Business Log
Feast of tarpaulins
By Eva C. Visperas
THEY’RE all over. Dagupan City and most towns and cities in Pangasinan are decorated with this latest craze to convey congratulatory messages to someone for his or her success, to inform the public about a big affair, or anything relevant or otherwise.
Mind you, some officials congratulate themselves by means of having their own tarpaulins hung in conspicuous places bearing their sweet smiles, poses that would make them remembered or any other gimmicks.
Isn’t it crazy to have yourself congratulated by yourself? Well, darlings, that’s how crazy some officials are. I hope the money spent for their self-serving tarpaulin did not come from the government coffers.
Look around downtown Dagupan. Near or in front of schools, at traffic intersections, around the city plaza, they’re really everywhere.
Its graduation time and almost all officials have their individual tarpaulins congratulating the graduates. Wow, how sweet!
Now that Joan de Venecia, daughter of Atty. Tony de Venecia and niece of Speaker Joe de Venecia topped the bar exams, I expect to see more tarpaulins saluting her.
Of these tarpaulins, one worth discussing is the one by Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin Lim for his graduation salute to the graduates. The tarpaulins strung in all the other towns in the fourth district (I smell politics here) bore his simple message of congratulations with his very big photo. What’s intriguing here is below the message, his title as mayor of Dagupan City is hardly discernible from a distance yet another title below reads: Former Congressman of fourth district of Pangasinan. Take note that the word former is hardly legible unless you are near where the tarpaulin was hung but the word Congressman can easily be read even when you are stuck in a traffic jam along the traffic intersection of Post No.1 intersection on A.B. Fernandez Ave.
I, together with Yolly Fuertes had a brief talk with the mayor last Tuesday in his office. There was no recorded interview, only talk about other things that concern politics, projects, and his sentiments, among others.
I asked him about the tarpaulins and told him about my reactions.
He laughed.
You see, it’s a test of your eyesight, he said.
Was it intentionally done? I asked him again, obviously referring to the very big title “Congressman” which was the one prominently read.
It’s a marketing strategy, he naughtily replied. And you see, it works because it’s becoming the talk-of-the town.
Ah, the mayor is indeed a businessman. He knows how to sell a product.
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