Punchline
Why are the Siapno cousins ominously silent?
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
In the spirit of the New Year, I’d like to begin with the good news first.
A conscience bloc has finally surfaced from within the Dagupan City Sanggunian. Manning the frontlines are Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez, Majority Floor Leader Michael Fernandez, Councilors Farah Decano, Jose Netu Tamayo and Alex de Venecia.
I’m certain Dagupeños have long waited for this but still better late than never. I join our kabaleyans in praying that they will remain a source of inspiration for many in the years ahead.
I would encourage the councilors to do their own blogs, if they haven’t done so yet. This way, Dagupeños all over the world can keep track of their activities without having to wait for PUNCH news about them.
Vice Mayor Alvin has shown how governance can be improved through cyberspace, it should work for them as well.
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Now, the bad news.
When the Dagupan City Council voted on the resolution authorizing Mayor Benjie Lim to enter into a contract with the company appointed to have “won” the bidding, it has become crystal clear that the “Onor-onor” society, led by Teofilo Guadiz III and Vlad Mata in the sanggunian has remained formidable and very much in business.
Marching with the goose-stepping duo are Nic Aquino, Eric Muñoz, Dada Reyna, Chito Samson, Danny Torio and Charise Perez.
These onor-onors have been thoroughly blinded by “something” that they could not even see a single thing as patently illegal about what Mayor Lim and his ilk have rammed down their throats.
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The city is rife with talks that at least a cool P10 million exchanged hands to ensure that the contract for the construction of the P84 million “tourism complex” is signed and implemented.
The wonder of all wonders is nothing is absolutely heard from any of the officials of Metrostate Realty Corporation, namely Mark Siapno, Alex Siapno, Maureen Chua, Karen Monzon, Mark Dy (Mark is reportedly the son of couple Romualdo-Isabelita Siapno while cousin Alex is the son of former vice mayor Pepe Siapno).
As the issues unfolded over the past weeks, City Administrator Raffy Baraan and City Legal Officer Dindin Baniqued spoke for Metrostate, but not a pipsqueak from any of the Siapno scions. And when chief onor-onor Guadiz (a cousin of Alex Siapno) submitted his committee report (that did not have the signature of other committee members but his alone), he took it upon himself to defend the legal status of Metrostate. Again, not a word from either Mark or Alex.
Most unusual is the silence of the company directors in spite of the questions raised by the vice mayor about their newly formed company’s capabilities. Normally, any company whose qualification or integrity has been questioned in public would quickly bombard the media with their side of the story. But this is not the case with the Siapnos and their Metrostate. They have even made themselves scarce as PUNCH’s efforts to reach them failed.
Something, indeed, smells fishy and rotten.
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Given their obvious scripted silence, I cannot but suspect that they acquiesced to be part of a conspiracy to defraud the city bigtime. I hate to believe that they are involved in the plot as most other people would now like to believe because their elders have been known to be distinguished citizens whose integrity are beyond reproach.
But regrettably, between “Onor-onor” Guadiz’s latest “switching act” and the silence of the Siapno cousins, one wonders now whether they and their families still care for the legacy and the standing of the old Guadiz and Siapno families in the community.
I know Mark and Alex have a story to tell and they are keeping it away from Dagupeños who demand full transparency and accountability in the city’s governance.
For starters, they should explain what they know about the missing structures that were in the area before the clearing operations of the Magsaysay Park started.
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As things stand today, the basic issues that clearly remain unsettled despite the claims of Guadiz are:
1. There was no prior expressed resolution from the city council authorizing the city government to embark on the development of the “tourism complex” on a build-operate-transfer basis, much less to conduct a bidding.
2. Metrostate Realty was not listed as among the original pre-qualified bidders.
3. Metrostate was not accredited by the Philippine Contractors’ Accreditation Board, and therefore not qualified to bid. It was LXS Builders that had the accreditation during the pre-qualifying bid stage.
4. The Regional Development Council never issued a formal endorsement for the project, a requirement for a build-operate-transfer scheme, before the bidding.
5. Metrostate was under-capitalized to fund an P84 million project.
6. Councilor Guadiz should have inhibited himself being a relative of the bidders.
That all the above concerns were swept under the rug merely by a majority vote of the councilors (shades of the Con-ASS voting) does not erase the fact that the Magsaysay project and the appointment of unqualified bidder (Metrostate) were without legal basis.
Perhaps the onor-onors should be made to explain their votes before the Sandiganbayan.
(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/punchline/)
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