Think about it
Benjie wants to change the face of Dagupan
By Jun Velasco
“He conquers who endures.”—Perseus
A LOT of “dizzying” developments are jutting out from that corner tri-secting Dagupan from Barangays Arellano, Bonuan and Lucao, better known as the Dawel Zone.
And in many sections more, says Mayor Benjie Lim.
It was only a month ago that we lauded Mayor Benjie Lim for launching the much talked about river cruise that’s been attracting tourists only to see another welcome infrastructure come-on, Dawel Daungan, now a new attraction hereabouts.
Before we sat to write this column, our eyes swiveled to a wide area that is being land filled beside Pastor Quiboloy’s Sonshine Radio and a few meters away, the unsightly shanties lining the road were being dismantled or removed by engineers. What’s the fantastic idea, Mayor Benjie?
We sort of queried him that in an impromptu meeting at Gloria Jeans along Perez Boulevard Tuesday morning with publisher Ruben Rivera of Northern Mirror and Ping Meneses, acting president of the city fishpond owners and operators association.
“Watch me, Jun, I will convert that area into a new city attraction,” the mayor said (words to that effect).
One thing we can’t take away from him is passion. No, we’re not referring to his inexhaustible admiration for beautiful women; no, Benjie is cumadre Celia’s single-minded loyalist. Most of you who have known him since his younger days is his preoccupation to lead, innovate, experiment, and open new vistas. We saw it during our Jaycee days, being the root-cause of the division of the Dagupan chapter into two.
Because of his “divisive” act, we had two JC chapters, a freak incident that has continued to this day. Was he maligned for that? No, he was rewarded with the presidency of the national organization of the Jaycees.
The old guards, i.e., the more visible JC leaders the likes of Al Fernandez, Eddie Crisologo, Gonzalo Duque and Chito Samson were left behind. And so from that day on, we marked this Filipino-Chinese young leader as a man with a star. We thought he was only good in selling shoes and home appliances.
In the Jaycees, he displayed an uncanny ability of drawing the shy members, especially of Chinese descent, to the center of action. The Chinese-Dagupeno Jaycees never had it so good with Benjie shepherding. You see, an act that works can’t be concealed for long. His leadership traits were tapped by the Namfrel and later, due also to his team-building skills, President Fidel V. Ramos.
In no time therefore was he catapulted to the national government when a grateful FVR who credited him for networking his presidential backers in north and central Luzon gave him the Duty Free Philippines management. “Nakakalula, pare,” he told Manny Roy and Ope Reyna, his first advisers. But the young man from Barangay Guilig had a flair for drawing strength from those around him. He surrounded himself with local talents with big dreams including Al Fernandez-trained Tito Meneses, former Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez, Speaker Joe de Venecia’s nephew Ruben Lim, and others.
Back to the present. To Ruben Rivera’s question where he would relocate the squatters in a renovated Dawel zone, Mayor Lim elaborated on his program to “give every Dagupeno a decent housing.” To Ping Meneses’ query on the controversial fish processing plant, he said “soon a wise decision will come that will ensure fairness to all concerned including those against the city government’s desire to operate it.”
“What’s going on in the city under my watch is that those who want to lord it over the majority who are poor – and they have been doing it for centuries — will have to loosen their grip and democratize wealth.”
He broke political tradition in the city being the first ever mayor who did not belong to the traditional political holders of power. He said in effect “since I broke the chain, I might as well break the centuries-old of misrule.”
Will you still fight the De Venecias and the Fernandezes in future elections? Ping Meneses asked. He said, “yes, if the people of Dagupan do not deserve the candidate.”
He hinted more novelties in infrastructure and development processes that will genuinely benefit the Dagupenos are forthcoming. “I will change the face and the spirit of the city,” he said. Fighting words. But let’s see.
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