to the beach water.
-The widening and clearing of the sidewalks for pedestrians remain a dream. The sidewalk vendors and hawkers have become well-entrenched.
-The “Drop-Ball” illegal gambling flourished with the protection of barangay officials and the police.
-The vehicular traffic remains a juggernaut to contend with. Buses, jeepneys and tricycles load and unload anywhere, anytime.
Now, here’s our shortlist of the Fernandez administration’s accomplishments we’d like to see the Lim administration surpass.
– The Bangus Festival has become a popular regional tourist event and won acclaim from the Department of Tourism.
– The city’s funds are efficiently managed without need to secure bank loans to pay debts (that the previous Lim administration passed on).
– The city’s internal allotment funds are preserved and reserved for development programs.
– The delivery of basic services are untainted with graft.
– The education and welfare of the city’s school children finally received a high priority.
– The level of preparedness and response in the city during crisis has reached fever pitch.
– The construction of the seafood processing plant was completed on time, without hints of irregularities.
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