By Ermin Garcia Jr.

 

OUTGOING Dagupan Mayor Brian Lim is facing another dilemma. Will he veto the 2022 annual budget that he proposed but will not benefit his administration or simply approve it as his last act of acceptance that he lost in his political poker he played with the majority in the Sanggunian Panlungsod?

To veto it would mean an admission that the budget he had prepared was not in the best interests of the city residents after all. While his veto will initially prevent incoming Mayor Belen Fernandez from enjoying the benefits intended for him alone, his veto will not amount to anything but needlessly expose him further to more speculations about the ill-motives behind the crafting of the 2022 budget. Reason: The majority can override it with a flick of a finger.

To close his eyes and sign the ordinance without looking, will be like eating humble pie for the first time in his political life. But the humiliation will quickly be forgotten.

Either way, there’s no chance for him to redeem himself at this time unless his barkada, they who dreamed of a 9-year term, can find an opportunity to come out of it with his head high. Methinks, that’s be too much to expect from his barkada that only knew and understood how to exploit political power -and get away with it. They actually did and are leaving their Boss Brian holding a big can of worms. Tsk-tsk.

So, however and whatever he decides, the incoming city government will move on with a 2022 budget with a surplus from the six months operation from a reenacted budget.

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THANK YOU PINGCOY. If there is anyone from the Duterte cabinet who deserves an applause from grateful Pangasinenses, that should be DOH Sec. Pingcoy Duque. He deserves it when he returns home victorious, after beating the world pandemic when most of his detractors expected (and wanted) him to fail.

Of course, credit is also due President Duterte for not losing faith in Sec Pingcoy when the gates were fast closing on him and the clamor for his resignation was reaching its peak five months ago. True to his word, he submitted his resignation and Mr. Duterte accepted but he waved him on to finish the job. Sec Pingcoy always had the president’s back, that’s for sure.

But beyond his evident success in managing the COVID pandemic, there is something that he did, specifically for Pangasinan families – restoring the daily scheduled direct bus trips to-and-fro Pangasinan and the National Capital Region.

When most everyone thought the cancellation for regular bus trips was justified early on because of the then Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) declared in Metro Manila and Pangasinan, what most did not know was regular bus travels from the south to NCR was soon restored when ECQ was modified but not from provinces in the north particularly, Pangasinan.

The MMDA and LTFRB, both members of the IATF, conspired to impose a condition on commercial buses operating in the north before they resume their operations. They came up with IATF Resolution N0. 101 that will require buses from the north to load and unload passengers only at the North Luzon Expressway Terminal in Bocaue, owned and operated by the Iglesia ni Cristo.

There was a catch. The terminal will require bus companies to pay P100k monthly for every parking slot reserved (Victory Liner, Five Star, Solid North alone would have required at least 10 slots each). Naturally, the bus companies bucked it.

So, while bus companies in the south were regularly ferrying commuters daily to-and-fro Parañaque, without exorbitant parking fees, Pangasinan families were caught with no option but to continue to suffer their separation or pay more to hire private vehicles.

To cut to the chase, Sec. Pingcoy argued for the withdrawal of the controversial IATF resolution because it was not only grossly disadvantageous to Pangasinan families but the core issue was no longer the pandemic but the DOTr’s concern.  He was initially rebuffed but he pushed on until the resolution was eventually withdrawn.

Today, thanks to Sec. Pingcoy, Pangasinan families have every chance today to be together any day, any time whether a member is in NCR or in Pangasinan. Buses are running on schedule!

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VLOGGERS/BLOGGERS VS. MSM. The decision of the incoming Marcos administration to accredit bloggers and vloggers has its negative and positive points.

Vloggers and bloggers are mainly opinion makers not accountable to any establishment in media. They have no code of conduct by which they can be expected to operate.  Mainstream media (MSM) establishments are jointly accountable to the public, together with their editors and reporters.

Reports of vloggers/bloggers who are mostly without their own dedicated investigative staff, will be equated with those of the MSM whose work are supported by staff research.

Because a popular vlogger/blogger’s reports can hold sway against an MSM report, this can result in public’s confused understanding of issues with little or no attention to cold facts.

Vloggers/bloggers are not restricted by schedules for delivery of news, MSMs are.

There is no permanency in vloggers/bloggers reports. These can be removed and edited at will with no accountability. MSM materials are reported as public records.

So, I liken the accreditation of vloggers/bloggers as legit media practitioners to our party list system in our congress.

Regular congressional district representatives and party lists have the same mandate – to represent people’s interests with one difference: District congressmen have fixed accountabilities to their territorial constituents while party list congressmen have limited accountabilities to their sectors with no territorial boundaries.

Don’t district congressmen file and act on bills of sectoral concerns, too?

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