Punchline
The PUNCH’s marketing director
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
FINALLY, my favorite chief exec, Mayor Benjie Lim, surfaced to react to the reported news about his (and his friend Mr. Jose Mariano Cuña) being charged before the Ombudsman for the alleged anomaly in his 2001 Awai land deal.
But I was dismayed by what was reported to me. With guns a-blazing, he took aim at The PUNCH, not at the complaint and the serious allegations about him. A classic case of making the messenger the issue, not the message.
He questioned the motive of The PUNCH even as he sought to impugn the integrity of our paper for having run the story before he could get a copy of the complaint. Ha-ha! Hello? Ano siya, siniswerte? Then he described the paper as unprofessional having failed to verify if, indeed, the complaint was filed! Ha-ha. Hello again? (A journalism 101 student knows that a copy of the complaint stamped with “RECEIVED” by the Ombudsman is enough verification. But for an accused who’s in constant denial, triple verification will never be enough). And as most expected, he reportedly topped his “performance” with his BSL-vintage rambling sort of song-and-dance item to divert the local media’s attention away from the issues of corruption ranged against him and his business associate. He again recalled how I lost in the election that he won 10 years ago! Ha-ha! Tsk-tsk.
Methinks since Mr. Lim already has many local media practitioners in his pocket, to him The PUNCH, the only newspaper out of his reach, is anything but suspect…that it cannot and should not be believed. For being the only newspaper that printed the truth, he insists our news is without basis! Ha-ha! And because we don’t see a reason to praise him every week, he insists our news are politically motivated! Ha-ha!
Anyway, let’s give credit where it is due. I am grateful to him. I believe we are gaining even more credibility as an independent community newspaper more than I had imagined because of him. I wish I could enlist him formally as our marketing director but I know he would just be too happy to oblige us – attempting to discredit in everything – without thought of having his name in our staff box.
Keep going, Mr. Mayor! Yes, thanks to you, our thousands of loyal readers of our weekly online and print versions are now assured and happy with the thought that they can only source the truth from The PUNCH!
Yes, keep shooting the messengers, Mr. Lim! It’s helping the cause!
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SERIOUS CHARGE. Back to the very serious message that Mr. Lim refuses to acknowledge.
Mr. Lim and Mr. Cuña are being accused in a court of law for violating R.A. 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. Copies of official documents have been provided to support the serious allegations about them in the anomalous Awai deal.
He and Mr. Cuña can hide from it by remaining in a state of denial but they can’t run away from the reality that the law is fast gaining on them.
I don’t blame the duo for thinking that the Ombudsman will not take the complaint filed through the internet seriously but unknown to the two, the process to help the investigation is ongoing. Meanwhile, Mr. Leo Angeles’ signed complaint is as serious as it can get.
Good luck to the two Awai-deal partners! May they get what they richly deserve.
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SENATORS’ PDAF. The senators in this country get an annual allocation as their Priority Development Assistance Fund, a.k.a the pork barrel, much more than the congressmen. Consequently, governors and mayors find every reason to run to them for funding for all sorts of development projects.
And still, for too long, the pork barrel has become a big source of corruption. The public perception is everyone who signs a project document gets a cut, often leaving only 55-60% of the allocated fund for the project. This impression has made many senators more wary of how manner the funds they allocate are spent. Consequently, Senators Ping Lacson and Joker Arroyo simply gave up their pork barrel completely to avoid suspicion that they are dipping their dirty fingers into these funds.
Still other senators recognize the merit of funding worthwhile development projects in the countryside, particularly those that align with their public advocacies. But thy are very wary of suspicions that they are part of the cabal that bleed the public funds. They are the ones that avoid nominating suppliers and contractors and rely mainly on the honest-to-goodness-public bidding being held by primary agencies to determine the lowest bids for the quality delivery of their funded projects.
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SENATORS FOR REFORMS. I am personally aware of the stringent policies of Senators Alan Cayetano, minority leader, and elder sister Pia in regard to funding initiatives of governors and mayors. Add the name of Senator TG Guingona to the list.
Of late, the three senators were encouraged by the announcement of President Aquino that the days of the corrupt contractors are already numbered what with the reforms put in place by the Departments of Budget and Management, Public Works and Highways, Transportation and Communications, Social Welfare and Communications, Health and Education.
They have since asked their respective staffs to apply the reforms set in place by various agencies. Foremost of which is to require LGUSs to submit detailed plans/programs of work with validated estimated costs. They also now engage services of specialists to evaluate the plans and costs, and to inspect completed projects.
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ONLY 3 CLASSROOMS? In Dagupan, I am afraid some projects will be affected by PNoy ‘s reform policies.
Senator Alan Cayetano already ordered the inspection and evaluation of the completed first phase of a P10 million school building project at the Dagupan City National High School. His staff is collating information on the specifications and performance of the contractor, the Zota Trading & Construction. In line with the new policies of the executive department, an evaluation must be completed before continuing with the second phase for the project.
Initially the senator has expressed disappointment that the initial P5 million released to the project only yielded 3 classrooms! Based on DPWH’s standard computation of a classroom (P650,000 per classroom), P5 million should have yielded at least 6 classrooms. (In fairness to District Engr. Rolando Dion, he promptly forwarded the scope of work and specs for the planned classrooms to the senator’s office that would explain the 3-classroom yield). Mr. Dion should expect questions to come.
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THE P50 M MADNESS. In another project, , Mayor Lim recently announced the supposed P10 million pledge of Senator Guingona to the mayor’s P50 million child and maternal care hospital project. I’m afraid given the new guidelines, the project will now have difficulty securing financial assistance from the national government because the city has no work plan or feasibility study on the wish-wish project.
I do know that Mr. Lim has not even submitted any plan or study to the sanggunian to support his claim of the hospital’s viability that was initially estimated to cost P40 M that has now ballooned to P50 M without anyone knowing the basis. I just don’t see how the DoH can defend the project knowing there are 7 modern private hospitals in the city, fully staffed and equipped, not to mention the presence of the Region 1 Medical Center, adjudged one of the best in the country that is about to embark on its expansion plans.
If improved health care for Dagupeños is what the city aspires for, then sponsored membership of indigent families in PhilHealth should be the appropriate solution. That should not cost the city more than P1 million a year.
Why Mr. Lim insists on this madness to make the city cough up a whooping and immoral P50 million for a mere 24-lie in bed hospital does not really surprise me at this stage! But under the new reform policies of the PNoy government, he can kiss the P10 M pledge of Sen. TG goodbye.
Bilang na ang araw ng mga kurakot sa Dagupan!
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