Punchline
Truth and fiction about the P30M shotguns
By Ermin F. Garcia Jr.
THE more the shotgun defenders talk, the deeper they sink in their own created quagmire.
The latest attempt of BM Alfie Bince, once the touted fiscalizer and now an ardent defender of the highly controversial shotgun program, can only be best described as a pathetic cheap shot.
His threat to mayors who dare turn their backs on the provincial government’s ‘generosity’ smacks of Marcosian patronage demanding fealty to an authoritarian type of government. Does he actually believe that we now live under martial law all because his boss chief-governor once donned the police uniform?
What has happened to our once respected stalwart defender of democratic principles? He now comes across as nothing but someone’s lowly lapdog!
The vintage Alfie would have stood up in defense of the unarmed and peace-loving barangay folk against abuses of armed barangay chiefs and abusive politicos but today, he’d rather lead in the effort to justify and cover-up of what now appears to be the year’s biggest fraudulent deal crafted at the provincial board, using the lofty objectives for barangay kapitans as convenient cover.
Why Alfie? Why?
*****
Guv Spines and his ‘onor-onors’ in the provincial board certainly have a lot of explaining to do to the province, not only to the kapitans!
The fact is the P30 M allocation approved by the provincial board was intended as financial assistance for the barangays. It means, the kapitans were entitled to cash allotments “to maintain peace and order”, but not to a shotgun each! Assuming the P30 M was to be equally distributed to 1,330 kapitans, each would have received P22,556.40, not a cheap shotgun!
But some bright boys showed the board that a shotgun deal, in lieu of a cash dole-out would be more beneficial to all – meaning including themselves! How so?
Consider this. An AKKAR 12″ shotgun’s retail price ranges from P13,500 – P18,500 depending on the model (check out prices from Aquila Firearms & Ammunition in Manila tel: 02-5220487). And since it’s a ‘giveaway’ shotgun, it’s easy to conclude that the brilliant minds in the Capitol would want nothing but the cheapest model for the kapitans, meaning P13,500!
But since it’s meant to be ‘beneficial’ to “all”, I have reason to believe that the invoice was made to reflect at least P22,000. (I would think that the P556 balance covered the costs of 17 bullets (P32@) for a grateful kapitan !)
From that transaction alone, there would at least be P8,500 in overprice or a whopping P11.3 M for the personal bank accounts of VIPs in the Capitol. But that’s only for the overprice! There is also the usual volume discount, normally minimum of 15% for volume purchases depending on who’s asking for it for all 1,330 pieces! So assuming the Capitol’s buyer was an idiot who could only wrangle 15%, that should translate to a measly P2,025 per or P2.693 M in rebate for the whole lot!
Simple arithmetic tells us that from the P30M, our enterprising people in the provincial government shared and pocketed P13.9 M! And the kapitans were just too happy to get cheap shotguns for a chance to look and act more menacingly in their communities, not realizing that they have been sorely shortchanged!
*****
Whether you think the above account of the transaction is fact or fiction depends on what the geniuses in the Capitol can produce as evidential documents in the spirit of transparency.
But as far as Vice Gov. Marlyn Agabas and her cabal in the provincial board are concerned, they already have a lot of explaining to do, particularly how the cash assistance as stipulated in their board resolution was finally read as cheap shotguns for the kapitans!
What is fiction is that the kapitans received P22,556 each as cash assistance. What is fact is the kapitans received cheap shotguns.
What is clearly fiction is the tale that the provincial government adopted the ‘shotgun-for-kapitan’ program ostensibly to improve peace and order in the barangays. What is fact is that the shotguns were used as an alibi to justify the disappearance of the P30M from the provincial coffers!
What is fiction is the tale that PNP allowed the provincial government to arm the kapitans without having to secure a license to possess a firearm. What is fact is no guidelines have been issued governing the use of the shotguns to escape official culpability.
What is fiction is that no one in the provincial government earned from the shotgun deal. What is fact is that the issued shotguns did not cost P22,556 each!
What is fiction is the announced policy that the shotguns are owned by the provincial government. (The money used to buy the shotguns was legally due the kapitans, ergo, the shotguns are owned technically by the kapitans). But am sure legal officer Geraldine Baniqued thinks all this mambo-jumbo (‘cash assistance’ = ‘distribution of shotguns’) is all legally defensible as usual.
Curiously, Cong Arthur Celeste denies allegations he bought and issued caliber .45 pistols for the kapitans in his district but in fact only distributed cash assistance. (Hmmm, now isn’t that a fair coincidence, Vice Guv Marlyn? Or is it a pattern?)
*****
Going back to the unfinished business of Mr. Bince with Alaminos City Mayor Nani Braganza, threatening the latter with sanctions for directing the city’s kapitans to return or refuse the shotguns, I believe it was nothing but a cheap ploy to cover up for the inability of the Capitol now to deliver the P22,556.40 due each of the city’s kapitans.
So allow me to read between the lines of Mr. Bince’s counterpoint to Mayor Nani’s belligerence: “Take the shotguns because there’s no more P879,699.60 to shell out for your kapitans!”
Try dancing to the tune of ‘Shotgun Boogie’ for effect, Mr. Bince.
(Readers may reach columnist at punch.sunday@gmail.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/punchline/
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