Punchline
Dagupan, the incompetent LGU?
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
THE habitual muzzling of the Dagupan sanggunian by the office of the mayor in order to hide its dubious agenda and the embarrassing continued obeisance of the city council to the mayor’s dictate is becoming a national embarrassment.
In spite of earlier reprimands by the Department of Budget and Management for the glaring omissions in the submitted 2011 budget report, Mayor Benjie Lim again ignored the administrative requirements set by law if only to keep the city council in the dark as part of his power play. Sadly, the obvious reluctance of the city council to do the right thing – to admonish the mayor – in the face of the mayor’s constant harassment results in exposing itself as the party, not the mayor, that is ignorant of budgeting rules. Tsk-tsk.
Thank God for the DBM, the illegal budgeting processes resorted to by the mayor at least do not get past it, something that can never be said of the Department of Finance (through the city treasurer) and the Commission on Audit (through the city auditor). Both refuse to see the right from wrong for the people. The incompetence and absence of commitment and dedication of the departments’ city appointees’ to their duties already bring dishonor to their respective families but these obviously do not bother them. They have no shame covering up for the mayor’s illegal activities.
From “Shared responsibility”, the city officials now share in the national embarrassment for failing to accomplish an administratively correct annual budget for two consecutive years!
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CONVENIENT LIE. Last week, Mr. Lim was reported to be adamant about operating the city’s landfill in the 30-hectare lot in Barangay Awai in San Jacinto. And he went on to explain why the city cannot start operating as if there is still a chance to operate it and conveniently attributes the delay to the issue being “politicized”! But nothing can be further from the truth. Mr. Lim continues to pull the hood over Dagupeños eyes.
The truth is the city does NOT have the title to the land that he made the city pay P16 M to his business associate Jose Mariano Cuña. It’s gone! Kaput! The 30-hectare lot is already under coverage of land reform without recourse!
And why does he continue to lie? He needs to because 1) He doesn’t want to be made to demand refund of the money paid to Mr. Cuña. (The word from Mr. Cuña’s associates was he never had the millions with which to buy the property from the family that originally owned the land. Someone else bought the land in his name and Mr. Lim knows who it was but he naturally is not telling. He doesn’t have to because the city already knows). 2) He does not want to be told to sell the land, it supposedly being an idle asset, the same alibi he offered for the rush sale of MC Adore and the Calasiao property. To sell it, he would have to produce the title that is nowhere. By justifying the land’s potential, he would not be compelled to produce the title.
Why do I insist he is lying? Neither Mr. Lim nor Mr. Vlad Mata has shown the city council the original title of ownership to prove this allegation wrong since they assumed office in 2010.
So, stop lying to the city, Mr. Lim!
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READERS’ TEXTS. A reader sent me a text: “A certain Deborah Castillo, assistant of Mayor Lim, announced over DZRH Dagupan of Orly Navarro (program) that ‘Dagupan is officially the 2nd most livable city in the world’. Paano nangyari yon?” The texter said Castillo even repeated the claim during a seminar at the University of Luzon last May 28 but refused to identify the source of the claim.
Assuming the text report to be true, for Ms. Castillo to announce it without batting an eyelash and without identifying the source and attributes of the city that qualified it, she must take Dagupeños to be gullible like her. Her statement indicates to what extent Mayor Lim’s appointees are willing to believe to cover up anomalies in the city hall.
For her (and other similarly situated appointees’) education, a livable city would not have serious garbage disposal and waste management problems, no daily traffic bottlenecks boosted by consistent enforcement of traffic ordinances, have clear sidewalks, clean fish markets, zero incidence of flooding, minimum level of air pollution, etc. Can Ms. Castillo or any of her ilk lay claim to any one of these attributes in the city? Face it, Ms. Castillo, not a chance! To say she is naïve would be an understatement.
Goodness, if Mr. Lim’s appointees also now think it’s ok to lie to Dagupeños, the city is in deep trouble!
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Another texter suggested that senator-wannabe and whistleblower Joey de Venecia (and stepmother Rep. Gina) be asked to take the cudgels for Dagupeños and initiate an investigation on the status of the Barangay Awai lot in San Jacinto.
Looks like the texter has already given up on the city council to do the right thing.
(For text comments, kindly send to 0928-661-4110).
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PROTECTING THE DRUG SYNDICATES? BSL’s pronouncement that Dagupan’s policy towards illegal drugs is to go slow in the campaign is cause for serious alarm.
Hundreds of families in the city are breaking up daily because of unabated distribution of drugs to youngsters by known pushers in the city yet Mr. Lim’s disposition not to act swiftly is beyond comprehension. Why he’d rather give the druglords and pushers enough time to reform than to save their victims from certain self-destruction, says a lot of things about the city hall.
What do the drug syndicates have on Mr. Lim? Is it about a payola to just “dribble the ball” on drugs? Or is it the prospect of losing many votes in 2013 in Bonuan Binloc, the haven of drug syndicates?
Your priorities are deadly wrong, Mr. Lim!
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PROJECT SALN. Dangerous Drugs Board and PUNCH columnist Bebot Villar suggests in his column this week that The PUNCH requests all elected provincial and congressional officials, and mayors and vice mayors in the province to submit their SALNs so that analysis can be done and published.
It’s a great suggestion and I will seek the help of Lyceum Northwestern University, University of Luzon and Colegio de Dagupan, they with schools of masscom and journalism, to provide the manpower to deliver the letters of request, collect and collate the documents. Hopefully, we can also get cash donations from friends to help defray transportation and meal expenses of the volunteers fielded to the different districts. I am afraid The PUNCH alone will not be able to cover the logistics entailed by such a project.
But, yes…The PUNCH is up to the challenge.
I am certain PUNCH readers would like to be surprised to see who among the elected officials would be the first to submit their 2012 SALNs even without a formal request. We will be happy to acknowledge dates of all submissions. Indeed, who would be first to submit, reluctant to submit and refuse to submit?
The standard that will be applied for the submission is: anyone who does not submit his/her SALN wants to hide “undeserved” wealth!
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POSTCRIPT ON CORONA TRIAL So much has been written about what had befallen former CJ Corona so I won’t add to oft repeated expectations from it.
I only wished the trial had taken up the other two articles of complaint even after finding the CJ guilty on the SALN issue. The discussion could have enriched jurisprudence on activities of judges and justices.
Then a prospective lesson learned is: Corrupt judges, whoever and wherever they are, are now on notice. They can and will be exposed for abuse of authority and discretion, suspicion on bribe-taking, etc.
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