Punchline
A sight to behold
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
SOMETHING really good has happened in Dagupan City. The main tributaries are 99% clear finally of fish pens and other eyesores. Mayor Benjie Lim should take a bow although he must acknowledge it couldn’t have happened without a helping hand from Guv Spines’ Operation Kalikasan.
For the longest time, the city hall blew hot and cold on its threat to demolish the polluting fish pens. Not a few of these fish pen owners came to the PUNCH office to decry the noted favoritism in the city hall’s implementation initially, zeroing on pens of non-political allies, while sparing the FOB (Friends of Benjie) from immediate demolition. So it took the ramming boats of Guv Spines to finish the dirty work for Mayor Benjie. (Yup, BSL owes the Guv a big one).
But, whatever, the pens are gone now and the city’s rivers are now a sight to behold.
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TOURISM POTENTIAL. I hope Dagupan’s city tourism office led by Rose Teng-Mejia has put together a well-studied promotional plan for the touted river cruise program that is certainly promising if properly executed.
Here are some details that Rose’s office can look into if it hasn’t yet: 1) The operators of the program must never lose sight of the sanitation and cleanliness aspect of the boats and everything along the itinerary. It’s not good enough to say “it’s clean” – it has to be in its cleanest 24/7! Many tourist destinations lose their appeal when the cockroaches and the rats become part of the welcoming party. 2) All restaurants accredited to serve the itinerary must be made to commit themselves to the same standard of sanitation. 3) Strict safety procedures should be imposed on operators and passengers at all times. The infectious “pwede na” and “sige na nga” habit always lead to accidents that could have been avoided. 4) All operators must be certified lifeguards with first aid training from the Red Cross. 5) Finally, create a storyboard about each island barangay and the river for cruise guides to commit to memory.
With all these details in place, the city school division should make the river cruise a “must” field trip to help instill in city students the importance of keeping rivers free from pollution since these are primary life connectors and food providers as God intended.
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Yup, the Bangus Fest fever is in the air. Again. This is undeniably one legacy that Dagupan Mayor Benjie Lim has earned for himself. The festival has come a long way since 2003, what with the unique innovations and new sensational features introduced by subsequent festival chairmen, among them Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez. (To her credit, Bangus Festival is now a regular item in the Department of Tourism’s promotions activities after its string of massive turnout of visitors every year).
The Pinoy culture of outdoing the last one augurs well for the city. I have no doubt city hall is doing its level best to better last year’s episode and the better judge of that, of course, would be what people most remember about it over the years.
The Bangus Festival is a welcome respite from reports of corruption in the city hall.
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PAYOLA AGAIN. The jai-alai betting frontons are taking roots in Pangasinan like mushrooms. And guess who are happiest about this development? The mayors, no less! Report has it that there are now some 30 towns and cities that have already agreed to embrace the controversial betting operation with origins at the Cagayan Export processing Zone.
Our town and city mayors were only too happy to be shown by Mr. Charlie ‘Atong’ Ang’s lieutenants a file of legal documents from the courts and the government recognizing it as a legitimate business undertaking, hence business permits were quickly issued. One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand why.
For the uneducated, what is given in such gambling operations is that there is “protection” money distributed to those who can “protect”. The list normally includes, the local mayor, the town police chief, some councilors and of course, the media practitioners who are more than willing to remain “silent”.
And knowing the business savvy of Mr. Ang, I would not be surprised if the provincial board decides to withdraw the resolution of Vocal Alfie Bince seeking an investigation of the sudden proliferation of the betting stations.
I hope to be proved wrong, as usual.
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DROP-BALL PUZZLE. Still on illegal gambling, I still cannot understand for the life of me why the provincial board, the provincial police and yes, the governor’s office, they who have professed their unconditional stance against illegal gambling, continue to turn a blind eye to the proliferation of the illegal ‘drop-ball’ gambling in many barangays in the province. Some even operate in the officials’ own neighborhoods.
The once-upon-a-time entertainment parlor game staged during fiestas is now a 24/7 regular activity in many barangays, taking bets as high as P1,000 from barangay residents and P5 from students. Many ‘drop-ball’ tables are now permanent fixtures on empty lots, fenced-off, well-secured and protected by barangays with official resolutions to boot as if these were enough to supersede the national law.
Why the provincial government won’t even attempt to arrest the illegal gambling operators is puzzling. Who’s on the take?
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PNOY’S REALITY SHOW. I believe there is a new TV reality show being produced in Malacanang Palace, titled “Kunwari Ganito!”. The storyline being followed is to make the “Aquino” name continue to weave its magic on the sentimental among Pinoys in this benighted land.
The last episode had PNoy delivering a speech before the graduating class of UP Diliman last week that touched on the RH bill.
After flip-flopping on the RH bill for months, he took center stage again to do his ala “wala ng wangwang!” spiel to demonstrate his political will. This time he invoked the word “excommunication.” Why did he choose to use it?
Simple. The directors of PNoy’s reality show want to impress the madlang Pilipino that he has not lost his political will amid his declining popularity. (The last known nationally prominent personality who risked excommunication was Jose Rizal). But someone forgot to tell PNoy that the last time a prelate discussed excommunication as a relevant topic in the RH bill, his handlers quickly denounced it and the rest of the clergy disowned the idea. So why did he make a fuss over a non-issue at this time?
Simple. It was meant to catch media attention. And as calculated, the statement made the headlines quoting him being the “no-nonsense risk-taker for the good of the nation” kuno. Of course, he took the “risk” knowing it was a popular issue. (PNoy knew that more than 50% of surveyed Filipinos favor the RH bill and was advised to strike while the iron is hot for the ratings game). Obviously, the “Yan ang leader” consensus was the expected result. And it did momentarily because after that statement PNoy did nothing else. He didn’t do what was naturally expected of him after his “bold” statement. No, he didn’t certify the RH bill as “Urgent”, an action that would have given flesh to his word. But why didn’t he?
Simple. The “Kunwari Ganito!” staff only whipped it up to crank up the survey ratings tactically… they must have known that it was the survey period! They knew fully well that if PNoy quickly followed up the statement with an “Urgent” certification, it would defeat the very purpose of the exercise. A certification would have resulted in a nationwide “call to arms” by the Church for an even bigger indignation rally at the Rizal Park! That would be disastrous, wouldn’t it?
For your next entertainment, watch out for the next episode of “Kunwari Ganito!”
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