Punchline
P11 million racket in progress
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
TWO weeks ago, Aug 26 birthday-boy Dagupan Mayor Benjie Lim must have felt I was getting dangerously close to spoiling a number of rackets being pursued by the city hall to be at the receiving end of his diatribe and referred to me as tanga to the delight of his lapdogs in the audience. But that’s par for the course, besides he unwittingly affirmed my reports to be true by his outburst and lame alibis.
Like the true ‘Denial King’ that he is, Mr. Lim never fails to regale his lapdogs in both media and in the barangays with anecdotes to impress them that only he knows what’s best for the city. What the mayor is not saying is how situations were manipulated and continue to be manipulated to suit his designs on the city.
Take the buy-and-sell racket of the MC Adore property. In his May 17 letter to the sangguniang panlungsod, the mayor endorsed its immediate sale. His reason? “…the property has been idle for several years now.” Duh? Who asked the city to buy it in the first place when the city had no cash? He did. Who promised a brand new city hall at the MC Adore property? He did. But did he ever submit any development plan for it? No. Who negotiated for the P50 M loan? He did. Who earned the commission for the sale? Ask him.
HE DID. Today, he attempts to justify the failure of his vision for a new city hall by casually telling an audience packed with his lapdogs that for a new city hall to be efficient it must have all the offices of national agencies in it. So without much ado, he tells his constituents to forget about his vision of a new city hall and do the city a favor by selling it pronto since it is idle (and not his fault). But note: he wants the city council to give him sole authority to sell and negotiate the sale of the city’s property. Galing-galing nya, di ba? His slip accidentally showed when he further tried to impress his audience with his credential: “As a businessman, I know what to do…”. Yeah…sure.
But the nagging question among businessmen that refuses to go is: Is it true that it will be Mr. Lim’s secret group that will end up owning the premium property for a multi-million profit? Abangan!
* * * * *
UNADULTERATED SCAM. And, have you heard birthday-boy explain at any time in the past why and how the city lost the 30-hectare farmland in San Jacinto intended for his again touted sanitary landfill project? Never. Yet he dismisses the prospect of a sanitary landfill in the city today because he now claims it would require hundreds of millions to construct and operate it. Duh? Didn’t he know that in 2001? He did. Who scripted a barangay rally in Bonuan in 2001 to close the dumpsite so he can make the city support a sanitary landfill project? He did. Who convinced the onor-onor city council to authorize him to negotiate and purchase the 30-hectare farmland in San Jacinto? He did. Who decided to make the city pay P16 M for a P7 M valued property? He did. But today, he wants everyone to forget his criminal liability for losing the property from the very day he had the city pay his business associate, Jose Mariano Cuna, P16 million for nothing. Duh? For us tan-g-a, we know that racket as unadulterated scam.
Speaking of tanga, judging from Mr. Lim’s actuations and manipulations, I actually suspect that he actually made a slip referring to me as “tanga’” ostensibly for not understanding what I write in this space. I sense that in his mind he actually had Dagupenos in mind as tanga because he thinks they are simply gullible and having gotten away with so many things under their very noses, and his lapdogs in the local media for willing to swallow every crumb he threw at them.
The mayor is certainly not kind to those who patronize him.
* * * * *
IN PROGRESS. Last week, I mentioned the Daongan sa Dawel as another white elephant in the making. Here’s why.
The city council never appropriated any amount for its construction and neither did it authorize the mayor or his representative to pursue the project. Mr. Lim simply carried on without regard to established government rules believing he can make the city pay for whatever he deems “right”. Hence, for the city hall to now claim for “reimbursement” for an unauthorized project, Mr. Lim will have to compel his minions in the city government to ante-date the documentation of the project, from its building permit, to a city council resolution authorizing the bidding and the subsequent bidding. Without these, the Daongan will remain an illegal structure on public land.
Perhaps, there wouldn’t be much of a problem if there was clear transparency from the very beginning but there wasn’t any. The question now is: How will the person who advanced the expenses be reimbursed? And for how much?
Well, here’s the rub for all the tanga in Mr. Lim’s life. My mole Adonis in city hall says the mayor wants P11 million in reimbursement for “the contractor”, whom he did not identify. How in heaven’s name can something like that cost P11 M? Worse, it would take the city no less than 100 years to recover the cost from admission fees. Mr. Lim must really think of Dagupenos as super-tanga to think that his latest folly will be swallowed hook, line and sinker without thinking. But on the other hand, he might just be right about Dagupenos and he would get away with it again as he had always done in the past.
But here’s a piece of advice to whoever will sign any official document that will justify the project at this late stage and for the scandalous amount.
The people on notice in this P11 M racket in progress are: the city engineer or her representative if an ante-dated building permit is issued; the city councilors if they pass an ante-dated resolution authorizing the project; the members of the bids and awards committee if they certify to an ante-dated bidding; the city auditor and city legal officer if they certify to the legality of the ante-dated proceedings and expenses; the city treasurer and accountant if they release a single peso for the unauthorized project without legal authorization. The “favorite” contractor will also be liable for overpricing with the clear intent of defrauding the city.
This time, I can guarantee that their names will be at the Ombudman’s desk in no time once the falsified documents are submitted because one tanga will make sure the officials who conspire to again defraud the city government will be made to account under the Matuwid na Daan principle.
Don’t look now but there’s the restaurant on the other side of Daongan about to take the shape of another racket in progress.
Oh yes, belated happy birthday Mayor Lim!
* * * * *
BUSINESS-FRIENDLY PANGASINAN. The Philippines reputedly has the highest power rates in Asia, discouraging investors to operate here. And as it appears from audit reports of the National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms, Inc. (Nasecore), it is the failure of ERC to properly regulate the industry that is the major culprit.
In the province, the power rates of the two electric cooperatives, Central Pangasinan Electric Cooperative Inc. and Pangasinan I Electric Cooperative Inc., remain high like with most cooperatives. But Nasecore report says the rates don’t need to be at their present levels today. Proof of this is the high rate of over-collection of power companies in the country.
The letters furnished us by the Nasecore to the ERB indicate that Cenpelco registered an “over-collection of P128.59 million (2006-2009) and Panelco, P93.37 million (from 2004-2009)”!
And this appears to be true in all electric cooperatives in most regions. Meralco, for instance, reportedly has P14.2 billion in over-collection (from 2003-2008).
It would, therefore, greatly benefit Pangasinenses if the provincial government looks into the over-collection policy of the electric cooperatives and study how electric costs in Pangasinan can be lowered not only for local consumers’ benefit but to make Pangasinan, indeed, the most business-friendly province having the cheapest power rate in Luzon.
Hopefully the provincial government can achieve what the ERC cannot accomplish.
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
