Punchline
Lessons learned from fish pens
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
THE report of our Hilda Austria on the presence of illegal fish pens in Barangay Pugaro is instructive in many fields and concerns. Read and sigh.
Firstly, the businessmen and barangay officials operating fish pens have no fear of the city hall. Not the Lim administration then, surely not the Fernandez administration today. In fact, the records of City Agriculturist Emma Molina, (assuming she keeps records) will show that the violators can already be considered recidivists. They are the same operators that operated and whose pens were dismantled during the Lim administration, operated and again dismantled by the Fernandez administration.
Secondly, all the operators are well-heeled, if not well-connected. Among them Erwin Dy, Darius delos Angeles, Lilia Yasar, and yes, Pugaro kapitan Ador Bancod. Each time the city hall orders a crackdown, they have the same plea – “we are going to lose heavily” – and always get the same results – “grace period of 3 months.”
Thirdly, in all cases, no penalties or fines were imposed.
Fourthly, not a pipsqueak is heard from any of the councilors to protest the continued presence of illegal fish pens. Not from the majority, not from the minority. In fact, the honorable councilors have withheld approval of the amended fishery ordinance that specifically bans operation of fish pens in the city’s rivers.
Fifth, the fish pen operators know when to assert themselves – at least 6 months before an election period.
So there. The illegal fish pen operators have until December 31 to pollute the city’s rivers, and they know they have the city’s key officials well under control.
* * * *
A QUESTION OF ACCOUNTABILITY. Relative to this issue, I received a letter from a certain “Juanita G. Cayabyab” who claims to be from Barangay Bonuan Gueset. Frankly, from the tone of her letter, while congratulating us for reporting the existence of the illegal fish pens, she zeroed in why we didn’t call the attention of Mayor Belen Fernandez. Then she suspected us of coddling the mayor being a “friend” or because of “politics.” Duh?
Sure, Mayor Belen is a friend, as much as former Mayor Benjie Lim was. Perhaps unknown to many, Benjie and I had honest and legit business deals as friends long before he became a public official, a relationship which I cannot say about Mayor Belen and I.
If I was coddling the mayor simply because she’s a friend, Ms. Cayabyab failed to see that it was only The PUNCH that exposed the fish pens’ existence, much like when it was only The PUNCH that exposed the illegal fish pens during the Lim administration. Me, coddling the mayor? Try again.
Obviously, Ms. Cayabyab was the one thinking politics when she thought we should have taken Mayor Belen to task, not City Agriculturist Molina.
Ms. Cayabyab fails to understand that as the city official on top of the enforcement of the city’s fisheries ordinance, Ms. Molina is the one directly accountable, not the mayor. If we are to make the mayor immediately accountable for every single enforcement and implementation problem, what’s the point of designating officials, paying them salaries to handle and manage specific sectors?
As the chief executive, Mayor Belen only has command responsibility for the actions and results of their performance of her officials.
Having said that, when I felt it should be Ms. Molina that should be made to account for the sudden proliferation, to our surprise and to the credit of Mayor Belen, it was she who did. On her own, she made herself directly accountable. (In contrast, both Mayor Benjie and Ms. Molina never directly responded to our questions and concerns in the past).
Did I have to call Mayor Belen’s attention? Obviously, not with this mayor.
* * * *
BARANGAY PROTECTION. I have no doubt the Pangasinan Provincial Police Office and the Dagupan City Police Station are truly doubling their efforts in order to win the war against illegal drugs.
More top personalities are being collared every month.
I only wonder why no barangay official has been hauled to jail for peddling or protecting illegal drugs. Is it possible that there is not a single barangay chairman or kagawad among the top drug personalities in any of the towns? If so, that’s hardly believable.
As everyone in law enforcement knows, no pusher can go undetected in a day’s time without a barangay kapitan knowing about him or her. If a pusher is able to operate, it means the pusher is enjoying the protection of the kapitan and you don’t need a rocket scientist to figure that out.
Out of some 1,300 plus barangay kapitans and more than 5,000 kagawads, it is too far fetched to believe that there are at least 20 in cahoots with drug dealers?
* * * *
SK AND POLITICAL DYNASTIES. The fight to stop political dynasties in the country may yet be won if Congress’ bicameral conference committee finally approves a measure seeking to reform the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK).
The main criticism against SK is it has become a training ground for future traditional politicians being members of political dynasties.
The proposed provisions will essentially stop present political dynasties and traditional politicians from extending their influence and control over the SK system who get their children elected as key officers in all levels.
Without the politicians’ children in SK, there will soon be lesser members of political dynasties that will be lured to seek public office. With this rule, we can reasonably expect that in about 6 years, the country will see less political dynasties in the horizon by natural attrition.
It is a small step but nonetheless significant step if, indeed, SK’s rules governing the organization’s processes and eligibility of leaders are amended today.
The problem is, it is still the political dynasties today that will dictate if that rule will be adopted at all.
* * * *
POLLING. In this week’s issue, we published the results of the polling that our friend Art Valenzuela, the managing director of Data Advisers polling firm, did on the local political front.
While the results of any polling are usually held suspect by any group that is negatively affected by the results, I share the view that it is healthy for the community to hear of any group challenging the validity of the process and the interpretation of the statistics. This process also helps build or destroy the credibility of the polling firm depending on how it is able to defend its process and findings.
In the case of Data Advisers, Mr. Valenzuela has expressed willingness to explain the scientific process adopted for the polling to anyone who cares to understand how the numbers were reached and calculated.
If there is any one single benefit I can see for the regular polling, it is seeing political entities and parties constantly mapping out new strategies for communication and distribution of information in order to improve on their numbers. With social media’s increasing influence and effectiveness, vote-buying will no longer be enough as a campaign strategy to win an election.
The decision of Art to help establish polling as a useful tool in political campaigns should therefore be welcomed.
(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)
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