By Ermin Garcia Jr.

 

What’s the worst Christmas thought for Dagupeños?

It is knowing that another protracted word war is in the offing after Dagupan’s 7 epaLiFes (aka councilors in the majority) boycotted the SP’s regular and special sessions, and particularly, after Mayor Belen Fernandez signed the memorandum of agreement with the DOH without the initially requested resolution from the SP (aka majority bloc).

Add a possible exchange of legal suits over the Mother and Child Hospital in a month or two.

Of course, it’s no longer a secret that the 7 epaLiFe zealots are out to sabotage the Belen Fernandez administration and will not stop at anything, even at the expense of the Dagupeños themselves who will be deprived of basic services by their punitive actions directed at Mayor Belen.

The 7 epaLiFes appear dead set more than ever to force Mayor Belen on her knees to beg for their support. They appear confident that they can be blatantly deceitful without fear of being called out for their determination to push and rub her face on the puddles of mud forming along Arellano St.

The signing of agreement for the planned establishment of the Mother and Child Hospital has given them the chance to prove that Belen Fernandez is a weak mayor that cannot pursue her programs without them. They have it on record that they “fully support” the establishment then proceeded to delete the subject from the agenda then boycott a scheduled regular session when the Department of Health officials were expected to attend.

The members of the minority could not possibly comprehend the majority’s logic.

The 7 epaLiFes are definitely emboldened by the mayor’s and her legal adviser’s weak responses to their plots.

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The unexpected and sudden signing of the MOA on the Mother and Child Hospital presented itself as a great Christmas gift to the 7 epaLiFes. Mayor Belen signed the MOA with DOH without their endorsement!

Now they can forget about going to court with their futile efforts to invalidate the 2023 annual budget. From where they sit, the signing of the MOA without authority from the SP was a clear violation of the division of powers and authority between the executive and the legislative branches.  

So, I will not be surprised if the 7 epaLiFes decide to file a case against her and Atty Valle before the Ombudsman for bypassing the authority of the legislative branch. And neither will I be surprised if City Legal Officer Aurora Valle assured Mayor Belen that she is not criminally and administratively liable for signing the MOA.

Indeed, with a city legal officer like her, the 7 epaLifes already have all the friends and allies they need. She gives them what they want from Mayor Belen. They prayed that Mayor Belen will not file cases against them and all key officials behind the discovered irregularities during Mayor Brian Lim’s administration. Well, Mayor Belen didn’t, obviously on the say so of the city legal officer. If that wasn’t meant to favor the 7 epaLiFes, I don’t know what is.

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FALSE NARRATIVE ABOUT MBTF. Mayor Belen and her allies may have prematurely celebrated their “victory” when the 7 epaLifes fumbled and lost in their stronghold on the 2023 annual budget because that appears to be just a preview of the worst to happen, leading all the way to the 2025 elections.

While she and the minority bloc may conveniently attribute the eventual loss of the P150 million Mother and Child Hospital project to the 7 epaLifes’ endless efforts at sabotaging major programs, that will not be the end of the story. She can play the victim’s card but I pray she realizes soon enough that at the end of the day, the  7 epaLifes’ objective is to make national government see her as a weak posturing political leader who cannot put a group of arrogant politicians in their places.

In fact, I won’t be surprised if the 7 epaLifes already canned all the false narrative that will point to her as the cause of the failure of the programs that she bruited about.

After all, it’s not difficult to control the narrative in social media.  A lie told a million times becomes the truth. Mayor Belen should have learned her lesson from her first defeat from Brian Lim.   Apparently, she hasn’t. Or is it because her close advisers make her believe that she will always overcome today’s challenges and the people will stand by her.  They told her that in 2019 and she lost.

While the word war on the Mother and Child Hospital rages, Mayor Belen should expect  that next on the chopping block will be the 2024 annual budget and the supplemental budgets.

Recall that the 7 epaLiFes were never charged for conspiring to sabotage the city when they approved a budget for a third-class municipality. So there’s nothing to stop them from replaying the same scenario until December 2024!  A reenacted 2023 budget will still prevent her pursuing new programs at her expense and the 7 epaLiFes will still go scot-free for their political mischiefs with false narratives ready for 2025.

Doesn’t Mayor Belen see the writing on the wall? Atty Valle knows but won’t tell her boss.

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THE POPE IS A JESUIT. Leave it to a Jesuit like Pope Francis to clarify and promote the Catholic teaching on the commandment “Love they neighbor” to the consternation of the members of the ultra-conservative laity.

In Pope Francis’ Fiducia supplicans, there’s no place in Catholic teachings discriminating against Catholics or condemning individuals in same-sex couple relationships. The Pope said they should not be alienated and refused blessings they seek from their parish’s priests.

Those who pray that the couples in” irregular situations” be excommunicated must be nervously gnawing on their fingers, completely at a loss on hearing this new approach.

It’s the way to the Lord, not theirs. It’s all that simple.

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CONGRATULATIONS!

It is official. Former Councilor Luis “Chito” Samson Jr. currently the executive vice president of the University of Luzon, has been elected by the Board of Directors as UL’s new president, effective January 1, 2024, as successor to his elder bother MacArthur “Macky” who passed away last November.

Macky’s eldest son, Junjun was elected executive vice president, succeeding Chito.

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A dear friend, Dr. Minguita Padilla, an ophthalmologist and health advocate, asked that she thanks and congratulates Gov. Mon-Mon Guico here for making good on his pledge to support her advocacy, the Eye Bank Foundation. She said the Pangasinan Provincial Hospital already donated 6 cornea to her foundation as a result of the memorandum of agreement she signed with Guv Mon-mon!

Thank you, Guv for supporting the foundation!

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