So-called leaders take people for granted-again

By Al S. Mendoza

IT WAS shot down early this month. And I applauded. Heartily.

Shouldn’t you applaud, too?

Every freedom-loving Pangasinense should.

I refer to House Bill (HB) 4267, redistricting our beloved Pangasinan from six districts to seven districts.

What are they trying to do, make every town in our province por kilo?

I commend Rep. Arthur Celeste of the first district.

Not only did he prove he’s got balls. He also showed what it means to have guts.

An original co-author of HB 4267 together with Reps. Victor Agbayani and Rachel Arenas, Celeste

had his name struck out as a bill proponent after realizing his mistake of endorsing it.

Better late than never, Cong Arthur.

Celeste said he could not stand seeing the towns of Infanta, Dasol and Mabini scratched from his district as provided for in the proposed bill.

He said he’d prefer having Alaminos City “removed than Infanta, Dasol and Mabini.”

Guv Spines, an avid anti-redistricting advocate, has said the people of Infanta led by Mayor Ruperto Martinez have protested their proposed inclusion in the “new” second district.

Infanta has even threatened to secede from Pangasinan and join Zambales instead together with Mabini and Dasol. These three towns are quite far from Lingayen and Binmaley, two towns Agbayani and Arenas were trying to lump together in one district (first).

Thank God, they’ve been deflected.

Guv Spines was also correct: The language factor was not considered in the proposed redistricting, noting that Infanta, Dasol, Mabini and Sual speak Ilocano while Pangasinan is the language spoken in Lingayen, Labrador and Binmaley.

Why there was no massive consultation at all on the proposed bill with neither the provincial officials, according to Vice Governor Agabas, nor the masses of people in Pangasinan boggles the mind.

I never heard of it myself, until I read about it in the Sunday PUNCH issue of June 7.

I come home every now and then and I have yet to see one streamer, one poster, hanging in the highway informing the people of the redistricting scheme by Agbayani and Arenas.

What has become of our representatives? From honorable to dishonorable?

My salutations go, though, to Sen. Noynoy Aquino, who shelved HB 4267 on June 1 after the bill’s third and final reading at the Lower House in August 2008.

Aquino, the son of our hero Ninoy who chairs the Senate Committee on Local Government, has deferred action on the matter with the full backing of his Committee members Mar Roxas and Richard Gordon.

The mere fact there were no consultations done at all with the people on the redistricting scheme smacked of deception.

I am with Guv Spines in having the bill fully torpedoed and, if the Gud Guv so wishes, I’d accompany him to Noynoy to rally the people’s cause in Pangasinan.

Just call, Guv, and I’ll come running.

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