When idealism is lost

By Ermin Garcia Jr.

The move in the Dagupan City Council to refer the draft resolution authorizing Mayor Benjie Lim to enter into a contract with Metrostate Realty Corporation, for the lease of the commercial area fronting the city plaza, on an after-the-fact basis was a clever trick to launder that dirty deal. It was clearly aimed at obfuscating the issues and keep the public in the dark on the deal.

They not only fast-tracked but short-circuited the legal process by submitting that draft resolution just to give the impression that the bidding process was in order. But as Councilor Alex de Venecia correctly pointed out, the council had not even passed a resolution authorizing the mayor to conduct the bidding, much less spelling out the terms for the bidding! How can the city council now authorize the mayor to enter into a contract as a result of an illegal and unauthorized bidding? But even more telling are the pertinent questions that Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez has raised to the city legal officer. (Wow, this is certainly a different and better Alvin for the city)!

And to rub salt on the city’s wound, lo and behold, they made sure the issue was referred to Chief Onor-onor Teofilo Guadiz III! And as might have been expected of him, he quickly went through the motion making the whole farcical legal-speak asking for the ‘documents’ to give it the nice cover. I am not surprised that he didn’t ask his colleagues for a copy of the council resolution that never was, authorizing the bid. Naluto na!

Frankly, I am disappointed that Councilor Farah Decano did what she did, referring the draft to the committee; and even more disappointed that City Legal Officer Geraldine Baniqued lent her own integrity to this shameless “constructive” graft. What happened to the spirit that seeks to fight for the right?

Thanks to Mayor Lim, Mr. Baraan and the rest of the gang, I am certain many will have a huge Christmas bonus to spend for the 30-day fiesta!

Anyway, the only thing that remains to be seen now is who else will be made to account before the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan.

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FINALLY A STATESMAN. It’s also a relief to see Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez finally getting down to brass tacks on the issue about the illegal distribution of land inside the Tondaligan National Park.  His initial hysterical response to PUNCH’s reports and lately columnist Gonz Duque’s tirade made him two notches lower in statesman standing.

By finally engaging and confronting the Provincial Environment and Natural

Resources Office, he served public interest and demonstrated a statesmanship long missed by his constituents, particularly Gonz. The outburst that he manifested in his rare privilege speech only served to make our Gonz more popular than his brother Pingkoy, the Health Secretary, in Dagupan City. Who needs a more popular Gonz?

Let the vice mayor’s ill-advised initial response be a lesson to public servants who may find themselves similarly situated in the future. When confronted with a question on governance, your best defense is to act positively and prospectively with public interest only in mind.

This is how true statesmen become really tall in the eyes of their constituents.

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ARROYO PARLIAMENT IN ACTION. Those who have been made to believe that a parliamentary system is the country’s one-stop-shop for economic progress and political stability should think again.

Observe how our honorable congressmen are plotting today to convene the Constituent Assembly.  They are unwittingly and unabashedly giving our country a preview of how it’s going to be like when a unicameral parliamentary is finally in place. 

Without regard to the sensitivities of our people and respect for the Constitution, the gang of majority believes that their number in the House gives them the license to manipulate and twist committee rules to serve their main agenda – to stay in power forever.

As in any unicameral-parliamentary system where the majority party dictates the agenda, the Lakas-Kampi dominated House claims it again has the numbers to convene a Constituent Assembly, never mind what the spirit of the Constitution says. They believe they are empowered to ram down the parliamentary system down everyone’s throat, never mind what the senators (and more importantly, the people) think.

You are witnessing an Arroyo parliament at work, the tyranny in numbers.

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THE ARROYO MACHOS. Then, in a bid to completely crush a small minority in the House (they who can now only dream of seeing their pork barrel restored), the Lakas-Kampi gang has served notice on what they are capable of doing to any irreverent legislator who dares point at massive corruption to any member of the First Family.

Observe how the congressmen are handling the expulsion complaint filed by the Arroyo Machos – Mike, Mikey, Dato, Iggy – against Congressman Alan Peter Cayetano.

The congressmen themselves are amused that the attendance in the committee’s hearings has consistently been one of the highest recorded for a committee hearing. (It’s obvious someone is making an attendance check during the committee hearings).  And as in a parliamentary system, they are now expected to vote as one to protect and promote the interests of the Arroyo Machos, never with their conscience.

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VOTING UNANIMOUSLY- They voted unanimously to take jurisdiction over the complaint in spite of present committee rule that no complaint can be entertained if the same complaint has been filed before a court of law. (Never mind that the rule was applied to another congressman previously).

They unanimously endorsed the Arroyo Machos’ complaint citing Congressman Cayetano for “libelous” statements uttered inside the halls of congress. (Never mind that Constitution has clothed Cayetano and, ironically, all of them with parliamentary immunity so the public interest can be served to the max).

They unanimously voted to find the Machos’ complaint meritorious enough to lay the grounds not just for suspension but for expulsion. (Never mind that the complaint is no different from the libel and the disbarment cases in form and content filed by the Arroyo Machos against Cayetano).         

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PROTECTION IS ONLY FOR THE ARROYOS. They unanimously voted to strike down the counter-complaint of Cayetano against two of the Arroyo Machos in Congress, namely Mikey for receiving jueteng payola in his office per sworn statement of Sandra Cam, a key witness in the senate hearing on jueteng; and Iggy, for failing to pay taxes on the monies he claimed as his own as Jose Pidal (to save the neck of his brother, Chief Macho Mike). (Never mind that the two issues were well known to the public).

They unanimously voted to prevent Cayetano from presenting any evidence for his defense except proof of the existence of the bank account. (Never mind that Macho Mike refuses to sign a waiver authorizing Cayetano to check out the existence and history of his bank accounts).

Anyone else for the parliamentary system of, by and for the Arroyos?

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/punchline/)

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