Punchline
Another good news, bad news!
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
First the good news. Dagupan City Administrator Raffy Baraan is finally out! Now, the bad news – the new provincial administrator is Raffy Baraan!
You have to hand it to the guy. While other government appointees now out of job would normally cry their hearts ruing the day they allowed themselves to be the pointment in scandal-ridden and graft-tainted projects, my favorite administrator used these credentials to land him a bigger job, with bigger opportunities. Eat your heart out, ex-chief Onor-onor Jojo Guadiz!
With Baraan taking orders from newly-elected Gov. Amado Espino, it looks like I will have a favorite governor in Mr. Espino in the next 3 years. There won’t even be time to blink!
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BEST WAY TO STOP FISHKILL. While the recent fishkill raised serious concerns about the plight of the fishermen and the bangus industry in the province, in hindsight, the only way to put an end to fishkills is to have as many fishkills in the months ahead. Unless and until financiers for these fish pen and cage operations continue to lose heavily, it is not likely that they will ever learn their lessons. They must lose millions every 3 months to finally put a stop to fishkills in our province.
The other option is for mayors to crack down on violators of fishing ordinances and throw the books at them. But this is not likely to happen. So, what’s the better option? Completely deregulate and let the financiers’ greed meet their match – fishkills.
A morbid thought? Perhaps so but that’s the only way greed can be contained.
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FERRER VS. BEDOL. There’s more than meets the eye in the unfolding saga of Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol in the much delayed vote count in that province.
One cannot help but sense the evident foot-dragging of the Comelec commissioners on his case. They’ve not only bended-over-backwards to accommodate Bedol, allowing themselves to be spat on and insulted in their faces by a lowly employee each step of the way that one can only wonder what was in it for them.
When Bedol casually told the commissioners that he was not aware that he was being sought and told to report, the commissioners were incredulous but let him off the hook nonetheless. Worse, when he said the election returns were stolen, not a single commissioner appeared shocked enough to order his immediate arrest.
What personally saddens me is that it is our own kabaleyan Commissioner Nic Ferrer, as chair of the Maguindanao Task force, who has painstakingly been trying to keep Bedol out of mischief, meaning out of Comelec’s reach!
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From where I sit, it does look like that Comelec doesn’t want Bedol harnessed until the final count from Maguindanao is in. My take of the script being followed is that Bedol should not be taken into custody until TU candidate Miguel Zubiri shall have been proclaimed the 12th senator.
Going by their body language, the commissioners are not about to risk jeopardizing the grand plan to install the third TU senator with the hasty arrest of an impertinent loudmouthed Comelec employee.
The contemptuous Bedol is nobody’s fool, that’s for sure, and the commissioners (with the exception perhaps of Ferrer) are keenly aware of it. The Garci protégé would not be so arrogant and cocksure about his position if he doesn’t have the goods on some obvious VIP that no low life in Comelec would dare cross swords with. I have no doubt Bedol has what it takes to walk out of jail whistling his favorite tune, and believe you me it has nothing to do with his being a lawyer.
If Commissioner Ferrer doesn’t watch out, he might end up the laughing stock of the year. (Or unknown to us, will he actually end up the “luckiest” commissioner yet?
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A DIFFERENT VALEDICTORY MESSAGE. The sudden termination of the operations of the holding area terminal for commuter buses/jeepneys in Dagupan City last June 30, 2007 is highly suspect. The way I see it, it was planned as a valedictory message of ex-Mayor Benjie Lim on the day he bowed out of office, payback time for the Fernandezes who conspired with Speaker Joe de V who did all to cut him and his son to pieces politically.
It will be recalled that it was my then favorite Mayor Benjie who packaged the deal for the establishment of the Holding Area with the Gotesco Investment after leaving the jeepney and bus operators no other choice but to agree to it.
Curiously, the contract with Gotesco, renewable every year, was originally set to end December 31, 2007. Why was it cut short prematurely? Why aren’t the lessees putting up a legal fight to compel the lessor to keep its part of the agreement?
As the song goes “the answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.” And the wind is blowing in the direction of my favorite mayor!
Watch Mayor Al and Vice Mayor Belen go through “Hell Week” this week as the two find themselves walking through a laid-out
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BENJIE HAS THE LAST LAUGH. My favorite mayor is definitely having the last laugh, and I can sense he is enjoying himself immensely.
Not only has he made the first days of the administration of the Fernandez tandem difficult but he is relishing the sight of his nemesis, the embattled Speaker Joe de V hedging and dodging the barrage of arrows shot his way by his allies in Kampi, led by Cong. Pablo Garcia of Cebu.
While I personally don’t believe the Speaker will be humbled by the Garcia-Villafuerte tandem at the House, his bid to retain his crown is by no means a leisure walk in the park. It is a serious challenge to his leadership and like the results of the 2007 election that rejected the GMA leadership, this exercise should compel him to finally rethink his own politics, and seriously dwell on the kind of legacy that he would want when he finally bows out in 2010.
Meanwhile my favorite mayor, will likely sit back and enjoy watching the political bouts and skirmishes he helped plot against those who vanquished him.
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ALVIN ON THE RAMPAGE. Watch out for this angry bull!
New city administrator Alvin Fernandez has been wounded, despised, ridiculed and chastised as vice mayor the past 6 six years by my favorite mayor. He appears bent on stopping my favorite mayor and his business partners from flouting the law any further.
Yes, in his new post backed by his mayor-dad, he is ready to gore those who dared to make him look like a political fool when he tried to stop the construction of the touted tourism complex at the Magsaysay Park by MetroState Development.
I just pray he will not be deterred by the usual “political considerations” that will expectedly be invoked by the MetroState owners. This is his chance to vindicate himself, to show that he was on the side of the law when he tried to stop them, by stopping them in their tracks tomorrow.
(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/punchline/)
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