Think about it
Guv Spines slams drugs trafficking!
By Jun Velasco
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”—2 Corinthians 9:8
WE’D rather use Dagupeña, instead of Dagupeño, in referring to our city populace.
We use the female gender because the city is bearing children. Males don’t bear children, so there.
Dagupenas under Lady Mayor Belen T. Fernandez are like pregnant or expectant mothers.
How come? There are talks of new things appearing in the horizon. The city’s has a growing number of Dagupeñas who want to have a part in the success of the new leadership. The optimistic mindset must have arisen from Mayor Belen’s habit of consulting and listening to leaders and the people.
For one, the fishpond owners’ non-stop praise of Mayor Belen as a “listening mother” has created an air of spontaneity and hearty relationship between them.
“Maanos ya mandengel” (she is patient in listening), says balik-Dagupan Alfredo Dawana, president of Fishpond Owners and Operators Fisherfolk Association of Dagupan City Inc. (Foofadci) in one of their several meetings.
Mayor Belen is taking time with the fishpond owners/operators for obvious reasons. Dagupan is famous worldwide with the bangus industry; it’s possible the lady mayor can’t take her eyes off it.
Here comes fellow columnist Gonzalo Duque trying to cook up the possible conversion of the “inutile” city plaza into something economically, socially and politically vibrant.
Rightly so because the “mis-use” of this prime real estate in the city’s central part defies modern urban planning.
Meanwhile, barangay residents across the Pantal River are dreaming of converting their street into a mini Roxas Boulevard complete with a row of eateries and restaurants along the promenaders’ bay walk.
Such are random developments, which could take shape and push the city to new facets of growth and progress later.
* * * *
The drug menace is known everywhere, but it’s discussed in whispers. Shabu is now more expensive than gold (P4,000 per gram); its sales is powerful because it’s done in secret.
The drug business is run like a many-headed hydra with octopus-like tentacles. Many politicians and high-ranking uniformed officials are involved in it.
The Chinese Triad is in it. Ditto with the African mafia, Japan’s Yakuza.
Local drug lords run its distribution networks, and some have been caught maintaining secret manufacturing facilities. The hydra is so vast that no agency like the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) can successfully smash it. They can only post anti-illegal drugs slogans, but you can’t fight international drug syndicates with slogans.
It’s heartwarming, therefore, that the leader of the province, Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr., has sealed with PDEA regional director Jeoffrey Tacio a total war partnership against illegal drugs trafficking in Pangasinan.
We think the war must involve everybody from the leadership of the province to the barangays, focusing on its prevention and mobilizing the political machinery to include youth organizations, public health officials, education officials, civil society, the senior citizens playing active roles.
The strategy is to shut down the market. This is where the provincial government comes in.
Gov. Espino must make his “I love Pangasinan” movement work on it.
We wish Guv Spines success in this opportunity of a lifetime.
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