Punchline
The entrepreneur vs. the value-engineer
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
THE suggestion of former Speaker Joe de V to privatize the Seafood Processing Plant is, indeed, the most viable option for this valuable resource.
I have long maintained that neither the city government nor a government agency should operate and manage the plant because no one will be held accountable and jailed if the venture fails. The list of failed commercial ventures run by local government units is long and yet nobody has heard of anyone being haled to court for causing the bankruptcy. The mango processing plant in San Carlos City was one.
But there is hope for it if Mr. Lim and his business associates will run the show risking their own money. He has been gung-ho about the prospects of the plant so I say he should be allowed to have a crack at it by entering a winning bid. His mettle and business acumen as an entrepreneur always comes to the fore every time he uses his personal funds as capital. Magic Malls are sprouting in the province, aren’t they?
But the plant and the city will be doomed if Mr. Lim will be allowed to direct its operations risking the city’s coffers only as a “value-engineer”.
Note Mr. Lim’s credentials in running a business for the city using public funds. The city government cannot even make the operation of the Malimgas Market viable enough to pay off the P280M loan that Mayor Benjie Lim took for the city in 2004. He told the city to invest in the MC Adore property for development with promises of a new landscape and it is now the second white elephant under his belt. His Dagupan River Cruise, a novel tourism project under the city tourism office’s direction, continues to be heavily subsidized. (I still have not verified if city funds are being used to operate the cruise boats although it was capitalized with private funds).
I can smell sweet success if Mr. Lim puts his money where his mouth is, taking on the seafood processing plant with his own moolah! But if it is the city’s money that he will put in his mouth, we can count on another unabated corruption bannered by his “value engineering:” scheme.
* * * * *
MAKING STRIDES. Minus the “value-engineering” that Mr. Lim bandies and concocts with his cronies, it cannot be denied that Mr. Lim is still making strides in other aspects of governance in the city.
I note his plans and strategy to make the city less prone to flooding and prepare the city for the worst that climate change can bring. Except for the nearly hilarious proposal calling for the construction of a tsunami hill, his strategy is worth supporting by all. In fact, I find his team’s proposal to make the dilapidated and rotting MC Adore building as a possible evacuation site in case of a tsunami as plausible. Finally, someone thinks the building as useful for something!
In fact, if Mayor Lim would only shift his “value-engineered” plan for a 24-bed primary lie-in clinic to that white elephant instead of relocating a whole school and the city engineering office to other areas that would cost millions more in addition to his projected P1.3M budget per hospital bed, the clinic would serve the evacuation objective well. But I doubt if this suggestion will even be considered because it’s a “no-value engineering”.
The continued work to restore sidewalks that had been illegally occupied by houses and commercial establishments is also noteworthy. (However, nothing is being done to clear the sidewalks of vendors and extended displays of commercial shops).
Meanwhile, he (and city fiesta hermano mayor Emong Vallejos and his deputy SK chairman Chester Gonzales) have yet to account for the revenues and expenses of the 2011 fiesta. Other towns always manage to implement new projects from proceeds of their fiestas, I wonder what project can be pursued from the last fiesta’s proceeds? O nabulsa na?
The city also awaits with bated breath the results of the investigations conducted by the city hall on the land racket in Bonuan Binloc as assured by Councilor Brian Lim. O lokohan lang yon?
* * * * *
WHAT HAPPENED? The rush to impeach CJ Corona is clearly beginning to lose steam. It is becoming apparent the prosecution never prepared for the trial! The series of fumbling and flip-flopping in their strategies say it all.
It has become too obvious that the congressmen had not foreseen the need for a full preparation and only counted on CJ Renato Corona’s early resignation, as Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez did, relying mainly on the heavy barrage of publicity against him, led by PNoy no less. They were wrong to think that the 188-votes of congressmen were enough to knock CJ Corona out cold. How sorely mistaken they were. Their miscalculation of CJ Corona’s mindset is now taking a heavy toll on them.
It is disheartening to see the prosecution panel paddling in different direction almost daily, fumbling each time, and being on the receiving end of embarrassing lectures by senators.
Then came the report that the prosecutors are now inclined to rest their case on the SALN issue alone, that the CJ lied in his SALN! (It should be noted that the No. 2 article did not even allege that CJ lied in his SALN but that he allegedly refused to make his SALN public).
So, why were 8 articles of impeachment filed at all? Was it all just another scare tactic to pressure CJ Corona to resign but didn’t work?
Gosh, if that’s all that the congressmen can prove from among the listed articles of impeachment, then all hope to see major reforms in the judiciary is dashed.
Resting on SALN charge alone will even be a dangerous precedent in that questions of integrity and probity in corruption cases involving elected and public officials will now be determined solely by submitted SALNs (which, of course, is not entirely irrelevant if the accused is a notorious corrupt official).
I also fear that two collateral damages from this trial will be the non-passage of a more comprehensive SALN reporting and the proposed amendment of the bank secrecy law.
I wish the congressmen can still make more of the charges stick than just the CJ’s SALN, otherwise the only notable result of the impeachment trial will be the unabashed hypocrisy of Philippine politics, even if CJ Corona is eventually found guilty by discoveries in his SALN alone.
As one senator correctly observed, “The prosecution has convinced me that the CJ is guilty of all charges described in Articles 9-12!” Tsk-tsk.
* * * * *
PANDEMONIUM. Given the unexpected focus on SALNs, wouldn’t you be interested to find out who among the congressmen reported the whole truth about their finances in their SALNs as well?
If only one brave soul would file a class suit against the congressmen for lying in their SALNs, the evidence will be damning for many. Imagine what such a case will do to the House.
For starters, there will be no quorum for at least two weeks followed by pandemonium. All the congressmen would be rushing to all their banks across the country to close their numerous accounts. They would need all the time to meet with their lawyers to prepare and execute antedated deeds of sale for their cars, houses, condo units and parking slots to loyal friends and relatives.
Then, congressmen will detach the No. 8 car plates on their heavily tinted gas-guzzling SUVs and will start shopping for respectable prior-owned 1600cc bantam cars for themselves, their wives and children. There will also be a mad hunt for garages in inconspicuous places for their incriminating SUVs and luxury cars until they decide to be truthful in their SALNs.
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
