Punchline
Proudly certified
By Ermin F. Garcia Jr.
A FRIEND just arrived from a 4-day tour in South Korea. As one would have guessed, she thoroughly enjoyed Seoul City, the place to shop for value-for money quality products these days.
One particular shopping day, she could not but pause to admire the pride of Korean storeowners for Korean-made products. She was being sold one item, and having been used to being served “Made in China” products in Manila, she asked the storekeeper nonchalantly: “Is this made in China?” She got a quick retort: “No, this is made in Korea, definitely better!”
As she narrated how deeply impressed she was with the shopkeeper’s proud claim, my thoughts immediately shifted to “Dagupan Certified” tagging of Dagupan bangus launched by the Fernandez administration.
The label will naturally imbibe pride in the Dagupeño seller or gift-giver of Dagupan bangus because the label is a claim to quality. It connotes adherence of a community to quality production or work and a generational discipline that guarantees satisfaction.
If, as envisioned by Mayor Belen Fernandez, the tagging of all products genuinely produced in Dagupan will be tagged as “Dagupan Certified,” the label will soon rub off on one being a Dagupeño/Dagupeña, as hardworking and disciplined.
That will surely be one legacy of Mayor Belen that will live for a long time.
* * * * *
PROUDLY PANGASINAN. Meanwhile, the legacy of Guv Spines in making Pangasinenses proud of their history and culture is already assured.
Proof of it is a quick retort that one gets from a Pangasinan native when other Filipino “aliens” refer to him/her as “Pangalatok.”
I overheard one conversation in Manila when somebody told a new acquaintance: “Hindi kami Pangalatok, Pangasinan kami!” Whoa! The “alien” obviously felt embarrassed and could only mutter an apology in reaction because, indeed, “Pangalatok” by its sound alone, is derisive and condescending.
To the credit of Guv Spines, Pangasinan has made a people proud of its heritage, its honorable and influential place in the hierarchy of import as a community. So I’m sure that adopting Dagupan’s best practice as well: start marketing all products in the province, from bagoong to salt, puto to mangoes, handicrafts to delicacies, etc. as “Pangasinan Certified” or “Proudly Pangasinan” will surely erase Pangalatok from everyone’s memory!
The PUNCH is proud to be “Pangasinan Certified” and “Proudly Pangasinan.” And you can bet your life on it! Are you?
* * * * *
EASY ESCAPES. The news about the escape of two inmates from the Pangasinan Provincial Jail is cause for worry. It was not the first time for that facility.
The inmate who remains at large, is being tried for committing murder. Witnesses already testified against him, so one can imagine how the escape affects them now.
If dangerous inmates can easily jump out of jail by merely punching jail guards without need to dig a tunnel, is one for the books. Laughable as it may seem, our local government officials should begin to worry. The escaped convicts or inmates could be the hired motorcycle-riding hitmen that would eliminate them for a few thousand bucks.
Merely asking negligent jail guards to explain their circumstances is merely an administrative procedure that will never ever stop inmates from escaping with the help of jail guards. If jail guards can easily pounce on a sleepy guard, we can expect more hired killers out in the streets.
I even wonder if the facility has a cheap CCTV installed by the entrance just to monitor who escaped. Levity aside, the provincial jail should be fortified as an escape-proof facility!
* * * * *
RESERVED SPACES. The Dagupan Police and POSO should do something about the practice of stores and banks in the commercial district coopting use of their street frontage as exclusive parking for the owners and/or their customers.
Reading the sign “Reserved” is most stressful to anyone who’s desperately in need of a parking space. These signs have no place in a business-friendly city.
With the proliferation of these signs around the city, one wonders how much a POSO-police tandem makes from this protection racket. Perhaps, there is no racket, but certainly it smacks of palakasan. But whatever, it’s not a good business policy for the city.
Given how focused Mayor Belen is in bringing about a business-friendly environ, the sangguinan should already pass an ordinance regulating parking, and city hall should start designating parking slots on the streets.
Parking in the city is still chaotic.
* * * * *
POLITICAL WILL. If Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte proved that political will is all that it takes to discourage drug syndicates in operating in his city, Pangasinan has its own track record in this regard.
Dangerous Drugs Board chairman (and The PUNCH’s Straight-talker – Deretsahan) Bebot Villar had proven as well that political will did it in his hometown Sto. Tomas that has since been drug-free to this day since he became mayor in the 70s. Like in the case of Duterte, it helped that family members succeeded him to keep a tight grip on the ban that kept drug syndicates out of business.
So DDB Chair Bebot knows from whence he speaks when he insists that local political leaders have the power to stop drug-dealing in the streets and in the schools. The problem is our local officials just don’t have it in them to crush the syndicates in their faces. Reason? The drug syndicates are not at all coy about paying barangay officials, in particular, for protection.
It is for this reason that I know BM Pogi Espino will be pivotal in the war vs. illegal drugs being the head of the Federation of Liga ng mga Barangay. It is the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils (BADACs) that can spell the difference.
I do hope he can do a Villar-Duterte act and lead the charge vs the drug syndicates for the Pangasinan families.
* * * * *
HOPELESS. Speaking of drugs, I cannot understand why the Department of Health in Cebu City, is considering the distribution of syringes and needles to drug addicts in Barangay Kamagayan, as a means to prevent the spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the retrovirus that causes the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
Is the government considering making drug addicts permanent liabilities instead of rehabilitating them? By providing syringes, that’s practically encouraging them to keep the drug habit.
First, the government tells us we need the BBL to stop war in Mindanao. Now it tells us let us make drug users as addicts forever so we stop the spread of HIV.
We’re hopeless.
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
