Punchline
Decorp’s faux pas
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
WHY did Decorp do that to Mayor Belen Fernandez?
This was the common sentiment in the streets on learning that Decorp refused to comply with the mayor’s simple request for the transfer of the electric meter of the city government at the MC Adore premises to Malimgas market in order to further illuminate the area occupied by the Baratillo for the city fiesta.
So, I have no doubt that the recommendation of City Administrator Atty. Farah Decano to file a damage suit vs Decorp if it does not comply with the city government’s request case has public support! Indeed, there can be no valid reason to reject the city government’s request as the customer.
What makes her timely recommendation compelling is the fact that the city government cannot but assert its authority and right regardless of the fact that Decorp is the city’s biggest taxpayer.
To protect the city government’s rights and interests is what the city hall is all about!
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Still on Decorp’s faux pas, it’s retail sales manager Jojo Liwag and lawyer Randy Castilan appeared at the KBP Forum last Thursday to shed light on their decision to reject the mayor’s request as they reiterated the offer to install a new meter.
Thankfully, Castilan walked in to The PUNCH office last Friday to reiterate Decorp’s side of the issue. I gathered a couple more interesting facts from our frank discussion. It would appear that:
1). Decorp management clearly feared it was being dragged into the legal issues confronting both the city government and the Citystate Bank (and the Amb ALC Holdings & Management Corp. as the winner of the public bidding for the MC Adore but which process is being questioned by the Fernandez administration in court). That’s a classic “wrong mistake.” Decorp read too much and beyond the context of a simple request letter.
2) Decorp determined later that, indeed, there could be a legal and technical problem that would prevent it from complying – the Malimgas market is already metered so it cannot install a second meter. But the letter did not ask for an additional meter for the market’s operations, but simply a transfer.
3) Decorp suggested a temporary meter because it determined the meter was for a temporary use – for the baratillo. My sense of it is, Decorp created a problem of its own when it made a distinction over the use of a temporary meter and the registered meter since both simply register consumption. Then on hindsight, Atty. Castilan said the city hall actually could have just as easily connected the power line for the baratillo to the meter in question at the MC Adore property instead of tapping the meter at the sanggunian premises today. Of course, this in hindsight.
4) A simple connection from the baratillo to the electric meter inside MC Adore makes simple sense to allow for the baratillo’s consumption to be separated and isolated. Why and how it ended at the sanggunian’s meter is anybody’s guess but that connection will certainly adversely affect the city’ council’s budget for electricity. With more reason, the city hall should switch from the sanggunian to the MC Adore today since the baratillo is not a legit activity of the sanggunian and there’s no way accountability for the event’s consumption can be determined.
5). And going beyond the contentious meter transfer issue, Atty. Castilan volunteered his personal suggestion: if the city has no more need for the electric meter at the MC Adore, the city hall should already request for the termination of the contract for the meter. This is to belie our insinuation that there was a backroom agreement to protect Citystate Savings Bank. Now, that’s a sound suggestion!
Meanwhile, damage has been done to the city government’s image and position. Decorp must send its profuse apology for its lapse in judgment that led it to reply with an incorrect response. It should not worry about the libel case filed by Citystate because it, being a harassment suit, is easily defensible. But rejecting the mayor’s legitimate request, as a customer, is something it cannot easily defend.
An apology owing to a lapse (something that happens daily to all corporations), will save Decorp millions worth of embarrassment and in actual damages. (In turn, city hall could give Decorp a plaque of appreciation for being the city’s top taxpayer!).
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DIRTY TRICK. Someone in Comelec clearly attempted to play dirty and embarrass both Guv Spines and the Comelec en banc.
It’s practically incredible to think that Guv can miss out on a purely routinely administrative matter after the election, after running for public office for the last 12 years!
I think PNoy should already talk to loyal troops who have not and could not move on with the defeat of Nani Braganza in the last polls. At the rate they are going, they are likely to embarrass PNoy himself as the brain behind these no-brainer follies.
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GUV LOSING THE WAR? There is something that should seriously worry Guv Spines today. The city hall and police station in Urdaneta City appear to be ignoring his call for an all-out war vs illegal drugs in the province.
For Dangerous Drugs Board chairman Bebot Villar to sound the alarm over reports that drug-pushing in that city has become even more rampant, it can only mean that the enemies are already at the gates. Worse, its’ an indication that the province is losing its war in that area.
If Guv Spines is dead serious about leaving a legacy of a drug-free province, it’s time he starts breathing down the necks of mayors and police chiefs. But never mind the legacy, it’s the lives of Pangasinenses, their family ties and the future that are at stake today.
Sec Bebot has already stepped up his own campaign in the province to help. Read his Deretsahan column! He’s not one to mince words!
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TOP TAXPAYERS. A grateful Taguig City government recently thanked and acknowledged the contributions of the city’s top 80 corporate taxpayers during a “Thanksgiving Lunch” in their honor ! It was a very positive gesture on the part of the Lani Cayetano administration. That was appreciated by the businessmen led by the Ayalas.
Dagupan City and the rest of the towns and cities in Pangasinan should adopt the practice to promote closer partnership between the public and business sectors.
Anyway, in our attempt to initiate a recognition for the city’s top partners, The PUNCH asked the Dagupan city hall for the list of the top 10 taxpayers (see page 1). I was impressed by the lineup but was equally disappointed at the same time to note that not one of the companies owned by Mr. Antonio Cabangnon Chua operating in the city was on the list. This did not jibe with the claims of his group that the Cabangon Chua empire contributes much to the city’s economic development.
I figured there must have been some mistake so I asked for a validation. And I was shocked to note that the Eternal Gardens, the obvious crown jewel among Mr. Cabangon Chua’s group of companies in Dagupan, in fact paid even less than 10% of the 10th top taxpayer.
How was it possible that Eternal Gardens earned so much less and worse, that it claimed it earned the same revenues in 2012 and 2013 for it to pay exactly the same amount up to the last centavo in business taxes for two consecutive years? Yes, the same! Hmmm. Perhaps, Mr. Cabangon Chua’s spokesman at the DWIZ can explain these even in his gutter language. I can print the amounts here next issue if he doesn’t have easy access to his big boss’ business records to verify this report, with his permission, of course.
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