Punchline
Quo vadis, Binloc?
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
SEC. BEBOT Villar certainly minced no words, calling a spade a spade, lambasting the barangay leadership of Bonuan Binloc when he delivered the keynote address during the Independence Day celebration in Dagupan City.
In his usual ”Deretsahan” manner (read his column), he took Kapitan Pedro Gonzales to task for making his barangay earn the notoriety of being the only barangay in the province that is listed under Category 1, meaning the barangay has become a real threat to the communities in the province.
That Mr. Gonzales was largely untouched by the Lim officialdom actually surprised no one. It’s been public knowledge that Mayor Benjie Lim has always been his patron and protector amid growing protests from the police and barangay residents. To cover-up his despicable partnership with Mr. Gonzales, Mr. Lim organized meetings and photo ops to depict himself as the “drug-buster”.
While Mr. Gonzales was never officially tagged as a suspect behind the drug syndicates’ operations in spite of a series of arrests of drug pushers in his barangay, no further investigation on his involvement in illegal drug trading was ever pursued. Not even the arrest of Venus Dayrit, the “shabu queen,” inside the apartment owned by Mr. Gonzales prompted a full scale investigation.
There’s the challenge to Mayor-elect Belen Fernandez who is a known frontliner in the war contra-droga! If she honestly wants to rid the city of illegal drugs, heads must begin to roll, and it must start in Bonuan Binloc, no less! A Fernandez administration must, perforce, recommend the immediate suspension of Mr. Gonzales as barangay kapitan for failing to preserve peace and order in his barangay. With Dagupan police chief Christopher Abrahano, as the enforcer, I don’t know how they can fail unless they, too, succumb to the “endearments” of the drug syndicate.
I am certain that between a go-getter mayor, a dedicated police officer, and the cooperation of the fed-up community, a top-to-bottom cleanup is not impossible, especially with a commitment of support from Sec. Villar. In contrast, we have seen how everything was made possible and negotiable between a corrupt mayor, a compliant police chief and an intimidated community!
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COSTS OF POLLUTION. Finally, the illegal fish pen owners/operators received an ultimatum from Acting-Mayor Belen. That’s the good news!
What I found disconcerting was her decision to grant the unscrupulous businessmen’s request to be given two more months to operate. Ms. Fernandez missed out on the translation – it’s two months to further pollute the river. But if she won’t go back on her word, and still wants to impress upon everyone that she is one who will always uphold the law, she must at least impose penalties on these businessmen who care for nothing else but their greed for more profits.
At the very least, the fish pen owners must be made to surrender to the city at least 40% of their revenues by the end of August to the city government to cover the costs of the cleanup after them. Failing that, the city should throw the book at them for failing to comply! They should not be allowed to keep their profits intact after polluting the city’s river and bribing the city’s officials.
Meanwhile, City Agriculture head Emma Molina has the opportunity to acquit and vindicate herself for blindly following the illegal orders of the Lim administration by allowing the fish pens to proliferate. She can closely monitor the activities of the fish pens, regulating the volume and the amount of feeds thrown into the river system. Failing that, she should be charged for dereliction of duty.
In my book, she and City Administrator Vlad Mata are accountable for abetting the violation of the city’s ordinance!
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LIES AND SECRECY. If a news item in a local weekly is to be believed, Mayor Benjie Lim is ready to resume his duties as mayor “soon”! Quoted was Mr. Vlad Mata.
His statement was made to validate the paper’s claim simply quoting unnamed sources, not even doctors, describing how well Mr. Lim is recovering from his stroke a month ago, making it appear that his stroke was not anything life threatening.
Mr. Mata is either hallucinating or merely keen on playing on the minds of Lim loyalists and Acting-Mayor Belen Fernandez. My impression is he is foisting the story that all the “harassment” in the city hall will soon end and the guilty should stop cooperating and spilling the beans because his boss will be back soon.
The claim is farthest from the truth because what is not being told the public was the fact that the massive stroke suffered by Mr. Lim compelled attending surgeons to open his skull in order to stop the massive hemorrhaging in his brain even before he was rushed to Manila. This is the verdict going around the medical sector in the city. It was a very serious condition that similarly led to the untimely death of Fernando Poe Jr. Let’s pray for his recovery but the truth must be told.
So contrary to Mr. Mata’s claim, I dare say Mr. Lim is not reporting back to the city hall anytime soon and I dare Mr. Mata to release a medical bulletin to refute my impression.
The confusion obtaining in the city has now made it imperative for the family to be forthright about the mayor’s condition. His condition is now a matter of public concern because it is being invoked to derail the efforts of the acting mayor to put some order at the city hall. Besides, how will they explain the secrecy if they keep it any longer? A week of privacy was reasonable, but more than a month?
Meanwhile, we have not heard Ms. Fernandez say that Mr. Mata is going to be held accountable for all the irregularities being discovered every day. Treating him with kid gloves is sending a wrong message about her determination to tread the Tuwid na Daan!
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CHAIN OF COMMAND. The case filed by Guv Spines in connection with the appointment of Sr. Supt. Marlou Chan is undoubtedly with reason and backed by law. What I found misplaced was the decision of the officialdom (including the provincial board) to go after the police superintendent’s neck, and not the authorities that ordered him to assume the post.
The provincial officials are barking up the wrong tree going to the extent of declaring Sr. Supt. Chan persona non grata for refusing to vacate his post. They obviously don’t understand how a chain of command operates in an organization, which is far from “rules” that politicians are accustomed to. It is not Mr. Chan’s option to stay or leave his post because he has orders to stay and do his job as provincial director. The persons responsible for his continued “unwanted” stay as provincial director are his immediate superiors under the chain of command principle. They should have been made the primary respondents, not Mr. Chan!
Where Mr. Chan could be held accountable were his reported partisan acts during the campaign period. If there is evidence to prove that, the provincial board should have gone to the National Police Commission for disciplinary action. But to declare him persona non grata for following his orders is definitely out of order, forgive the pun. Can you imagine what kind of police force we will have if we leave it to officers to decide whether they should stay or quit their posts? Heaven forbid!
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PITPIT CLUB. The organization of the Pangasinan Pitpit Club (introduced as Pangasinan Press Club) has been completed under the auspices of Amb. Antonio Cabangon-Chua’s media group. Its first mission is to wage a PR offensive to defend and protect the illegal sale of the MC Adore Hotel property, nothing about promoting professionalism in the practice. (Pitpit is local media’s reference to “attack and collect, defend and collect” practice).
Watch out for the officers going out with guns blazing. Then watch them fall disgraced and abandoned sooner than they expect it while their handlers scoot away unscathed.
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