By Ermin Garcia Jr.

 

FOR Dagupan Mayor Brian Lim to admonish the city council “to stop playing politics” is laughable if not completely comical because it is hypocritical. More than anything else, it’s clearly an indication that he’s grasping at straws to cover up his incompetence and inefficiency as the city’s chief executive. Did he think for a while that such a call will endear him to voters??

His call unwittingly incriminated him, a self-projection of his brand of “playing politics” and and that sloganeering (copied from his father-mayor) is all he knows doing as mayor.

In fact, he made no bones demonstrating that about himself before he caused the delay in passing of the 2022 budget. Recall that he deliberately distributed more funds to his favored kapitans from the Barangay Fund than the rest when it was intended to be equally distributed to all. But he obviously just can’t help but make it as another chance to play “hard ball politics” with those loyal to his nemesis, Belen Fernandez. Touché!

Is he simply clueless about what he says or simply getting pea-brain advice from his barkada?

It’d be interesting to see what campaign lines he will be dishing out that he will unwittingly mouth and quickly boomerang on him. Perhaps, the next most logical tactic that his four deputies will recommend is to do a math on how much more should be doled out to appease those who suffered from his “playing politics.”

It’s a continuous self-destruct mode for him and the tragedy is he and his barkada are not even aware of it.  They are much too engaged in power-tripping, that they can’t see what’s standing before them on the mirror.

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MAKING IMMUNE SYSTEM WORK. In our editorial this issue, we discussed how the third surge came from behind, particularly after the provincial government succeeded in vaccinating more than 45% of the targeted qualified persons.

We maintain it was more about the wrong and misled expectations of the populace about the anti-Covid vaccines. The overemphasis on the need for people to be vaccinated gave the wrong impression that the vaccines is all that’s needed to gain full immunity from the coronavirus.

In the process, vaccinated people became lax about maintaining and boosting their own personal immune system. The vaccinated began to believe that there was no more risk in ignoring social distancing in crowded public areas, whether in an open or enclosed environment.

So, more than stressing further the need for more people to be vaccinated and to heighten consciousness about wearing face masks (and shield) and constant washing of hands (all of which are just preventive tools), the provincial, town and city governments must employ an aggressive information and education campaign about boosting personal immune system, citing the “whys” and “hows” to maintain it to prevent being infected again.

People must be told that boosting one’s personal immune system is equally important as boosting our vaccine shots. 

To further underscore the importance of the personal immune system, local governments should consider distributing generic vitamin c with zinc in barangays that recently logged many infections among the vaccinated.

A specially-designed pamphlet that illustrates how one can maintain a strong immune system will surely go a long way, i.e., taking supplementary vitamins like vitamin E, sleeping well, eating right and well, drinking 8 glasses of water, having morning sunlight exposure, a regular intake of virgin coconut oil, etc. 

This approach will surely minimize infection when the fourth surge hits other provinces.

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NLET DISCOVERED. After weeks of writing about the controversial DOTr/LTFRB policy requiring all bus companies that travel to-and-fro Pangasinan-Metro Manila to use the North Luzon Expressway Terminal (NLET) in Bocaue on a point -to point (P2P) basis, and how it has seriously affected lives of separated families on account of the pandemic, I decided to see NLET in person.

I had written that what I thought to be exploitative on the part of government was its seeming blackmail and scheming approach: DOTr/LTFRB suspended the buses’ regular franchises that that give bus companies to ferry passengers directly to and between Pangasinan and Metro Manila terminals for the duration of the pandemic, and used the IATF resolution regulating travel between regions mandating use of “central hubs”.

So, realizing that arguments without evidence lead to endless debatable, I decided to drive to NLET to see what it is that promises about efficiency in transport operations, and about health issues and concerns.

First of all, to those who are curious about the place, don’t make the mistake of relying on Waze when traveling from Pangasinan! Waze gave me the runaround for 30 minutes. I got there after I decided to ask people on the road for specific directions and landmarks.

So, here’s what I found out.

1. It’s located deep inside the Iglesia ni Cristo’s private compound. Instead of gates, it has barriers manned like checkpoints to prevent entry of unauthorized PUBs, PUJs and tricycles. It’s understandable because it is an exclusive compound of the INC.
2. There are more than 50 parking slots on the terminal’s long stretch.
3. There are no loading/unloading areas for PUBs, PUJs and tricycles that passengers unloaded in the terminal can access within 2 kilometers to bring passengers to other terminals.  Instead, there were only city-buses parked idly waiting for passengers to be brought to terminals in malls in QC and Manila, not transfer buses to other areas.
4. No regular schedules for transfer trips to Metro Manila. The buses take off with minimum passengers. Woe to the single passenger!
5.  There are stand-alone thermometers that check passengers before they can access waiting area for passengers waiting for buses to arrive/depart.
6. There is an area for passengers needing to have antigen tests for a fee.
7. There are two waiting areas: open and enclosed (airconditioned). It’s not clear if use of airconditioned rooms area for a fee.

No wonder bus companies are staying out. The polices do not serve any convenience to passengers except to wait for buses to arrive and depart because there are no facilities for parked buses with scheduled departures. The place is not easily accessible to passengers who wish to board buses from there; and no public transport available to reach terminals with scheduled trips to other points in Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, etc.

So why is DOTr insisting on making travels inconvenient to passengers to-and-from Pangasinan-NCR? To make the NLET operations, a property of INC, profitable??

Perish the thought DOTr Sec. Arthur Tugade! The formula at the NLET is simply not viable for passengers and bus companies!

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Punchline brief thoughts:

1. This issue finally finds our irrepressible ‘Playing with Fire’ columnist Gonz Duque back where he belongs.  Perhaps he has lost some intense fire but the wit and humor remain.  Find out why he’s inclined to change his column title to “Out of the Fire”!

2. Our page 1 story last week on the decision of the Court of Appeals that rebuked Dagupan RTC Judge Emma Torio ’s decision on one particular case made some judges, lawyers and court officials at the Justice Hall and in other cities visibly uneasy. Will there be more judges exposed and rebuked in months ahead for court decisions clearly without merit and evident of abuse of discretion of judges?  Frankly, we hope so!
3. The NBI is being closely monitored by anti-corruption activists on how it is handling the complaint filed by the market vendors filed vs. Dagupan Mayor Brian Lim.  

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