Punchline
More bad news from Guv Spines
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
Here’s my first piece of unsolicited advice to Governor Spines.
Beware of the notorious “Kurbata Boys” of my then favorite mayor Benjie of Dagupan City who I am told are now being recruited by your newly appointed provincial administrator Raffy Baraan to man “critical concerns” in the province.
These are the same guys who were instrumental not only in giving the city a fake corporate image but helped bleed the city dry with their grandiose plans of development. A number were responsible for crafting the land scam in the city, titling beach lands in the name of their friends and cronies.
Watch your back, Guv! You might just end up the worst governor yet, thanks to your new appointees from Dagupan City. They will love dressing up the part for you if only to impress you but watch how they will dodge accountability as you run into scandal after scandal involving “fund-raising” for themselves.
Better still, get yourself another provincial administrator.
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OH NO, MORE DEALS! But here’s a more troubling news from the kitchen cabinet of Governor Spines.
My beautiful mole in the Capitol reported that my once favorite mayor Benjie Lim will be appointed (or has been appointed) consultant for investments in the province whatever that means.
In my book, that could mean more of MetroState projects all over the province in no time, more dredging machines “to dredge” all the rivers, more real estate deals a la San Jacinto’s Barangay Awai, more “Malimgas Markets” across the province, etc.
Gee, at the rate he is going, Governor Spines is surely wasting no time in surrounding himself with “experienced” hands. If he plans on being a good “listening governor” to Lim and Baraan, then we can all assume what kind of a governor we will have in the next 3 years!
In behalf of the 2 million Pangasinenses, I pray my assumptions are all wrong.
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GO GET ‘EM ALVIN! Finally, the bulldog in former Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez has found its mark.
The MetroState guys behind the tainted tourism complex project now surely regret having made that fatal mistake of not just ignoring him but ridiculing him and his objections over their blatant violations.
Little did they know that my favorite mayor Benjie, his reliable administrator Raffy Baraan and legal officer Dindin Baniqued would not be around long enough to protect and operate for them, and that it would be Alvin who would have the political muscle to set right what is wrong.
Now that the project has been stopped finally by the Fernandez administration on its first week of governance, I can only wonder what the phantom owner of the MetroState will do next having reportedly lost millions in pay-offs to ensure the implementation of the project over a “sweetheart deal”.
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In all likelihood, a civil damage suit will ensue as a result of the stoppage but nothing will suit the Fernandez government better than to have the merits of the case exposed before a litigation court. But will the Siapno cousins risk their reputation by going out of their way to defend the financial interests of their phantom patron in court? Or will they simply lick their wounds and cut their own losses, not as much in financial terms as in integrity and respectability in the community?
The MetroState project, as Alvin persistently pointed out, does not have a legal leg to stand on. The bidding process alone was fraught with irregularities, and it started the construction without explicit authority form the city council, and therefore, without a building permit. Going to court can be an exercise in futility for the Siapno cousins and their phantom partners.
But if they are looking for the scapegoats who tricked them into this mess, they should not look farther. There was my favorite mayor who engineered the whole thing, Raffy Baraan who played the pointman, Dindin Baniqued for the failed legal cover, and last but not least, former chief Onor-onor Councilor Teofilo Guadiz III!
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GUADIZ IS HIS NAME. But if there’s anyone whom the MetroState phantom owner and the Siapnos should train their guns of revenge on, that should be Mr. Guadiz.
It was he who played the game to the hilt and laughed all the way to the bank at their expense! Recall how he played with the minds of the Dagupenos and his relatives at MetroState from day 1!
As chairman of the committee on laws and ordinances, he wrested the initiative to investigate the issue and submit recommendations. At the outset, he proclaimed he would not allow any illegal structure on the park that his grandfather, Teofilo Guadiz as mayor, founded. This naturally disarmed critics who initially feared another cover-up like he did for the other tainted projects of my favorite mayor.
On the day he filed his committee of one report, he did exactly the opposite as feared. He defended the project and outdid himself by laying the legal basis for the project, exactly as Baraan and Baniqued scripted.
But when MetroState started the construction while everyone slept, who stood up to denounce the construction as illegal? Mr. Guadiz, who else! Then he quickly disappeared from the scene, refusing to sign the committee report that defended Baraan’s and Baniqued’s script.
But lo and behold, two weeks before he finally stepped down from office last month, he surreptitiously signed his report and personally handed it to the city engineer in a bid to facilitate the issuance of the building permit that was withheld.
I can only imagine what transpired between these Guadiz flipflops and I’m sure my guess is as good as yours!
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PANGASINAN, NOT PANGALATOK. The directive of Governor Spines requiring provincial government employees to promote the Pangasinan dialect by speaking it when transacting business is certainly a welcome move.
But perhaps just as he banned the obnoxious dances during official programs in the province, he should issue a directive to all government employees to help banish the word “pangalatok”, a derisive word to describe a Pangasinense, for good!
For better effect, perhaps an official slogan that says: “Pangasinan ak, Pangasinan tayo, Galaw tila” will underscore the appropriate use and application of the word.
Those among us who take pride in being Pangasinenses should begin to take conscious effort to correct this wrong notion about how we should be called.
Pangasinan or Pangasinense, nothing else.
(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/punchline/)
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