Punchline
A “class” of his own
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
MAYOR Benjie of Dagupan is really a “class” of his own.
He tells all officials in the city to be accountable to the people but he has always refused to be accountable to the peoples’ representatives sitting as one in the sangguniang panglungsod. (He said he would present himself to the council soon but until that happens, it hasn’t changed anything about him).
In his symposium with his political allies and captive government employees as audience (which he insists was his vocal rendition of the “State of the City Address”) Mr. Lim stung the owners of the big universities and colleges in the city with an indecent slap in public for allegedly paying much less than what the city has prescribed yet he keeps mum about how he squandered the people’s funds during his first two terms and today. He conveniently omitted that part how the city lost millions of public funds, part of which were sourced from the taxes paid by those educational institutions and all business establishments in the city annually.
And what did they and the city’s taxpayers benefit from all these?
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The likes of Lyceum-Northwestern University’s Gonz Duque, University of Luzon’s Macky Samson and Colegio de Dagupan’s Voltaire Arzadon have every reason to be incensed and furious. They never knew what hit them until it dawned on them that they were being labeled as tax cheaters by a city official who’s been allegedly cheating the city blind for years.
From the city’s taxpayers’ (the universities and colleges included) last account, the city still has no sanitary landfill project and worse, it can never recover the 30 hectares it bought for P16 M (never mind that he manipulated that the city bought the land in Barangay Awai for P9 M more than what it was worth then). The useless acquisition of the Mc Adore Hotel stands today simply as an ugly monument to the unabated corruption in the city hall under his stewardship. The purchase of the overpriced streetlights now serves as a template for purchasing overpriced goods and materials for the city’s projects. The city government continues to subsidize operations of the Malimgas market because stallholders could not afford the rentals to meet the loan obligations for the overpriced project. The unsuitable dredging machine that his administration took out a loan for cannot be used for the main tributaries.
Then recently, Mayor Benjie was discovered to have surreptitiously and illegally released city funds ostensibly as calamity fund without officially declaring a state of calamity in the city. The “calamity fund” was distributed exclusively to his favorite barangay kapitans for their reelection bids And if that illegal dispensation of the fund was not enough, he insulted the city’s taxpayers by claiming the declaration of state of calamity in the province by the governor was enough legal basis.
Then Mayor Benjie had the gall to defend the deliberate purchase of overpriced goods for his administration’s touted feeding program by pointing to his successor, Mayor Al Fernandez as the guy who started it.
It will be recalled that Mayor Benjie bandied the feeding program as his rallying point in pressuring the city council to immediately pass the 2011 budget without any lengthy deliberation. He said the hungry and malnourished kids in the city should not be allowed to go hungry all because of the ugly politics of the councilors. Yon pala, he’s in a hurry to feed hungry pockets in the city.
Only a Mayor Benjie would have the temerity and the gall to complain about how little the city’s businessmen are coughing up for the city hall while he continues to misuse the people’s money. What class…really crass.
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ILL-ADVISED. Just when I thought Guv Spines had realized how foolish the decision was to arm kapitans instead of the police with shotguns, now comes another folly – the provincial government under his watch is providing each board member with a luxurious sports utility vehicle that cost the provincial government a whopping P26 million!
Guv Spines was certainly ill-advised again to gift the board members with luxurious SUVs for their “official use”. Why another folly?
1. The board members are lawmakers and do not belong to the executive arm who need to deliver services directly to their constituents on a daily basis.
2. The board members already draw monthly transportation allowances (with assigned drivers) to cover their travel expenses.
3. The P26 million could have served the province’s peace and order by purchasing two (2) jeep type units or 3 motorcycle units with sidecars for every police station in the province. These would greatly improve visibility and mobility of the police to respond to and track down criminal elements and chase jueteng operators. (I find it entirely out of character of him not to think of supporting the police first before the board members. Somebody ought to retrieve the Guv’s retired police uniform from the baul so he will always be reminded of his core competence – preserving peace and order).
4. The purchase of the 16 late model Ford Everest units was obviously done without bidding because nobody could show any document that the bidding process was observed. May kumita na naman!
5. The purchase is completely out of synch with the Aquino administration’s policy of frugality in public service. His explicit directive was – No more new SUVs for government use!
6. What is to stop sangguninan of towns and cities in the province now from passing resolutions that would give them the same privilege – buying luxurious sports utility vehicles with people’s money for all councilors as well? The provincial board is estoppel to disapprove such ordinances and resolutions.
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Here’s the ridiculous and ludicrous part of the whole scandal.
Who would believe the lucky board members’ assurance to the governor that the use of the luxurious SUV vehicles would be limited to official use only? Where are the Marines to listen to them?
But Ok, let’s grant them that. Here’s my suggestion to make sure they keep their word to Guv Spines. First, the Guv should swear to immediately order the unworthy board member to pay the provincial government the full purchase cost of the unit on demand soon as proof of unofficial use is presented to him. Second, to get the proof, he can authorize the PUNCH to pay P100 (with a promise to reimburse it) to anyone who would have a picture of any of the board members’ issued SUVs parked in churchyards, malls, supermarkets, schools, hospitals, restaurants (after 7pm), or transporting family members to and from their homes to any of the destinations mentioned. With cellphones now equipped with cameras in most everyone’s hands, this should be a cinch to accomplish. And thirdly, the Guv should make this a ‘One-Strike Policy’. (Do I hear P/Sr. Supt Resueto Ricaforte seconding this?).
It’s a small step for good governance but a big step towards combatting abuse of power and authority by public officials. What say you, Guv?
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I can’t blame the siniswerteng members of the provincial board to be profuse in expressing their gratitude to Guv Spines for being so thoughtful. Too good to be true, indeed.
But if they truly wish to express their gratitude to the governor, they should spare the latter from further embarrassment by this scandal (no other word can describe this folly). They should offer to buy the units from the government this instant with their personal funds out of the goodness of their hearts, not by another supplemental budget simply to own responsibility.
To Vice Guv Calimlim and the honorable vocales, buy the SUVs from the provincial government, and enjoy them for your official and personal use to the max…and still spare the Guv’s growing legacy as the people-minded executive!
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