IT was another eventful and successful staging of the annual Bangus Festival last week. Congratulations are in order to the organizers led by Executive Committee chairman, Councilor Marcelino Fernandez.

For a while, there was an air of anxiety and uncertainty if the sizzling hot climate would dampen the enthusiasm and excitement that was earnestly growing during the weeks preceding it.

As it turned out, not even the constant reminder and warning from PAGASA of the risks presented by 47-51 degrees Celsius were enough to dampen the excitement. The presence of political and entertainment personalities alone despite the heat’s dangerous level was a testimony of the significance of their participation in the festival.

Indeed, it was an occasion to celebrate the famous ‘Dagupan Bangus’ industry which the immediate past Lim administration sought to marginalize for its allies’ personal aggrandizement. Consider the instant cash value of the illegal yet official protection the Lim administration provided for the entry of 300 ‘banyeras’ of alien bangus daily to Dagupan City, not only to compete with Dagupan Bangus but to provide opportunity for alien bangus traders to misrepresent their produce as Dagupan Bangus in Metro Manila.

In fact, the decision of Mayor Belen Fernandez to set aside the odious city ordinance and ban the entry of Bulacan and other bangus from other provinces is even considered late. But her delayed reaction was understandable since her administration was repeatedly threatened with annual budgets for third class municipalities by the opposition in the Sangguniang Panlungsod.

Fortunately, the endless whining and attempts at sabotaging at every program of the Belen Fernandez administration by the opposition spared the celebration of this year’s Bangus Festival. It must have dawned on the seven notorious city councilors Red Erfe-Mejia, Dada Reyna-Macalanda, Celia Chua Lim, Alfie Fernandez. Irene Lim-Acosta, Alvin Coquia and Marilou Fernandez that to sabotage and to discredit the management of the festival will not be forgiven even by those who voted for them.

The celebrating populace, however, must always give credit to ex-Mayor Benjie Lim, a great marketing executive whose brainchild it was to stage the Bangus Festival to promote the Dagupan Bangus industry in year 2001. But no thanks to his son Brian and his friends who engineered the passing of the ordinance to monetize the opportunity for their themselves.

The PUNCH joins the Dagupeños in thanking organizers for staging the successful festival against all odds.

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