Punchline
Misplaced outburst
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
MAYOR Belen Fernandez perhaps felt justified in her angry outburst before the city hall employees in reaction to news and opinion published in The PUNCH about the continuing open defiance of the city’s ordinance and national law by illegal fish pen owners. I can’t blame her because she realizes the buck stops with her.
But it was disheartening to learn that instead of taking City Agriculturist Emma Molina to task and making her accountable for the continued operation of illegal fish pens despite her series of warnings, deadlines and ultimatum, the mayor decided to shoot the messenger and the message – The PUNCH and its reports.
I found this ironic because The PUNCH alone has been consistently and consciously making Molina accountable because it was she who made no bones about tolerating the illegal fish pens that started during the term of her predecessor Mayor Benjie Lim. In fact, The PUNCH fully supported then Vice Mayor Belen in her advocacy, castigating the Lim administration for the proliferation and continued operation of fish pens. That The PUNCH continues to call attention to Molina’s anomalous policy tolerating fish pens for four years into Mayor Belen’s administration, is just being consistent with the mayor’s advocacy – supporting her calls, as mayor, to stop illegal fish pen operations as the amended ordinance mandates.
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MAYOR’S PRIVILEGE. Mayor Belen sorely missed the point with her pained reaction that her having caused the demolition of 600 fish pens doesn’t seem to matter to her detractors (perhaps in her mind, including The PUNCH?). Precisely because she accomplished that, it made most everyone, including The PUNCH, believe that she truly wants the pens demolished, but there is Molina who appears to have the last say, that some illegal fish pens must stay in operation.
The mayor had no harsh words for Molina, only for The PUNCH for publishing photos contributed by readers that showed fish pen owners ignoring her order 15 days past her October 30 deadline.
Admittedly, the thought that the good mayor would perhaps finally shake up things after seeing the photos, crossed my mind – that she would lower the boom on Molina, and direct the city legal office to finally haul the recidivists among the fish pen owners to the court.
Boy, was I wrong to even believe it could happen. The mayor upheld Molina, didn’t order the filing of cases and told city hall employees to ignore The PUNCH. Ok, that’s her privilege as mayor.
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SINGLE-MINDED AND PREDICTABLE. Nonetheless, I still believe there is no absolutely no reason for the city, especially under Mayor Belen, to fail in her bid to strictly enforce the ordinance banning fish pens because its neighbor Binmaley has proven it can be done. In fact, Binmaley took only one order, one ultimatum and an effective municipal agriculturist to enforce the ordinance some 7 years ago.
In Dagupan, Mayor Belen has proven on many occasions that with political will, graft in public office can be eliminated and full efficiency in the bureaucracy can be achieved. A simple ordinance banning fish pens only requires political will.
On the other hand, lest The PUNCH’s motives become suspect as being political, I assure all elected public servants that it is single-minded and predictable. It will always support good governance by any elected public official to a fault. (The PUNCH was bruited about in the past as being partly owned by the mayor because it supported her advocacies; it was harassed and sued for libel by the Cabangon Chua group for publishing the city government’s statements position on the MC Adore case). No problem there.
But in the same vein, The PUNCH will not hesitate to expose and act on the public’s advocacy and interests to stop corruption when and where it rears its ugly head.
Right now, the people suspect corruption has been rearing its ugly head at the City Agriculture Office. And people are beginning to suspect, too, that some councilors are themselves conspiring with the CAO and other city hall officials in protecting the operation of illegal fish pens.
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NEW TRAFFIC RULES. I read the salient provisions of the amended traffic ordinance of Dagupan. Everything looks positive and constructive except for two issues that were either overlooked or deliberately omitted.
First, it said nothing about need to regulate street signs and posting of tarps on sidewalks and electric posts. An inventory of street signs in the city’s main roads will show conflicting traffic rules. For years, new ones were installed forgetting to remove outdated signs, a situation that confuses both motorists and pedestrians today. There are ‘No Parking‘ and ‘Loading and Unloading Zone’ signs on designated parking areas, while there are ‘No vendors allowed on sidewalk’ signs on sidewalks fully occupied by vendors, etc. There should only be enforceable road and streets signs. Then, there are also as many advertising tarpaulins beside road signs that obscure the signs.
Second, it provides penalties for motorists who do not make U-turns in front of Silverio’s Restaurant along Arellano-Bani Road. But traffic authorities around the world will tell us that it is hazardous to make a U-turn on any bridge approach or within 20 meters from an intersection. The designated U-turn area fronting Silverio’s is about 50 feet from the approach to the Dawel Bridge, and about 30 feet from the Arellano-De Venecia Ext Highway junction. With that rule, there’s an accident waiting to happen. What POSO, LTO or DPWH should do instead is to mark yellow paint in the middle of both lanes of the road to mean strictly “No Overtaking, No U-Turn.”
The ordinance author, Councilor Alvin Coquia, owner of Silverio’s, should have known this early on.
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SAVING THE DRUG PUSHER-KAPITAN. The provincial board should call officials of the Liga ng Barangay Federation to a consultation or dialogue.
The Pangasinan Police Provincial Office has already expressed alarm over the increasing incidence of barangay kapitans being nabbed in buy-bust operations and as subjects of search and arrest warrants.
There obviously are more barangay kapitans involved in the drug trade. If they want to stay alive in the war on drugs, it’d be best for them to come out and surrender so proper security arrangements can be made for them because the situation for kapitans in the drug trade are precarious these days. Their lives are in serious danger. Why so? Their protectors would hate to see them arrested because their detention pose a serious threat to the protectors’ safety net. If the arrested kapitans’ are not properly secured, they will likely be targeted for execution by the protectors’ hitmen. Not a few of self-confessed drug pushers have been killed shortly after their arrests.
An arranged surrender and secured detention by the provincial board or Liga for the confessed drug pusher kapitan can save lives.
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