The session hall that looks like a day care center
By Eva C. Visperas

 

 

Laos. Pangit. Aliwliwa. Mabanbanday. Makapabaing.

 Sorry folks if these words sound strange to you, if you’re not a Pangasinense, that is.

 But all these words mean this: very inferior quality.

These words did not come from me. I just printed here the impressions I got from different people who have something to say about the newly rehabilitated session hall of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP).

 Last Jan. 27, as my usual schedule every Friday whenever something newsworthy is calendared in the agenda of the SP, I went to Lingayen to cover the board members’ session.

Truth is, I forgot that the board members have returned to their original session hall which had just undergone renovation amounting to, of course, millions of pesos of taxpayers’ money. So I had to drive back to the Capitol area.

 Of course, I wanted to see for myself how the session hall looks now. And to my surprise, I thought I entered the wrong area. But I could not be mistaken. As a reporter who considers this beat already part of my life, I couldn’t be mistaken.

 Antoy agawa? Baduy ya maung natan yay session hall, I blurted.

 I started asking around how they feel about the new look of the session hall.

 One female employee said,” Ta lanti madam, singa kindergarten school (It looks like a kindergarten school).”

 Then I sought a senior staff of Vice Gov. Lambino about his comments and quickly, he said,” It lacks the letters of the alphabet to be hung there (pointing his finger to the wall) plus rubber mat here (pointing downwards) to become a nice day care center”.

Fellow newsmen commented the same. Then laughter ensued.

But you see, this is not a laughing matter. What was done to the grandiose design of our historic Capitol building is something that needs investigation.

 Look at its Venetian blinds. What were used were the old styles that can easily qualify for ‘buy 1 take 2’ quality. No class, in short. In Pangasinan dialect, because it’s already “palaos la”, better off sold with big, big discounts. If it were for a kitchen, that would be fine. But even politicians would not even dare use those kinds in their houses. In short, they were really poorly chosen. Or, was it done that way to make the profit (of the one whoever he is close to the Urduja “gods” who did the work) bigger.

 Maybe the one who recommended that quality hasn’t been to offices that were tastefully and beautifully designed.

 The choice of the paint also got a failing grade from us beat reporters. The color didn’t match the beautiful architectural design of the Capitol building. Makalaram ya doyaw, I heard someone said it was the governor who chose the color for the session hall. I have to disagree. I’ve been to his residence in Metro Manila and it looks classy.

Even Vice Gov. Lambino, when I asked about his opinion, shared his disgust about the whole thing. His office, which is part of the renovation work, was also a victim. And so with the office of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan secretariat, In short, no one is happy about it. Board Members, too, were laughing about what happened.

And then all of a sudden, a buzzer sounded to signal the start of the session. We couldn’t help but laugh again as I mimicked, “Calling all passengers of Philippine Airlines  Flight 137 bound for Hong Kong. Please proceed to the departure area right now”.

 Yeah, the buzzer resembles that of an airport’s or a shopping mall’s minus the good voice of a woman making the announcement.
 After we left the hall, this question lingered on: What happened to the session hall?

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