By Gonzalo Duque

 

WE are getting tired of the exposes relative to the botched flood control projects in the country.

We have seen the magnitude of the problem. Can Juan de la Cruz do something about it?

My son Nanoy told me that he’s glad that all these shenanigans are being exposed, especially with the presence of social media.

The unmitigated corruption in flood control is just the tip of the iceberg. There are still other infrastructure projects involving our lawmakers.

Vice President Sara Duterte  has been claiming that the budget of DepEd, when she was still its secretary, was realigned  to the pockets of our congressmen.

These budgetary allocations would have gone to more sensible projects, like the construction of modern classrooms and the training of our teachers to further hone their skills in teaching our children. It could have gone to the nutrition program of our under-nourished and malnourished children.

There can only be one conclusion: Our government resources should be spent wisely and those robbing  our taxpayers’ money and  exploiting our natural resources through illegal schemes should be penalized with death penalty.

But, will it ever happen?

Former President Digong Duterte said it all, albeit kind of in jest,  in one of his State of the Nation Addresses:  If a high-magnitude earthquake strikes our country (I hope it will not), and all the congressmen, the senators and himself were all holed up in one building, it will be good for the country if all of them died there!

The issue on the  confidential fund being hurled against VP Sara is now the very reason why President Marcos should use all his confidential and intelligence funds to run after all the crooks in government.

With all the funds in his possession, it would be easy to go after the culprits.

O palabas lang ba ito?

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On the local front, I just learned that with the recent recommendation by three committees of the Dagupan Sangguniang Panlungsod, the city legal office is about to be ordered to file legal action against the defaulting contractors of the former Lim administration.

When my friend  Ermin Garcia Jr. was still alive, he kept on annoying Mayor Belen to go after the defaulting contractors.

I could not respond to Ermin’s demand then because at that time, we knew why Mayor Belen could not file cases on her own volition. 

Mayor Belen was just waiting for that opportunity to get the majority in the Sangguniang Panlungsod. Now, she has an overwhelming majority.

So far, the only case that I know that is still pending is the non-delivery of two motorboats that were already paid. To make it worse, it was made to appear as if these were delivered and received by two department heads, as evidenced by their signatures, which they said were forged, resulting in the filing of a falsification of public documents case against Brian Lim and company.

In the last three years, out of the three administrative and criminal cases filed against the Lims and their cohorts, the score is 2-1.

Let us see what the score will be when Atty. Aurora Valle, the city legal officer, files the necessary charges against Brian and company.

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Looking at the front page photo published in last week’s issue of The SUNDAY PUNCH, construction of the new city hall in front of the old one seems to be at a snail’s pace, depicting only a few workers on site.

I don’t think so!

I believe that the contractor, Robert Matias, my good friend, will finish and complete the project under the new terms of his contract.

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I really miss my friend, Ermin. I also missed the memorial in his honor on August 23 at the Star Plaza Hotel, attended by his two sisters, Josie and Charise, and their first cousins and other relatives. 

I’m really sorry. I had to beg off three days before the occasion because of a personal commitment.

Looking back at those years, my friendship with Ermin was further cemented because of my weekly column Playing with Fire, now changed to Out of the Fire.

Whenever I discussed a hot topic, Ermin would caution me and edit my column, so as not to make it defamatory. 

So far, I haven’t been herded to court because of my column. There can only be a first time. 

Should I retire now? 

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