By Leonardo Micua

HERE is a fair warning to local government executives in Pangasinan who may have employed or continue to employ losing candidates in the last election as consultants.

It might interest them to know that a former mayor of Panglao town in Bohol was meted 24 years in prison after she was found guilty by the Sandiganbayan of hiring four losing candidates in the 2013 elections as her consultants.

Here’s the summary of the news story published by PDI last week:

Leonila Paredes-Montero, now a councilor of Panglao, former mayor of Panglao town in Bohol province was sentenced to 24 years in prison by the Sandiganbayan after she was found guilty of graft for hiring four losing candidates in the 2013 elections as consultants even if this was prohibited by law.

She was also ordered by the antigraft court to return the P1.3 million that represented the salaries and interests of the amounts paid to the four consultants, whom she hired during the one-year period ban against hiring candidates who lost in the election.

Well, not a few of the local executives in Pangasinan also accommodated their allies or party mates who lost and were hired as consultants in violation of the law.

I’ve come to learn that the provincial government has become a virtual sanctuary for candidates who run and lost for board member, mayor, vice mayor and even councilor?

How lucky can these guys get. After losing in the elections, they become high-paying consultants of the provincial government not because of their professional qualifications and talents, but because of worthy political connections.

On the other hand, I dread the thought of what can happen to the appointing authority if someone, for whatever motivation, files cases against the appointing power before the Ombudsman for violation of the law.

Note: the Panglao town ex-mayor was meted a six years prison term by the Sandiganbayan for every losing candidate she appointed as consultant. Translation: Her 24 years  jail term represents the violations for each of the four consultants. Now, count the number of  candidates who lost in the May 9, 2022 polls presently being paid as do-nothing consultants in the provincial government!

If perhaps, some of the long-time JOs and employees who held temporary positions for a length of time and already trained for the job suddenly found their positions filled by losing candidates and decide to file the complaint, guess who will have sleepless nights.

Packing the provincial government plantilla with an army of consultants is unprecedented in the history of Pangasinan, certainly not a mark of good governance.

I heard a newshen who was shocked on learning the facts belatedly: “Ang kapitolyo ay pugad ng mga natalong kandidato?’ She was familiar with the names.

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Watch out for shocking developments in the Russian-Ukraine War, where the Russians   appear to be retreating after a devastating counter-attack by Ukrainian forces in the eastern and southern parts of their country. 

But don’t rule out the Russians yet. They have nuclear bombs they can use as a last resort in order to save face. Those who know Vladimir Putin is a sore loser, he could unleash a nuclear bomb to destroy Ukraine and its people to prevent his impending defeat from happening. 

Of course NATO, which includes the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and other European countries, won‘t allow it to happen. They will strike Russia first and that will inevitably trigger a nuclear war, where no one wins, and everybody loses. 

Then monitor, too, the tension escalating in the Korean Peninsula where nuclear-armed north is threatening its neighboring south with a war just like what happened to them in 1949 to 1953, with one difference – it may involve Japan.  

Another flashpoint is Taiwan which China is determined to take by hook or by crook despite the mantle of protection thrown by the U.S. and Japan. 

In the Middle East, it looks like Iran is threatening to wage a war with Saudi Arabia. 

With all these nerve-wracking developments worldwide, maybe we will see in 2023 a possible start of World War  III.

On a light note, a former colleague from Cagayan de Oro City with whom I had a  chat via Messenger, jokingly wrote, “if  World  War III comes, but  I pray it will not, all my loans will be erased. No one will bother to collect from me anymore”.   Indeed.  Hahaha!

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