Punchline
BB bingo fun but illegal
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
THE Benjie-Brian (a.k.a as BB-Bingo Bonanza) bingo games in Dagupan barangays are clearly a violation of election rules.
The issue is not about whether it is a parlor game or an illegal gambling game but rather whether the activity is a campaign activity allowed under the Omnibus Election Code.
Remember when senatorial candidate Jamby Madrigal attempted last February to lure voters to her Facebook website? She launched a contest online offering an iPad as prize to anyone who, after “liking” her fanpage, best articulates corruption by completing the phrase “Corruption is bad because….”. The contest was hardly original and meant to be for small fun, however, since it was done as a campaign activity, Jamby was promptly warned by Comelec about the violation. She withdrew the activity and apologized.
In BB’s case, since the cash prizes (in thousands) and appliances were awarded only to winners who attended the political rallies of the MadiLIM at MakuLIMLIM ticket, I don’t see how else the Lim camp can justify to the Comelec that the bingo games were merely for fun and not held as a campaign activity.
I can almost hear Jamby saying: Ano kayo siniswerte?
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MACHIAVELLIAN. The Benjie-Brian camp is invoking simple fun for the barangay folk as its defense for violating the rule. And this is precisely what’s wrong with the Lim administration. Its embraces the Machiavellian principle as its standard: the end justifying the means…never mind that it is illegal as long as it is fun…and profitable.
Remember how the River Cruise (Daongan ed Dawel) was eventually funded? No public bidding was conducted but Mr. Lim felt justified in collecting some P11 million for the P3 million project because it was good for the city’s tourism development.
It was followed by the ridiculous P7 million Tsunami Hill that couldn’t save lives but a good way to earn kickbacks, the suspension of the Seafood Processing Plant operations to blackmail the national government into turning it over to him, the P119-M sale of MC Adore sale to rid the city of a white elephant and earn huge profits for the Judas 9 as well, etc. Remember when city hall defied a city ordinance that bans commercial activities on the street fronting the cathedral? It tried to justify it by invoking “humane consideration” after the good archbishop protested: “Where is God in this government?”
The only activity that the BB tandem failed to justify was the sale of beachfronts in Tondaligan. To distance itself from the racket, the city hall simply claimed forgery of Mr. Lim’s signature in the letters of authorization and that was it. To this day, the NBI was never called to track the so-called “forgers” and the illegal occupants continue to remain in their places to this day. (I hope a Fernandez administration in the future will re-investigate the racket).
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COSTLY BUILDINGS. Here’s another trivia for the MadiLIM at MakuLIMLIM fans.
Did you know that the city is deep in debt because of the series of loans Mr. Lim made as mayor during his first term alone?
The city made a total loan of P303.7-M. To date the city has paid a total of P177.-M in interest payments alone, another P38.5-M by the end of this year. Without the loan, imagine what P38.5-M a year can do for the city.
The biggest loan was for the costly air-conditioned market that required a P281.9-M loan. Yet, the market’s operation continues to be subsidized when it should be earning revenues, this on top of the interests that the city has to pay until 2019!
Today he wants the city to cough up P50-M another costly hospital to be built after displacing hundreds of grade school kids. Make one guess why his projects have to be overly costly.
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NO LONGER ON PAPER. There is a “white email” (it used to be known as “white paper”) going around the globe detailing the sins of Mayor Lim. (Yes Virginia, the distribution of white papers has gone high-tech too). It is titled: “Mga Katotohanan nangyayari sa Kasalukuyang Pamumuno ng Mayor ng Dagupan na Dapat Malaman”.
I must admit I was totally amused not only by its frank and colorful language but by the many details described to back up the allegations of irregularities listed and some snippets on political alignments in the city. The author was certainly in the know. What was obvious about it was, it was a call to support Veem Belen’s bid to become mayor for a change. Hmmm.
I can hardly classify the document as black propaganda because it had figures and facts that matched what we had reported in the past. (Our stories were published as a watchdog would, no political agenda). So while regular PUNCH readers would not find many new discoveries in that “white email,” there were certainly more details that escaped us when we reported the same situations in our past issues.
If you want your own copy, email us at punch.sunday@gmail.com and we’ll share it. (All requests will, of course be held confidential). Be amazed yourselves at knowing how some people can simply be luckier than others.
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MUCH TOO OBVIOUS. The race for the top provincial post is threatening to be anything but friendly.
The bombing of the house of “whistleblower” Rodrigo Orduña in Bugallon is certainly one indicator. Frankly, I am not surprised that it happened but I do smell a stinker in that incident.
The giveaways for me were the timing of the bombing, the quality of the grenade and the described obvious “suspects”.
Was it meant to kill, or maim or to simply intimidate Mr. Orduña? “Spilling the beans,” so to speak, on the governor is intimidating enough for the whistleblower. There was absolutely no need for a dramatic intimidation like a throwing a grenade at the front yard. He also could have been eliminated easily these days without need for an antique grenade.
I actually suspect the plotters had not intended on seeing the grenade explode it being of WWII vintage. It was perhaps intended to be discovered in the yard, pretty much like the bullets inside envelopes. That it exploded and hurt no one perhaps gave the plotters a sigh of relief.
The quick reaction of LP leaders pointing to their political opponents was practically anti-climactic. Since any grenade throwing at the whistleblower could only be pointed at the accused, why would the latter even think of it?
There is no denying that a grenade exploded at Orduña’s house, so somebody plotted it. But to say it’s Guv Spines and company that plotted it stretches one’s imagination how and why that could happen.
Terrible plotting, if I may say so.
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