Punchline
Easier to apply for president
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
AS we go into the start of the campaign period for national elective posts, particularly for the presidency and vice presidency, I’d like to call attention to our incongruous system in selecting our leaders vis-à-vis our preferences in our daily lives.
I am reprinting below the qualifications for young ladies who recently wanted to become Miss Alaminos City. Read carefully:
“Qualifications include being a bonafide resident of Alaminos City with at least six months of residency, single without children, 16-25 years old at the time of the pageant, at least 5’2” in height, and not a title holder in any provincial/regional /national/international pageant.
Documentary requirements are application form, high school/college diploma, medical certificate for both physical and mental well-being, certificate of good moral character from school/church/barangay/professional organization, parent’s consent if below 18 years old, two photographs (one close-up and one full body), one photocopy of NSO birth certificate, and an endorsement from their respective barangay.
Above requirements are still minimal compared to qualifications and documentary proofs to apply as a security guard in an agency.
Now read this:
Qualification for Philippine President and Vice-President of the Philippines: Must be a natural born citizen of the Philippines, a registered voter, able to read and write, at least 40 years of age on the day of election and resident of the Philippines for at least 10 years immediately preceding the election.
Now, weep for PH!
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TO KILL OR BE KILLED. The acknowledgment finally by PDEA of the existence of narcopolitics in the country hopefully will bring us closer to a solution.
For too long, our politicians and law enforcement agencies have avoided mentioning the word ‘narcopolitics’ in Philippine context. Sure, we get reports of barangay officials and some councilors and relatives of congressmen being arrested in buy-bust operations or being in possession of huge quantities of shabu but these were described as another normal scenario in the campaign vs. illegal-drug trading.
Now that narcopolitics’ existence has been exposed, the illegal drug problem has assumed an entirely new face. This is no longer a retail problem in the streets but the wholesale corruption of our political and democratic system.
With narcopolitics fast creating its web of corruption, the PDAF scandals involving senators and congressmen now appear like petty opportunistic thieves because PDAF’s attraction was like a cookie jar where one constantly finds fingers sneaking in to pull out a cookie or two until the last cookie is gobbled up. But not in narcopolitics.
Narcopoliticians are in it forever. They will have to kill for drugs or be killed for it to keep their political power not for themselves but for the drug syndicates in return for their fat bank accounts.
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HOTSPOT AS INSURANCE. The conflicting assessment of the political situation in Pangasinan between the PNP and the Comelec is amusing as it is instructive.
I personally have no quarrel with the decision of the PNP to make Pangasinan listed as an ‘election-watch area,’ a diplomatic way to spell “hotspot’! And P/Sr. Supt. Edgar Okuba is right when he pointed out that being listed as a hotspot actually presents an added value to efforts to ensure peace and order in the province and in the towns and cities.
Our overly sensitive politicians hate the word ‘hotspot’ because they feel alluded to and responsible for the label which is not necessarily the case! In fact, if contending politicians want to ensure there will be no bloodshed between and among their supporters, they should sign a more useful covenant that says both will ask for the presence of more police and army personnel to the town! That way it saves them resources from employing security guards and armed goons to watch each other.
So I wonder what benefit can be gained by Pangasinan if Comelec decides the province is not an ‘area of concern.’ If the prospect increases the risk of violence, then Guv Spines should lead the call to make Comelec include Pangasinan as one of the region’s ‘area of concern.’
At the end of the day, what matters is whether or not political violence erupted under the incumbent officials’ watch. The label ‘hotspot’ or ‘area of concern’ is the insurance that communities need, and the politicians, too.
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TREE-CUTTNG IS BACK. Here we go again! DPWH has applied for more permits to cut trees along the province’s highways to be able to complete its widening projects.
There are hard lessons to be learned from the Manila North Road saga that saw more than 800 decades-old trees indiscriminately cut. Among them was the failure of DPWH and its contractor to earthball any of the trees as stipulated in the agreement reached among DPWH, DENR, Sanggunian Panlalawigan, the Save the Trees Movement and the Office of the Governor.
Also, the Board Members can serve future generations’ interests by creating an oversight committee specifically to watch the tree-cutting proceedings by DPWH.
Any new memorandum of understanding that will be entered into between DPWH (and its contractors), and DENR should also define accountabilities and consequences for any violation of the terms.
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MAYOR BELEN’S WATERLOO. Without a doubt, Mayor Belen Fernandez has surpassed any achievement of past mayors in terms of delivery of services to Dagupan’s citizens.
The city cannot but take cognizance of the significant and giant leaps the city has taken in improving children’s health and education, development of sports talents, creating livelihoods, improving peace and order, care for senior citizens and impoverished families, fiscal management of city’s funds, enhanced Bangus Festival, upgrading of roads, effective disaster management, etc.
Her only waterloo is the continued existence of illegal fish pens in the city’s rivers in spite of pronouncements early in 2013 that she will stop the wanton pollution of the city’s rivers started by then Mayor BSL. She’s already on her third year, and City Agriculturist Emma Molina is still able to protect the illegal fish pen owners who continue to pollute the city’s rivers.
The latest I gathered on the illegal fish pens is that Molina will allow the illegal pen owners to continue to pollute the rivers until April because (read carefully and weep again) the owners refuse to dismantle their illegal structures and the city government cannot demolish them with an ill-equipped and undermanned team! This after her initial alibi invoking the absence of implementing rules and regulations of the amended ordinance bombed out. Fortunately, Mayor Belen was quick that time to throw her off.
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NEW EDITOR. Our columnist Jun Velasco has moved on to become the new editor-in-chief of Capitol Post, a local paper owned by Mita Sison Duque. His column item in this issue will be his last in The PUNCH.
His column items in The PUNCH for the past 15 years certainly served our readers well, and we can do no less than to wish him the best in his new position as editor in an equally respectable paper. Good luck Jun V!
(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)
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