Sucking up to Guv Spines

By Ermin Garcia Jr.

PATHETIC. Self-serving. Embarrassing.

These summed up the reaction of many who were incredulous on hearing about the manifesto signed by members of the provincial board effectively sucking up to Guv Spines while declaring former Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz persona non grata.

It was one thing to express confidence in Guv Spines for that is a standard politically correct response to aid a beleaguered political ally but to go as far as to conclude that a mere criticism (or in the words of the board members  “malevolently attempts to destroy the credibility of the Governor and endeavors to divert his attention from excellently performing his task of steering the province towards progress”) is basis to declare one as persona non grata is one “major, major” blooper if I ever read one.

The guys at the Capitol overstepped the line in this regard. Reading their manifesto, I couldn’t believe the board members could not even be discreet about their fawning to a fault. It had to be spelled out on paper! Could there be a generous pay-off somewhere for the likes of them?? Hmm.

Going by their definition, even journalists who now dare criticize the governor, whom the board members practically crowned as emperor, stand the risk of being declared persona non grata by their bunch. Watch out guys.

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EMBARRASSING. It appears our honorable provincial board members have a warped and twisted notion about governance and the check-and-balance system provided under the democratic system.  Since when are legitimate critical views of public officials perceived as negative or injurious to the image of the governor to form basis for declaring anyone as persona non grata?

The provincial board is a deliberative body that studies and debates all aspects of governance undertaken by the executive department. It should welcome all reports and information in aid of legislation. What it is not supposed to be is to function as a premier fan club of the governor.

That kind of manifesto is most embarrassing for a respectable legislative body.

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PROTECTION NOT MANIFESTO. The public would have received the manifesto in a better light if it was sequential to a resolution fully supporting the order of Guv Spines directing the police to adopt measures to ensure the demise of jueteng in the province. But it didn’t and worse, the board members’ had the gall not only to define the incredible premise by which Archbishop Cruz should be declared person non grata, but even took pains to explain and justify the existence of jueteng, to wit: “jueteng…has generated needed income for them for the daily subsistence of their families”.  I don’t see how income through illegal means can be justified at all. What hogwash!

Are they actually telling us to let jueteng continue to thrive in the province?

If the board meant otherwise then it should pass a resolution posthaste expressing full support for Guv Spines’ order to the police to go after jueteng operators, particularly in the light of the expose and revelation by a jueteng operator how winnings are rigged these days in favor of the jueteng financiers.

The recent expose on how each jueteng “bola” is rigged (to ensure jueteng lords’ immoral profits) today should prod our board members to protect the unwitting bettors who have been made to believe they have fair chances of hitting the jackpot.

As the operator demonstrated on TV, plastic gadgets are now installed inside the mini-tambiolos to enable jueteng operators to choose which numbers should be picked after they have determined which number combinations would pay less in winnings. Worse, many don’t even use the tambiolo and simply send text messages listing the winning combinations, naturally the numbers that pay the least wins.

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GUV SPINES SHOWED HOW. To the credit of Guv Spines, he acquitted and redeemed himself on his own shortly after he was named by Alaminos Mayor Nani Braganza as the operator in the province by promptly ordering the provincial police to take new initiatives to go after the jueteng operators, big and small. And the immediate cessation of jueteng in the province was palpable.

Did Guv Spines have to shed crocodile tears to deny the archbishop’s report about him? No, he didn’t have to. He simply did what he had to do to prove his critics wrong. And this was and is what the congressional hearings are all about – to determine how jueteng has expanded, how pervasive corruption has become on account of jueteng, and what could be done to stop it.  Guv Spines showed the way.

In fact, his order gave the impression that henceforth he would make sure that jueteng would be a thing of the past under his stewardship.  I thought that was the signal for a supportive provincial board to step in by providing the mechanics but they misread the Guv’s body smoke signals and instead they produced a self-serving manifesto.

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PATHETIC IMAGE. Given how things stand today, one cannot but wonder whether the board members and the vice governor were simply ingratiating themselves to Guv Spines or were they actually sending a parallel message to the jueteng lords in the province? The buzz on the street already points to ugly suspicions that the members of the provincial board are on top of the payola list and simply took the opportunity to justify a higher payola when jueteng surfaces predictably in a few weeks.

With all their “good” intentions, the board members cut a pathetic image this time.

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ILLEGAL GAMBLING PROTECTORS? – While the Lim administration in Dagupan City appears to be gaining headway in resolving environment issues, it doesn’t seem to be inclined at all to act on the proliferation of illegal gambling in the city.

The residents have not seen nor heard of any police initiative or campaign to rid the city of ‘drop-ball’ and now hataw operations. It is no secret that a police station only wages a campaign if there is a direct order from the mayor. Today, it has become obvious that Mayor Benjie Lim told the police to stand down and “tolerate” illegal gambling.

Evidently, there is a lot of protection/hush money being passed weekly around city hall officials and the barangay kapitans given the sudden proliferation of illegal gambling. Unless and until these are shut down, Mr. Lim and chief of police Romeo Caramat Jr. cannot but be suspected of being the biggest beneficiaries of illegal gambling in the city as official protectors.

Jueteng in the city stopped recently not on Mr. Lim’s account but because Guv Spines gave the order to the provincial police to put the heat on jueteng operations across the province.

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