Dagupan POSO’ Erfe-Mejia must account

By Ermin Garcia Jr.

Finally, the truth about the mysterious towing contract that no one claims to have seen is slowly being ferreted out. It is now established that there was no contract and surprise of all surprises, there was one office that knew about it for a long time but said nothing as the city council then scampered, looking for it in every nook and cranny of the city hall.

Dagupan City’s chief of the Public Order and Safety Office, Robert Erfe-Mejia, evidently knew a lot more than what he professed to know earlier about the “missing contract”. Thanks to the tenacity and the bulldog in City Legal Officer George Mejia, Mr. Erfe-Mejia can no longer feign ignorance.

This attempt to cover-up the anomalous and illegal towing of vehicles in the city by Mr. Erfe-Mejia (and his ilk at the city hall) during the Lim administration is at the very least appalling and disgusting. His refusal to name his “superior” who ordered him to direct the towing is at the very least a blatant arrogant and supercilious retort to our legal system.

His admission that he got his marching orders from “someone higher” said a lot about what he really knows. My translation of it: He was aware of the full background of the special arrangements without the benefit of a contract otherwise how could he have implemented the”20-80%” sharing, and how was he supposed to know that his office was the implementing agency? If he should insist that he was refused to be shown the copy of the contract when he asked for it, then it would show to all that he was the most idiotic public official for complying with an illegal order blindly knowing fully well that the city council never passed an ordinance authorizing it

Alas, Robert, my distant relative, has to account for the truth. 

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Since Robert refuses to name his superior who gave him the illegal order, the city can only surmise that he was referring either to Mayor Benjie Lim, or then City Administrator Raffy Baraan, to whom he reports directly.

Or is it possible that there really was no superior officer involved and that he alone was responsible for the shenanigan? The burden of proof that it wasn’t he who concocted it, unfortunately, now lies with him.   

As CLO Mejia inferred, Robert can opt to go down alone or he can drag those “honorable” crooks who lured him to the racket to go down with him. Either way, his neck, name and integrity are on the line.

As it is, his present and past colleagues in the city hall have already began to wonder how he reportedly could afford to buy brand new cars with his P20,000 monthly salary. So whether he likes it or not, people expect him now to tell all, i.e., how much did the 80% share of JLD Motor and Towing Services add up to, who were the “conspirators” who shared in the “split”, how  goes the relationship between  JLD, George Li and BSL, etc.

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THE FIRST 100 DAYS REPORT. ‘Tis the time for accounting for the first 100 days of all newly elected officials. Guv Spines already sent a formal invitation to the media for his First 100 Days Report on Monday October 15.

But what exactly can we expect newly elected executives to report on?

Without a doubt, it will all be rosy and dandy aimed at eclipsing the achievements or highlighting the failures of the previous administration. This is to be expected.

But minus the rhetorics, the governor and all newly elected mayors are expected to report on initiatives made in the following areas of local governance: administrative, social, economic and environmental. They also need to spell out their policies and programs adopted in the implementation of national laws significantly relevant to the areas of jurisdiction. 

Such a report though important will inevitably be boring.

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What can make a first 100 days report interesting?

The office holder must take it as an opportunity simply to reiterate his campaign promises with a difference – the promises are now “Must-do” items.

Forget about statistics. The people simply need to know in plain terms what has been stopped, what has been started and who are (and who will be) the beneficiaries.

For starters, if he says, “there will be accountability and transparency from hereon”, then he must begin to tell all about the details of personal assets and liabilities so people will know whether he’s leaving the office richer or poorer when his term ends.

If he says, he will not condone corruption, then he must identify which agency is presently graft-ridden and should watch out in the next three years.

Now, don’t you think that makes for a more interesting report?

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/punchline/)