Punchline
Two-headed monster
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
REPORTS reaching the PUNCH indicate that we’ve just seen the most expensive and very divisive barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections yet in the province. And if Comelec will remain what it is today, an impotent constitutional body, in the next decade then we are looking at far worse scenarios ahead of us.
Vote buying was rampant in many barangays across the country for the first time! Intimidation among neighbors was more palpable. The situation certainly doesn’t look good for the nation as a whole. We are seeing a two-headed monster headed towards our communities in the barangay level.
When the authors of the local government code crafted the provisions of the law governing barangay and SK units, they envisioned self-reliant communities in the grassroots level motivated solely by untainted aspirations for an empowered people who have complete control over their own development. But if one cares to read between the lines, the authors pushed for the adoption of the code as law to insulate and protect the barangays from the insatiable greed and corruption of our leaders in the upper echelons of government bureaucracy. How wrong they were.
Today, the authors more than anybody else realize how wrong they were in overestimating the capability of local leaders to shun corruption and abuse of authority. In their desperate hope for some radical changes in our system, they overlooked two facts about our system.
Firstly, most government officials, whether in the barangay or in national agencies, are easily tempted to exploit the situation provided by law not because we, as a people, are inherently dishonest and corrupt but because our system encourages us to steal and abuse privileges. How so? By refusing, or hesitating at the very least, to make us accountable for our illegal acts.
Seeing how many of our national and local officials get away with serious acts of corruption, flouting the laws as they go, is enough to make everyone believe that they too can get away with their own follies. And they actually do.
Secondly, amount of corruption is highest at the local level if taken cumulatively and collectively. Instances of corruption at the DPWH, DepED, DOH, BIR or Customs pale in comparison to what local officials, collectively, take home illegally.
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My biggest regret is seeing SK, as a law-mandated organization, as already if not nearly beyond redemption.
Reports from all over the country indicate that the candidates, young and idealistic as they are, have already learned what it takes to run and win in an election, that it’s not about qualifications, good intentions or leadership abilities that matter but how much influence, money and organization their parents, godparents, political relatives can lend them.
Worse, the newly elected SK leaders will not likely attract more members to their already dwindling numbers in their own chapters, not after the prospective members witnessed how their would-be leaders got elected. Some chapters have only 10 members out of possible 50!
To my friends who were fortunate to see their children elected, I sincerely pray they will spend time with their brand new politicos to teach them what went wrong and what should be… to remind them that they are accountable to God above all, to their peers, to the government, and to them as parents as they hold public office. Hopefully through them, a flicker of hope for SK is still possible.
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BETTING ON MR. NO. Jueteng stoppage is still holding, at least that’s what our provincial police say…and yes, what our neighborhood bettor swears to.
I guess Guv Spines is, indeed, a “one-word man” (that’s as literal as it can get to translate isang salitang lalake). When the man says NO to something illegal, it’s a NO.
But skeptics in the province continue to bet that jueteng will be back with a vengeance in 3 months. Any takers?
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FACEBOOK CRAZE. In case you haven’t looked, the PUNCH is well in the middle of global social networking. Yes, we’re in Facebook as well! Your PUNCH, the first Filipino community newspaper to have its own online edition on the Internet in 1997, is winning friends here and overseas everyday on FB. It’s amazing how one can feel the public pulse outside without having to leave your comfort zone, i.e., dining table, bed, toilet, garden, office, etc.
What struck us most recently is the ongoing debate in several FB sites and the increased awareness among young Pangasinenses about the word “Pangalatok”. If the reactions are any indication, the derisive “Pangalatok” will soon be forgotten and there will only be proud Pangasinenses to speak of.
I can now understand how and why some marriages are now hitting the rocks all because of time spent by either spouse on social networking on the Internet. One not only gets deeply-engrossed reading thoughts of thousands of people across the globe, skimming through loads of memories with discovered lost friends, getting a kick out of seeing how others happily moved on with their looks, etc.
But as police now warns FB users, it has become a virtual directory of potential victims for sexual crimes. And I can understand why. Many FB users post alluring pictures while others titillate readers with explicit come-ons, i.e., “My 2-ex bfs call me when I need them for sex.”
It’s a crazy world out there all right… but still inspiring to see millions of wonderful loving people that make life worth living.
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GOODBYE BOY AND TONY. Two friends, two special Dagupenos have since left our midst: Boy Balingit, the smilingest and eldest of the Balingit male siblings, and Tony Manas, an exceptional energetic and imaginative entrepreneur who gave the city the San Marino Place by the river.
They will be fondly remembered by their friends as one of the few whose presence easily made light of things when others were somber. It was always great to have them around. Their generation has lost two perfect gentlemen.
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