Better days ahead?

By Ermin Garcia Jr.

IF the first days of Dagupan Mayor Benjie Lim are any indication, the city may, indeed, be headed for better days ahead.  The city streets are cleaner and the usual endless chaotic scene fronting the Malimgas Market is seeing some semblance of order finally.  So take a bow, Mr. Lim.

Now, let’s see Mr. Lim move on to his other announced high priority concerns, namely the proliferation of illegal fish pens and pollution of the rivers (that should include the daily pollution at the Tondaligan Beach, courtesy of the Dagupan District Jail) and the improvement of the city’s educational facilities.  And since he’s at it, he might as well act on the controversial ‘river reclamation’ along Calmay River.  Today, the ugly rumor quickly spreading is that the 888 Corporation was emboldened to violate the restraining order on its head on the eve of the new mayor’s assumption to office because the owners are Mr. Lim’s friends. It is to Mr. Lim’s benefit that this issue is settled quickly and clearly without an iota of a doubt that he is not one to protect business friends who flout the laws.

The momentum is on your side, Mr. Lim. I pray you will not squander this opportunity for great things to happen. Go, go Mr. Mayor!

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POLITICAL REALITIES. I heard about the whining by newly elected Dagupan City Councilors Brian Lim and Red Erfe Mejia about the “minor committees” assigned them by the majority in the council.  (Mr. Lim has the Urban Poor Committee while Mr. Erfe Mejia has the Cooperative Committee.) That is a display of political immaturity on their part.

First of all, this is a reality in governance where the majority rules and dispenses. If their party had won the majority, I would be certain that their party (being in the majority) would also divide the loot among themselves and leave out the crumbs to the minority members. But today they are in the minority.

Secondly, there is no such thing as a minor committee in governance. It only becomes “minor” if the perception of the committee chairman and its members is such. The committee was created by their predecessors precisely because they recognized the concerns of the sector to be worthy of the city council’s attention.

Let me cite a recent situation at the Senate.  When Senator Manny Villar was president, and his allies were deemed the majority, the so-called “major committees” were held by those who elected him. One of them was Sen. Pia Cayetano and she chaired the committees on health and environment, considered “major committees”.

When Senator Juan Ponce Enrile was elected midway to replace Mr. Villar, those who remained loyal to Mr. Villar lost their committees. Sen. Pia Cayetano ended up with a “minor committee”, the Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development committee.  At first blush, one could only wonder what such a committee could do in less than a year.

Then Sen. Cayetano decided there was a need for a major push for an important concern by the “minor committee”. She called for hearings and later succeeded in passage of the Expanded Senior Citizens’ Act, the law that grants our elders today an exemption from the payment of the 12% VAT!  It did not matter that it was a minor committee that worked on it, at the end of the day, all the senators supported its efforts because the concern was just as important as the issues handled by the major committees.

So to Messers. Lim and Erfe-Mejia (and other minority councilors in other towns who are similarly situated), I suggest you quit wasting your time whining and bellyaching. Everyone remembers you both promising you would do your best to serve if elected councilors, well, you have been elected so what’s the fuss now? Just open your eyes and start doing wonders for the city through your own committees, no matter how “minor”…and you’ll be the city’s next iconic leaders in no time!

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SHOTGUNS FOR THE POLICE. Finally comes the admission of Smiley Pd Barba that our police force is poorly equipped! And I suspect, he’s even shy to admit today that his force does not have a single shotgun to its name!

Wonder of all wonders, why Mr. Barba did not even make a pitch publicly for at least half of the provincial government–issued shotguns to be given to his command.

This should explain in part why assassins have been able to operate in the province with impunity. The hired killers knew how to beat the cops in their “catch-us-if-you-can” game. They were, and are, aware that not only do the police do not have enough mobility to chase them with, but they also lack the guns to shoot them down.

While no kapitan has been involved again in any illegal use of his shotgun, thank God, one wonders if the shotgun would serve the peace and order in the whole province better if the shotgun were in the hands of a cop on duty.

Perhaps, Guv Spines would finally consider re-issuing half of the shotguns to the PNP stations for a sustained peace and order under his watch.

A shotgun for a cop can drive the criminals away!

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THE RAINS ARE COMING! The rains are coming without let-up and we have been fortunate so far that the rains were not brought by typhoons of any scale.

I have no idea what information that the provincial government finally exacted from the officials of the San Roque Dam regarding the latter’s new protocol, if any since their series of meetings began.

Whatever “protocol” was discussed and decided on, I would surmise that the provincial government has already began working with the towns, particularly with newly elected mayors, on strategies on how to prevent the same chaos from occurring when Typhoon Pepeng unleashed its wrath. If it hasn’t been done, the mayors and their councils would be well advised to begin surveying their vulnerable areas and communities before it’s too late.

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