By Gonzalo Duque

  

A prayerful New Year to all!

I’ve been thinking about whether to say Happy or Prosperous New Year to all but on second thought, we really need to pray for our planet and our nation, in particular.

The doomsday prophets are saying that we are in for a lot of calamities and national disasters in 2025. Already, we are experiencing a lot of mild to moderate earthquakes that geologists said are related to the Manila Trench, which runs through some 100 kilometers west of Bolinao.

The Manila Trench, you know, is an earthquake fault that extends from southern Taiwan to Negros Island in the Philippines.

Are we being prepared for the “Big One”?

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As to the three opposition councilors of the Dagupan Sanggunian, their 60-day preventive suspension has expired. If there is no suspension extension by the DILG, three of the seven honorable opposition councilors of the city will return.

Will they still be able to disturb the administration of Mayor Belen Fernandez?

Siyempre, kung babalik sila, ibabalik nila yong old house rules na ginawa nila.

They might even go to the extent of doing the stupid thing that all ordinances and resolutions approved during their suspension be invalidated.

Anyway, according to my sources, most of the important items the mayor wanted approved are already being implemented.

They can no longer undo what had been approved by the Sangguniang Panlungsod presided by Vice Mayor Bryan Kua with Councilor Michael Fernandez as the majority leader.

It would be foolish for the seven to do that. At most, they can only irritate the mayor. That’s all they can do — irritate the mayor. Repeat: Irritate the mayor.

By the way, the four of their colleagues have a sent a letter to the Sangguniang Panlungsod last December 23, 2024, advising the Sanggunian that the benefit accruing to the employees, like their gratuity pay, is endorsed by them.

Ano yon, pampalubag no loob? Too late the hero, sir and madams!

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Now that the national budget has been approved, the administration may think that everything is okay.

But wait!

More people are questioning the validity of the national budget even as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assured that the budget will redound to the welfare of the Filipino people.

The truth of the matter is that the national budget was approved with a lot of pretenses.

How come the AKAP program was not vetoed by the President? Instead, the 4Ps has been reduced to smithereens.

How come that PhilHealth has no subsidy for this year?

How come the education budget is still lower than the DPWH budget?

They made it appear that the DPWH is lower than the education budget by including the Philippine Military Academy, the Philippine National Police and others in the budget of education, when they were not included before?

Former Senator Franklin Drilon summed it up. The national budget is still full of pork.

Former Finance Secretary Chelo Magno thinks that the newly approved national budget “is still the most corrupted budget in our nation’s history.”

But our congressmen and senators are in chorus, singing “Happy days are here again”.

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