By Ermin Garcia Jr.

 

THE Dagupan City councilors have every reason to be miffed by the city’s Public Information Office for dishing out half-truths (half-lies?) about the issues surrounding the delay in the passage of the city’s 2022 annual budget, particularly the message that points to them as the culprits behind the delay.

They jumped on the PIO for echoing the mayor’s lie that the councilors in the majority are playing politics and said nothing about the true facts borne out from the regular sessions of the city council. But of course, the PIO post wants to make Mayor Brian Lim look like the victim and the aggrieved. It’s the PIO’s job as the city hall’s propaganda arm.

But I’m afraid the councilors were shooting the wrong messenger. The PIO was created precisely to speak from the office of the city mayor. It is meant to be controlled by the mayor. It cannot be expected to operate and function like The PUNCH that posts and publishes facts from all sides. hehe.

The councilors should target the right messenger for their cause – the city mayor!

To PIO chief Ging Cardinoza, trabaho lang po! He has no choice but to comply or resign like Vlad Mata did if he does not agree with the mayor’s political tactics and methodology.

*          *          *          *

TWO OLD ADAGE. Dagupan Mayor Brian is frantic in bamboozling the city council to pass the 2022 city budget on his terms.

He doesn’t seem to understand the numbers game in a critical political battle that he created. He can keep on berating the councilors, continuously barrage the airwaves but the reality before him is his lie is not credible against 7 councilors who are sticking to their guns about what’s right and what’s wrong.

Mr. Lim gambled on the strength of the influence of his barkada, making him believe that the barkada can continue to manipulate public trust and get away with it. 

His biggest dilemma today is even his finance team can only afford to cite alibis for their boss’ failure to comply with the administrative tasks required by law. His team already conceded that the law is clear lest they come across as so stupid that they can’t understand the law.   

In brief, Mr. Lim is caught in a bind after all that he said about the councilors that refused to toe his line – “what the mayor wants, mayor gets.” 

But the councilors who toed the line in the past finally decided on the old adage – “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

Touché!

*          *          *          *

GAMBLING EPIDEMIC.  E-bingo. E-sabong.  Both online gambling activities are indications of what lies ahead.

Soon, every gambling activity will be online, from e-jueteng, e-pusoy, to e-cara-y-cruz! You have to hand it to Atong Ang!

And, with each online gambling legalized, expect the corresponding worsening social costs to families and to communities.

As things stand with the e-sabong, it claimed another suicide victim in Malasiqui. It’s not about gamers losing their fighting cocks but families losing a member out of shame in the family for not being able to pay off debts that piled up from playing e-sabong.

It’s a fact today that many families are suddenly suffering from lost or lesser take-home pay by the breadwinner in the family. The addiction is fast and furious. It’s losing once, then twice and the determination to win back the losses is what leads to addiction to e-sabong.

E-sabong has made it convenient for people to have fun, to bet… and to lose. If the local government does not act to stop this deadly gambling epidemic, the elected officials that tolerated it will meet their comeuppance from families who were waylaid by e-sabong.

That’s not a threat, it’s a promise.

*          *          *          *

THE FIGHT FOR HEALTHY LUNGS. I do hope President Duterte will veto the proposed law that will allow for liberal regulation of sale and use of vaporized e nicotine and non-nicotine products of vapes, particularly to the young.

The fact that COVID-19 has been hitting hard on people’s lungs didn’t seem to have registered in the minds of our lawmakers. Obviously, lobby money was difficult to resist.

Senator Pia Cayetano, a health advocate, fought its passage in the Senate, tooth and nail. Alas, it was a lonely uphill fight for her. But being a Cayetano, she was not one to give up the fight until it’s over. She fought and won the campaign to constrict the sale and use of cigarette smoking to the relief of millions of families. 

Vape smoking is the fancy way of smoking that deludes users into believing that their lungs are spared since it is not tobacco but plain vapor that goes into one’s lungs.

If that were the case, why are doctors protesting the law? Never did the medical sector speak with such a strong voice on any health issue tackled by Congress.  I can surmise that handling the Covid cases left to their care in huge numbers was as traumatic as the sufferings experienced by the distraught families who never really understood what hit them.

The doctors knew what, where and how the Covid victims were hit. It started with their lungs. Vape use will in effect be another Covid variant if Mr. Duterte does not veto the proposed law.

*          *          *          *

POLITICS IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH. Here’s piece of advice to fanatic fans and followers of the presidentiables. Pace yourself.

As you are probably aware by now, all the posts in social media about caravans, motorcades and pre-campaign rallies over the past weeks did not make your candidate win or lose. But you thought so.

Not even recent media interviews by GMA7 Network and ABS-CBN didn’t make any candidate win or lose. Now you know.

If you are one who’s prone to outtalking others each time about how well your candidate performed in the last forum or debate, you will likely be a candidate for a TKO, helpless and desperate to be healed at home weeks before D-Day – May 9!

What we’ve seen so far were mere political skirmishes that can’t and won’t make your candidate win on May 9. Expect the unexpected since most of the next skirmishes will not turn out in usual political rallies but on social media.

What should be expected beginning next week are daily flurry of fake news from trolls employed by all the presidentiables. Trying to discern which is fake and true will already take a lot of energy than your 30-daily regimen to stay fit.

Just watch out for the final scenes of battle in the last two weeks preceding D-Day… and pray that you will still be up and about to listen to the results of the count.

So, I suggest you take your doctor’s recommended home care tips to boost your immune system to heart. If you don’t, either Covid or the heat of the political campaign will take its toll on your body, that’s for sure.

Just sit back and enjoy how the skirmishes are played out before your eyes.

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments