First blame on the barangay

WHAT started as an inquiry on illegal commercial establishments mushrooming at the foreshore area in Dagupan has now expanded into a problem of an illegal residential community that is growing in what is supposed to be public land.

None of these could have happened if they were nipped in the bud at the barangay level, which under the Local Government Code of 1991 (Republic Act 7160) is defined and mandated to serve “as the primary planning and implementing unit of government policies, plans, programs, projects, and activities in the community, and as a forum wherein the collective views of the people may be expressed, crystallized and considered, and where disputes may be amicably settled.” More specifically, section 391 (a) (18) of the law states that the sangguniang barangay shall “Adopt measures to prevent and control the proliferation of squatters and mendicants in the barangay…”

It took a visit from the city council, in one of its outside sessions, for residents to express their protest against these structures that were being built left and right using what seems to be illegal documents on rights and waivers.

The barangay officials of Bonuan Binloc, especially Chairman Pedro Gonzales, have a lot of explaining to do on why waivers were issued to these illegal settlers in order to get an electricity connection or why they simply turned a blind eye as construction was going on. While higher officials, including those from the city council, city hall, and the Community Environment and Natural Resources of Environment Office representing the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, must put these barangay officials to task, the buck doesn’t stop at the barangay. Their own negligent personnel must be made to account as well.

At the end of the day, action must be taken to clear Tondaligan Park of these unlawful constructions and pursue a development plan for this recreational area that will benefit its true owners — the general public.

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House arrest

WHETHER it’s a government detention cell or house arrest for Ate Glow (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo), it doesn’t make a difference.  She’s a detainee, period.  A rose, called by any other name, will always smell sweet.

Judging by government’s actions, Ate Glow has become more than the common tao.  Not a former President of the Republic. Not an incumbent representative from Pampanga.  Nothing wrong there.  The law does not differentiate.

But if she is indeed ill, isn’t she entitled to some form of compassion?

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