Punchline
The SOCA that never was
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
TWO interesting separate events were held in Dagupan City last Monday.
The first one saw Mayor Benjie Lim meeting with a large select audience at the Dagupan People’s Astrodome for an opportunity to present his plans for the city till he ends his term in the first quarter of 2013. He had intended it as his first state of the city’s address since he assumed office last year but because he decided to forego his delivery of the State of the City Address at the sangguniang panglunsod on the latter’s invitation, it became a dialogue of sorts.
The second was the regular session of the sangguniang panglunsod where the city mayor was expected to deliver his State of the City Address. The councilors, in their formal attire, proceeded with their session after Mayor Benjie decided he would not deliver his SOCA that day.
Why the fuss about SOCA? It is an occasion for the mayor to account for his activities and plans to the sangguniang panglunsod.
Since, Mayor Benjie decided not to make himself accountable, I hope the city council can make him account in another way in the months ahead.
End of issue. Next business, please.
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THE JURICK-GROCERY SAGA -Last month, Celia, the soft-spoken wife of Mayor Benjie and a dear friend, vented and spoke out about what she perceived as unfair criticisms that we have levelled against her husband and lately, her son Councilor Brian.
To disabuse her mind again about my motives, here is just one recent account of her husband’s highly questionable transactions that she, hopefully, can confront him with to end her embarrassment.
Her husband, the mayor, directed his executive assistant to purchase goods and commodities two months ago ostensibly for a feeding program. Nobody can argue with the timeliness and worthiness of the program but unknown to her is the fact that the goods were purchased with public funds at atrociously overpriced levels. I am sure my friend Celia who is familiar with retail and wholesale prices of noodles, etc. , would find the city council’s findings shocking as well!
Here’s a partial list –
a) Lucky Me noodles which sold for P6.24 in the wholesale/retail market was bought with city funds at P15.24 b) A chocolate drink that only cost P41.55 then was purchased with people’s money at P95.13! c) A can of evaporated milk that sold at P22.44 was bought at P53.30! d) Royal Macaroni that sold for P102.90 was bought at P234. e) Minola cooking oil that sold for P130 was bought at P251. f) Sugar sold at P63 was bought at P142.80. If she doubts this, she can ask Mr. BeepBeep Tan, the executive assistant overseeing the nutrition office, for a copy of the charge invoice no.0892 billed for P301,850 by the Jurick General Merchandise, a ‘grocery’ in the city, owned by Lynn Magno. I am sure she never heard of the supplier that’s because the “grocery” doesn’t really exist. (Jurick is a store on Rizal St. in the city that sells office and school supplies).
But obviously unknown to her, this is not a new modus operandi (overpricing) in the office of the mayor with her husband Benjie as mayor. In May 2003, he directed the purchase of 420 streetlights for the downtown area which cost the city P10million (or at a cost of P23,809 per post)! The Taiwan-made streetlights cost other communities only P5,000 max per post. But that wasn’t the end of the story.
He justified the purchase without benefit of a bidding because the supplier, Grandtex Marketing Corporation based in San Juan, Metro Manila, he said, was the sole importer of that streetlight that the city was buying. I have personally verified that Grandtex existed but with one twist – the company was only involved in the manufacture and selling of threads, not streetlights. The employees there had no knowledge of the company’s streetlight business. And now, we have the ‘Jurick-grocery’ saga.
Some bad habits are simply hard to drop. It might help Celia to have a better perspective of things by knowing that then Onor-onor councilor Vlad Mata, now city administrator, was among the leaders of the cabal that railroaded the approval of the budget for the anomalous streetlights purchase.
I do have one favor to ask of Mdm Celia – Please ask either the mayor or Mr. Tan just one question for me. Who pocketed the ‘overprice’?
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JUETENG IS BACK. We have confirmation from the regional police that jueteng is definitely making a comeback in the province.
The regional headquarters in La Union have confirmation that jueteng bets are now being actively solicited in the town of Tayug. Activities in other towns are still being verified.
So, who’s afraid of Guv Spines? I think Sr. Supt. Rosueto Ricaforte has a lot of explaining to do to the chief boss and the board members.
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PNOY, A MAJOR, MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT. At the national level, PNoy is fast becoming a major disappointment.
He was clearly elected not by sympathy votes alone, coming to the election on the heels of her popular mother Cory’s death, but by the image he projected himself to be someone decisive with a political will never seen before.
And what kind of President do we see today? A populist weakling controlled by the Barkada Inc.
Consider his latest pronouncements. He backtracked…nay, he retreated, to his comfort zone by staying the status quo, refusing to certify as urgent two contentious bills that he promised would be the hallmark of his resolute presidency.
In a 90-degree turnaround, PNoy refused to certify both the Freedom of Information (FOI) and the Reproductive Health bills as urgent.
What happened during his last “private time is anybody’s guess and I only surmise what the Barkada Inc. whispered in his ears.
“Drop the FOI because that would pose problems to many of our political allies who are in the forefront administering the P5 billion-worth Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipno Program, particularly the mayors who need to recover their campaign expenses and ensure their reelection in 2013. Many will not be able to explain how the money was distributed and how beneficiaries were selected.”
Then, “Drop the Reproductive Health bill because that will be going against what your mother Cory promised the Catholic bishops, and you can’t afford to be seen fighting the bishops otherwise your popularity ratings will dip.”
Enough talk about “Tuwid na Daan” and “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.” It was good while it lasted, till now.
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ATCHI PERLA NOVALES, 86. Another iconic face in Dagupan City has been called back by our Creator to His side. We deeply mourn the passing of Atchi Perla, the matriarchal inspiration of Marigold Book Store, the city’s first successful and most popular bookstore-newsstand post war. She and her husband Pol, who had left her side in 2008 were the inseparable couple, who were easily the life of any social and civic gathering in the city. They were constantly willing to help others where they could without thought of any payback. I cannot forget seeing how she and Kuya Pol readily lent their support to my father who then was struggling to keep Sunday PUNCH afloat for decades since 1956. Marigold was the PUNCH’s main outlet in Pangasinan, thanks to Novaleses’ enduring support… and the rest is history. To the children, the PUNCH joins you in your hour of bereavement.
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