Dagupan City‘s papogi clowncilors

By Gonzalo Duque

MANY parents and students are disappointed with the city government’s inaction on a proposed Sanggunian ordinance regulating the activities of fraternities in our city.

 I am absolving Mayor Benjie Lim on this account however because he, from the best of my knowledge, has no fault on this account.  Fact is, he has written the Sanggunian led by Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez two letters urging the passage of the measures on hooliganism masquerading as fraternity adventures or misadventures.

These hooligans, denounced earlier by my friend, former Councilor Boy Rayos, one of the organizers of the original Dalton organization, as spoiled brats in a privilege speech at the Sangguniang Panlungsod would play not so smart by dragging their victims, mostly students and college professors outside the campus and there maul and maim them. Not only are the young victims crying, but their parents as well, and we can’t blame them if they seek higher education outside the city.

During the last meeting of the Peace and Order Council of which yours truly is co-chairman of the mayor, the sentiment voiced was very anti sanggunian for its seemingly unconscionable indifference if not outright irresponsible attitude to a matter of very serious concern û the city’s peace and order.  If they fail this test, they too fail in sustaining the economy because eventually we would be abandoned because of the breakdown of lawlessness.

The Peace and Order Council headed by Mayor Lim is a group of volunteers tasked to oversee the peace and order upkeep as a recommendatory body of the community. The members are not paid any salary hence owing no loyalty to anybody but to implement their mandate, they now want to apply pressure on the city council to do its job effectively. If they fail to do this, they would rather resign, and the loser is the city and the people.

The POC has vowed to make its meetings fruitful, hence its warning to disband if the city council, meaning the Sanggunian of Alvin Fernandez, won’t lift a finger vis a vis  the increasing lawlessness on the campus. By the way, the city council has assigned a member or two to the POC, hence, it knows everything that is going on regarding its job.

So, Sanggunian fellas, sorry for this nitpicking, but someone who is equally dismayed by your papogi here and papogi there – what with all your ugly handsome faces all over street corners (ugh!), says you deserve this public rebuke for being apathetic to the rise of campus hooliganism.

 Anong say mo, Alvin?

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The POC, by the way, also recommended that the city’s drug test and referral center should be fast tracked for obvious reasons.  We all know the unseen movements behind every shadow in some dark corners in the city.

In a related vein, PGMA’s eyes and ears in Pangasinan, Brian Balingit was wondering aloud why only barangays Tapuac and Bolosan are well lighted, to the exclusion of his own, which is Caranglaan.

I suspected initially that Caranglaan is the barangay of the Balingits, Commissioner Al Fernandez and Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez, all staunch allies of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is not exactly a favorite friend of Mayor Lim.

 I do not think so though.     

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