Playing with Fire
Woman with balls
By Gonzalo Duque
AT her well-attended State of the City Address (SOCA), Mayor Belen T. Fernandez stood and sounded like a giant, towering lady of Dagupan.
And a voice of courage, too!
A seatmate was whispering “tinalo ni Belen ang predecessor niya ano!”
She was referring to her much praised restoration of the city budget after it plummeted to an all-time low if not total bankruptcy and putting in place a smoothly running treasury and finance department.
The guy said “Mayora’s unprecedented feat in restoring the city’s negative finances overnight was like a wizardry…super galing talaga.
From negative zero, the city’s finance picked up and ballooned to 280 percent in increased collections! In any language, how would you describe that!
There’s one item in her speech that we listened to very intently, her take on MC Adore, one issue that landed Dagupan in the national media because it involves a media mogul (Ambassador Tony Cabangon Chua).
The following are some of the unforgettable bullets.
Against Belen’s stand, the previous city administration sold MC Adore to Cabangon Chua at P119-M.
Long before the MC Adore purchase, which was attended by hocus pocus, then Vice Mayor Belen and her allies at the Sanggunian priced the McAdore several rungs above the P119-Million! They said it should have been from P250 M to P300 M!
Just to give you a glimpse of the unjust underpricing, Belen in her speech said the past administration priced the real estate on which the MC Adore stands at P5,000.00 per square meter, and yet just a few meters away, that same past administration sold the lot along AB Fernandez Avenue to Land Bank at P30,000 per square!
The real estate alone could earn P149 million!
The mayora also quoted official rates that place the MC Adore building at P149 million!
By the way, there were seven meetings already when Mayora and Ambassador Cabangon Chua met and discussed the controversial MC Adore purchase. Belen laments that even amidst their exchanges, kinakasuhan naman siya, papano ba naman yan!
Their conversation went like this, not literally, but substantially:
Ambassador: Yaman din lang na ayaw mong ibigay ang McAdore sa P119-Million, ibalik mo na ang young ibinayad ko at mga milyones pang side expenses.
Mayor: Ha! Pasencia na po, Ambassador, alam nyo pa naman na ang ciudad ay kakampi at ally nyo sa mga ipinupundar nyong negosyo, like Eternal Gardens, Orchids Hotel, DWIZ, Music Warehouse at iba pa. Doon lang tayo di nagkaintindihan sa McAdore kasi sobrang mababa ang presyo nyo, agrabyado ang taong bayan, agrabiyado ang Dagupeno.
Ambassador: Ha?!! Sorry, Belen, ang dami ng kinuha at inadvance ko diyan kay Tony Uy, milyones. Ipinahamak ako niyan. Gusto ko ibalik sa akin ang mga ni-released kong pera.”
Seems, our fighting mayor’s back is pushed against the wall. Siya na nga itong nagtutuwid ng transaction, siya pa ang pinagbibintangan ng graft and corruption.
In our view, si Belen ang taong hindi marunong mag korap, kasi ina ng ciudad, at ang gusto niyang mangyari lang ay yong tama.
On Tony Uy, hindi po ba ito yong gumawa ng transactions ng city on the Awai Deal which defrauded the City some P16-Million, etcetera?
Sayang, ang akala natin super negosyante si Tony Uy….yon pala super “Makapoy Demeritus.”
As things stand now, the big audience that listened to Mayor Belen saw the actual situation of the McAdore sale. You really can’t blame Mayor Fernandez for her hard stand… she’s just fighting for what is fair, what is just, what is right.
Sana ma-resolved na, so that the city can move on, on this issue. But, everybody knows that in all the areas of governance in the city, Belen scored flying with colors.
Given this situation, if no party will give in, you can be sure puti na ang buhok natin, hindi pa maresolve ang MC Adore issue. Kawawang Dagupan. Mayor Belen, help!
* * * *
NOTES: Tough and intricate issues such as the illegal fishpens affecting the fishing and the marine industry — the central livelihood and economic concern of Dagupan — will be threshed out and brought to clearest focus and hopefully result in a revitalized and stronger association that is looking after the best interest of fishing stake holders and the general interest of Dagupenos at the Fishpond Owners Operators and Fisherfolk Assn general meeting and election of directors and officers on May 31, at 2 pm. Good luck….
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
