Punchline
RR’s Salat-Salat campaign
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
NOT a few have offered their own five centavos worth of speculations on why Dagupan’s Mayor Benjie Lim failed in his quest for his reelection…and what perhaps caused his massive brain hemorrhage. Some attributed it to reported desertions by kapitans from his side to VM Belen Fernandez’s camp; still others point to the perceived “partisan” AFP and PNP that closed in on his camp.
Still some flattered us citing the series of exposes on the corruption of the Lim administration published by The PUNCH.
What many overlooked was the fact that the respected political families from different political affiliations in the city banded together to make sure that a Mr. Benjie Lim would never retake the reins of the city again.
Unknown perhaps to many was the fact that the central figures in the “union” were RR (Ope Reyna and Manny Roy)! The RR tandem, the known former close business and political allies of BSL, went beyond what many, including The PUNCH, revealed about his character and acts of betrayal. Listening to them, one didn’t need to demand official documents from them to prove their allegations because the city knew that the Lim-Reyna-Roy business team was the formidable group in business and political circles for decades since BSL’s ascent to political power in the late 90s.
The decision of the Reynas, the De Venecias, the Manoises and the Duques to band together was largely a response to the Salat-Salat! call of RR. The city had to be saved, and RR came to the rescue, risking all, with the irrepressible Gonz Duque leading the charge on mass media.
What a campaign it was for the good guys.
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PNOY ACT. Now that Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez finds herself in the pilot seat earlier than anyone anticipated, the populace looks forward to the city hall providing the answers finally to allegations of corruption involving city hall officials.
For too long, Mr. Lim and this partners in crime pooh-poohed The PUNCH exposes based on official documents. I even recall Mr. Lim describing us as “tanga” during a press conference in his effort to downplay our allegations.
I pray Ms. Fernandez will soon find out how many and which projects were not bidded out in violation of the law, who has possession of the 30-hectare lot in Barangay Awai in San Jacinto, which projects were grossly overpriced and who were responsible, who among the city hall officials have huge outstanding unliquidated advances, who were behind the beachfront land scam, how much were spent and received for the Bangus Festivals and annual fiestas, who in the local media were in the city hall payroll, etc?
Ms. Fernandez cannot hope to start with a clean slate as the new mayor without providing the answers to questions of corruption in the city hall. She must demonstrate that she knows and understands where and why corruption breeds by making past erring city officials accountable, including Mr. Lim and his city administrator Vlad Mata. She must do a PNoy-act no less!
Of course, nobody expects Ms. Fernandez to comb the city hall records personally, so the city auditor will expectedly have his hands full doing faithfully what he is mandated to do.
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FROM LAPDOGS TO WATCHDOGS? Why am I not surprised that BSL’s lapdogs in media are frothing in their mouths impugning my and The PUNCH’s integrity for the nth time, this time over a report I received that the mayor had passed away?
They maintain that I erred in reporting the death of Mr. Lim whom they claimed was still alive at the time but cannot say themselves where a breathing Mr. Lim was supposedly recuperating from his massive brain hemorrhage. I would have easily and promptly corrected myself if only someone gave the basis for the correction. But there was none. Even son-Councilor Brian Lim was vague throughout about his father’s case, yes, to this day …12 days after his disappearance!
Be that as it may, I do not begrudge the “journalists” in BSL’s kennel for their expected outburst on cue. It was par for the course. Theirs were fair comments, assertive about what they chose to believe. My only lament is they had demonstrated how emphatic and forceful they could be about BSL’s condition yet they could not show the least concern over the reported string of corruptions in the city hall. Worse, they readily lent themselves to the series of cover-ups.
For instance, they could not bring themselves even to protect the city over the lost ownership of the Awai land, instead they unabashedly echoed Mr. Lim’s propaganda that The PUNCH is already owned by VM Belen. Gosh, they even had the gall to take advantage of The PUNCH’s credibility by adopting our masthead in the their 10-paged kiddie stuff black propaganda to spread more blatant lies about VM Belen, our Fireplayer Gonz Duque and others (including myself) who were in BSL’s hate list. I could only shake my head trying to comprehend what had become of my once respectable colleagues.
Anyway, now that their patron’s nemesis, VM Belen, is at the helm of government, I half-expect them to finally resume their honest-to-goodness watchdog roles (although I do expect some to remain loyal defenders of the corruption engineered by the Lim administration). To the gung-ho guys who were misled for a moment, welcome back to the fold…welcome back to the fearless world of truthful reporting in community journalism practice!
Join us in keeping a close watch on the BTF administration next!
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ANOTHER DAMOCLES’ SWORD. The belated studied decision of RTC Judge Mervin Jovito Samadan on Ryan Ravanzo’s petition is now like a Damocles’ sword hanging over the heads of Mr. Benjie Lim and the Judas 9. (An imminent case against them before the Ombudsman for violating the country’s anti-graft and corruption law is already given).
Just like the Awai land deal, the rush MC Adore sale is another deal gone wrong. In the Awai scam, Jose Mariano Cuña who received the P16 million as payment for the 30-hectare land remains culpable for failing to deliver the title. He has to return the money if he wants to escape incarceration. In the MC Adore case, the buyer, AMB ALC Holdings & Management Corporation, will certainly demand a refund from the city, and the city will most likely oblige.
But what of the millions paid in advance to those who helped facilitate the fire sale? What say the Judas 9 led by Vice-Mayor-elect Brian Lim?
Ah…how the mighty falls always makes for an interesting serial story.
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EXORBITANT DEPED SEMINAR FEE. A teacher who attended the recent seminar “National Training for Mathematics Teachers” organized by the Pangasinan II Division –DepEd, wrote to complain that the division made each teacher-participant, about 1,000, pay P700 fee yet it didn’t cover snacks and lunch! Sounds like some enterprising DepEd officials found seminars as a viable cash cow from an uncomplaining lot of exploited teachers.
Paging DepEd Sec. Armin Luistro!
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