Punchline
Dagupan’s Blue Ribbon Committee
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
THE first investigation of the Dagupan sanggunian’s Blue Ribbon Committee on our complaint about the sudden mushrooming of illegal fish pens prior to the last May elections finally set the tone for establishing transparency and accountability, not only of elected officials but of department heads as well.
The objective of the exercise was achieved by the committee member-councilors (led by Councilor Joey Netu Tamayo). Apparently, City Agriculturist Emma Molina acquitted herself from any accountability and blamed it on former Mayor Benjie Lim’s policy that effectively removed from her the responsibility of enforcing the city’s ordinance. (See our page 1 story) According to her, it became the responsibility of the River and Coastal Management Protection Office (RCPMO) created by Mr. Lim and headed by his executive assistant Butch Gutierrez. Indeed, another “magical” creation by Mr. Lim.
So, the culprit was Mr. Gutierrez. His office’s operations were anything but the protection of the city’s rivers and coastal lines. What the city saw instead was a protection racket sanctioned by the office of the city mayor ostensibly to raise campaign funds for Mr. Lim’s reelection! It was obvious that the operators of the illegal fish pens paid a lot for the privilege to be protected by the mayor. For managing to keep the illegal fish pens in place until the elections, Mr. Gutierrez surely deserved everything he earned from the city hall’s last racket.
This corner had praised Mr. Gutierrez profusely in the past as Mr. Lim’s pointman in clearing the city streets of hawkers and illegal vendors. He demonstrated what political will could do for a community. Alas, it was this same staunch dedication that he impressed us with that he applied, but this time to cover up a repulsive sell-out to favor his patron at the expense of the city’s already depleted natural resources.
For their hubris, Mr. Gutierrez and his patron, Mr. Lim, should forever be remembered as the two who shamelessly arranged for the pollution of the city’s rivers for their personal gains. Shame on them.
Going back to Ms. Molina, while she may not be made fully accountable, it must be told that she lent herself to the cover-up by being silent on the arrangements employed by Mr. Lim when media (particularly The PUNCH) sought out her explanation to the public. I don’t recall her saying that she had been relieved of the responsibility by Mr. Lim and that it was already Mr. Gutierrez’s responsibility to explain. She held back, and perhaps understandably so, because she had orders to zip her mouth. But even that cannot acquit her fully.
While the sanggunian limited itself to investigation in aid of legislation, there is nothing to stop anyone, however, from filing a complaint before the Ombudsman against Messrs. Lim and Gutierrez for their blatant dereliction of their mandated duties. Ms. Molina can supply the arguments she presented to the committee.
And apropos to the Blue Ribbon Committee’s mandate, did it find the creation of RCPMO legal? How was it funded? If it was not legal, who should be made accountable for allowing fund releases to that office’s operations?
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CABANGON CHUA VS. MAYOR BELEN. It’d be interesting to hear Mr. Antonio Cabangon Chua, the chairman of the Citystate Savings Bank (CSB) that continues to operate in Dagupan City sans the required business and building permits, explain how his bank is able to enjoy the privilege that is not extended to any ordinary business establishment in the city.
Is it possible that hands of some powerful persons inside the city hall have been greased for the privilege? If so, Dagupeños would like to know who in city hall is/are protecting him. That information from him or his proxies should be enough for Dagupeños to demand the immediate issuance of all permits to his bank without further ado to finally legitimize his operations and to save him from further embarrassment in global banking for operating his bank in Pangasinan illegally.
On the other hand, this issue continues to fester because the Fernandez city hall has been dragging its feet for reasons only known to the city hall occupants. If an ukay-ukay store dared to operate inside the market without a business permit, there would have been no buts about it – it will be closed. But not the Citystate Savings Bank. Why?
Of course, everyone knows that the only way such an illegal arrangement can be managed is for city hall to allow it for a consideration. We saw it all with Mr. Lm as mayor. What could be the “consideration” for the Fernandez city hall? City Engineer Virginia Rosario was reportedly asked to submit her position about the failure of the bank to secure a building permit before acting on the bank’s application for a business permit. That was in July…it’s November! That must be some “consideration” in city hall being entertained for the city engineer to make her position on the issue wait for 6 months or more. Watch your back Mayor Belen!
If Mr. Cabangon Chua insists on doing business with the city government his own way, Belen-watchers agree that the burden now lies with Mayor Belen to prove to the city that nobody in her circle is on the sly pocketing protection money since the bank’s operations continue to this day. Foremost, she must explain why she tolerates Mr. Cabangon Chua. Is the mayor afraid of a Mr. Cabangon Chua?
If on the other hand, Mr. Cabangon Chua is crying foul alleging undue harassment by Mayor Belen for denying him the permits, then he should by all means make his case in public to clear the air once and for all, for everyone’s benefit. The problem is, he has not, and appears to be reluctant to do so. Why? Is there something that he knows that he’s afraid for everyone to know? Something about the MC Adore deal?
Well, bring it on, Mr. Cabangon-Chua.
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CABANGON CHUA’S BEEF. Still on Mr. Cabangon Chua’s attempt to muzzle The PUNCH with a libel case.
Not many are aware that on top of owning a weekly news magazine, a business newspaper and a radio station network, Mr. Cabangon Chua has effective control over the Publishers Association of the Philippines (PAPI) and the Federation of Provincial Press Clubs of the Philippines (FPPCP). It is no secret that he funds the two organizations’ activities through his Philippine Weekly Graphic publisher, Johnny Dayang. It is Mr. Cabangon Chua’s money that makes it possible for Mr. Dayang to remain the chairman of PAPI for almost two decades now.
And if that wasn’t enough, Mr. Dayang recently crowned himself the chairman of the FPPCP, too, without even heading a single provincial press club, obviously at Mr. Cabangon Chua’s bidding. His sidekick, Allan Sison, remains the FPPCP president even if he is no longer the president of the Pangasinan Press Club. Only in the Philippines, courtesy of Mr. Cabangon Chua.
The Dayang-Sison duo has since marched into Pangasinan after Mr. Benjie Lim lost his reelection bid and disappeared. Their marching order from Mr. Cabangon Chua was to organize a PR offensive with the PPC leading it for him. The mission: to protect and defend his tainted acquisition of the MC Adore hotel properties. So the Dayang-Sison duo, with the backing of Mr. Lim’s lost media command, quickly attempted to overthrow The PUNCH columnist Gonz Duque as PPC president and to install the ragtag loudspeakers of Mr. Benjie Lim replacing him at the helm of PPC. The carrot offered to the PPC members was a P500K fund, courtesy of Mr. Cabangon Chua. What a cheap price to pay for the privilege to control and direct Pangasinan media practitioners’ reports. Fortunately, the court stopped them and sustained the status quo in PPC. I sincerely pray that Mr. Cabangon Chua will not succeed in adding the press club to his stable, and the legit practitioners in the club who value journalistic independence, will stand up to Mr. Cabangon Chua’s insulting “cash-control” offensive.
When the duo’s coup vs. Gonz fizzled out, Mr. Cabangon Chua set his eyes on The PUNCH as his new target. He didn’t sue me as publisher-editor alone which would have been logical in a libel case but he cited my whole staff (editorial, business and production) in that libel complaint he had filed in Pasig City, not in Dagupan. (Thank God, the names our accounts supervisor, dummy layout specialist, security and messenger were not included in our editorial box). To describe the libel complaint merely as harassment would be an understatement.
Mr. Cabangon Chua’s beef against The PUNCH was obviously not about the integrity of his bank since it continues to operate illegally, nor about our ethical practice of journalism since he could have simply asked that his bank’s explanation be published in full and we would have acquiesced. What it really is, is his desperate need to get The PUNCH out of his way because he can’t control it. And because nobody can.
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