Punchline
The Ultimate Enforcer?
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
WHILE Guv Spines is already and understandably comfortable with his legacy as “reformist”, “art and culture czar”, “the people’s doctor”, etc., there is one that eludes him to this day. He still can’t be remembered as “The Criminals’ Nemesis” or “The Ultimate Enforcer”. I refer to the unabated clandestine operation of guns-for-hire syndicates in the province who continue to claim victims.
This is most ironic since Guv Spines was once the province’s top police enforcer even before he became enamored with arts and culture. What is even more ironic is the fact that the barangay kapitans who were issued shotguns are defenseless against the tandem-riding killers.
Even the touted “2-strike policy” of the provincial PNP is beginning to be counter-productive as the police chiefs are completely helpless not knowing when and where the assassins would hit. The series of killings of barangay officials, whatever the motives are, already indicate that the syndicates fear no one – not the provincial and town police chiefs, not the mayors, and not the governor.
What’s even more worrisome are reports that the jueteng cobradores are back in the streets in some towns soliciting bets.
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I believe it’s time for Guv Spines to recall all the things he learned from all his years in law enforcement schooling and begin assuming a more pro-active stance in his seemingly losing battle against crime syndicates operating guns-for hire services and jueteng.
If the syndicates don’t even fear the wrath of Guv Spines as the “Ultimate Enforcer” then us ordinary citizens and other public officials can start worrying about our safety when we leave our homes.
I am not about to suggest how he can proceed because he’s the authority although improving police visibility armed with shotguns can surely help. All that Pangasinenses want is to see him start kicking asses in the police force and chase the syndicates out of the province before Pangasinan becomes another Abra.
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BARAAN THE PROFESSIONAL – Guv Spines’ State of the Province Address could have very well been delivered with the Dagupan City officials in mind. He talked about “shared responsibility” as it should be and described the productive consequences of such a political relationship. If Dagupan Mayor Benjie was there like he said he would – he said he cancelled his own SOCA to listen to Guv Spines, didn’t he? – I sure hope he listened good and took some advice from his own former city administrator, now provincial administrator Raffy Baraan on how “shared responsibility” works.
I had taken Mr. Baraan to task in his capacity then as city administrator on many occasions in the past for implementing dubious policies during the Lim administration (2001-2006) but today I give him a lot of credit for the impressive performance of the provincial government with him as provincial administrator. It then appears that Raffy is not the “operator” that I thought I knew him to be but a professional administrator who only does what his boss commands.
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MATA THE OPERATOR? Could the situation be the same with then former Onor-onor councilor, now city administrator Vlad Mata? I seriously doubt that.
Here’s what a city hall “operator” does today:
1. Like a toy soldier, he indulges in amateurish psywar by making it appear to city hall employees that the vice mayor’s signature in a verified letter is fake and false with the intent of not only confusing the public but “sabotaging the State of the City Address of the Mayor”.
2. He insults the intelligence of city hall employees by asserting that some quarters were behind the “fake letter” and city hall “shall not tolerate the wrongful, illegal and malevolent use of the name of our Vice Mayor….”
3. He threatens to file a case against those whom he would identify as “the misguided and delinquent individuals, who are responsible for this disinformation.”
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Well Mr. Mata, all your city hall employees know fully well that the letter signed by Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez addressed to department heads is a legitimate communication, and yes, they are aware of what you are up to. So let’s cut the chase because the city hall employees are eager to see how you will play out the rest of your psywar game.
Let’s see you file a case against Vice Mayor Belen since your subordinates swear it was VM Belen who signed the letter and the office of the vice mayor that distributed it. If you won’t, then I suggest you grow up, and begin acting like a true professional public servant and stop playing toy soldier. Don’t even think for a moment that you intimidate the city hall employees around you, least of all the councilors, when you don your military uniform to perform purely civilian functions. They scoff at your antics, at least that’s what my city hall moles (call them “Adonis” and “Venus”) tell me.
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BSL’S HIDDEN AGENDA –The saber-rattling by Mayor Benjie over the unpassed city budget is actually not just a desperate and frantic effort to show who’s boss in the city but more to set the cover-up of the string of irregularities already committed by his office firmly in place.
If the budget had been passed on the first week of January, the city council would have already been helpless in stopping the purchasing of food items for feeding projects at grossly overpriced levels! Shades of the Barangay Awai deal and the streetlights projects. But now that the council has unearthed this anomaly with Mayor Benjie’s fingerprints on it, the council must perforce initiate an investigation if it means what it says that it wants people’s money spent prudently. Failing that, the city council might as well admit to being a rubber stamp after all.
And what of the discovered sale of government properties, including the old dredging machine, that was obviously grossly disadvantageous to the city? Someone should be held accountable for short-changing the city government.
From the looks of it, wheeling and dealing at the city hall is back with a vengeance. No wonder Mayor Benjie is resorting to name-calling to divert public’s attention from the premeditated savory “deals”. The formula it seems is: “Buy high-Sell low” with or without a rigged bidding process – to protect kickbacks!
So, wonder no more why Mr. Lim: 1. Keeps on haranguing the city council over the supposed delay in the passage of the city budget when the final deadline before the city is plunged into a reenacted budget is March 31; 2. Refuses to take the city hall’s finance committee to task for the sloppy job it has been doing, consistently presenting erroneous data and refusing to provide councilors their individual copies to confuse the city council; 3. Refuses to face the city council and make himself accountable for his official acts.
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PRESS CLUB – PUNCH columnist Gonz Duque is being enticed by some reformists within the Pangasinan Press Club to lead it and help restore its lost credibility, independence and prestige. I say, he’s the best man for the job but unless he gets the post unanimously, the pretentious and pseudo journalists who make a living from regular hand-outs and envelopes from politicians will never be booted out and the club will never get out of its quagmire.
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