By Ermin Garcia Jr.

 

THE Christmas fever is on… and I hate to be the one to break the holiday mood but some recent worrisome developments in governance can’t be ignored. Duty calls! So allow me….

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The attempt of ex-BM Von Mark Mendoza to usurp authority of Guv Mon-Mon Guico during the last regular session of the provincial board is a clear indication that the governor is neither here nor there in governing the province.

That Guv Guico obviously consented to allow Mr. Mendoza to use and invoke his authority, in his private capacity, to push for the early passage of a proposed ordinance. The conspiracy to pull the hood over the board members’ heads obviously had the green light  from the governor because Vice Guv Mark Lambino was quick to endorse the letter of Citizen Mendoza invoking the governor’s authority. His letter only served to confirm the rumor that Mr. Mendoza is a favorite registered consultant of the provincial government – a violation of the one-year ban on candidates who lost in the last elections. 

Why it had to take a civilian like Mr. Mendoza to invoke a governor’s power and authority to push for the early passage of an ordinance, is something that both Guv Guico and Vice Guv Lambino must explain. Either Mr. Guico really never understood nor learned how his authority as governor can be used, or didn’t care for as long as there is a Guv Lambino who’ll blindly carry out his wishes to make things work without him lifting a finger.

Fortunately, the province has Second District Board Member Haydee Pacheco, a lawyer, who can detect legal infirmities whether it comes from the governor or his hatchet-men in the provincial board, by mere cursory validation of communications pretending to be official in nature.

And fortunately for embarrassed Guv Lambino, who was caught with his fingers dipped in the cookie jar, eventually agreed with Ms. Pacheco’s arguments and promptly withdrew his order accepting and endorsing Mr. Mendoza’s letter to a committee.

But the bold attempt of Mr. Mendoza to make a quick pass is not really the core issue. The main issue that demands a credible explanation is why Guv Guico didn’t personally make the simple appeal to the provincial board to pass the ordinance that he wanted certified as urgent! 

Given his continued refusal to face the local media to explain anything at all, Mr. Mendoza’s awkward misadventure was proof that the governor, again, doesn’t want to be made accountable even for a simple ordinance.

Is this the kind of governor the province wants – to authorize a civilian to speak for him with his full authority? Perhaps he’d been doing this as Binalonan mayor for too long with no one daring to ask questions. Does he seriously think being a governor is no different from being a mayor?? Tsk-tsk!

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WANTED: MAYOR BELEN AS STRONG LEADER. In my last week’s commentary on the misguided advice and the suspect agenda of some close advisers of Dagupan Mayor Belen Fernandez, there is one thing that needs to be stressed.

Her close advisers are not accountable in any way to the people of Dagupan. They are, in fact, anonymous, and cannot be confronted, but it is Mayor Belen who’s fully accountable who has to be confronted on everything about her governance.

When I pointed out the mayor’s reluctance to file cases promptly against the owners of the illegal fish pens, it was to impress upon her that it shows her as a weak leader being the chief law enforcer of the city to preserve law and order. As mayor, she has the moral and lawful duty to enforce all current ordinances in the city, particularly, to stop blatant violations of the city’s fishery ordinance.

I note for instance that she and her team kept citing the need for there’s nothing in the city ordinance that prompts her to ensure “due process” before dismantling illegal structures and operations.  It means violators are given 10 days to remove the structures yet what “due process” can only really  mean is to present the citation of violation then  ram the illegal structures at will, with or without owners’ permission before the dismantling can be done. Yet, her administration, evidently on the say-so of her close advisers, even allows the other violators to continue operating until they harvest!! They’ve been robbing, destroying the city’s rivers habitat for years and are still allowed to steal more under her supervision? Why?

What is illegal is illegal and there can be no other interpretation of what action should be taken except to stop the violation and arrest the violators! Nobody gives  a thief 10 days to return his loot. He’s hauled to the city jail once arrested.

Her refusal to file complaints in courts against the more than 1,000 violators, particularly the recidivists among them, can only be interpreted as a dereliction of her duty as mayor, not of her faceless close advisers. In fact, her refusal to file charges is no different from what her predecessor, ex-Mayor Brian Lim did, making her equally guilty of the same. A rotten egg is a rotten egg.

So, if Mayor Belen wants to be consistent in her performance as the dedicated and committed public servant, she must realize that the accountability in strictly enforcing the city ordinance against the illegal fish pens that continue to pollute the city’s rivers is hers alone, not her advisers.

The law is on her side. Why her city legal officer doesn’t seem to see that is puzzling. Mayor Belen should not fear any legal retaliation at any time. Besides no corrupt businessman would dare fight a credible, popular and honest mayor!

It will be regrettable if after all that she’s doing to better lives of her constituents, her own constituents will soon begin to think and believe that she cannot be the strong leader that can protect them from greedy, exploitative political opportunists.

Besides, didn’t Mayor Belen pledge she would go all out against the corrupt political opportunists, hammer and tongs?

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COVER-UP CONTINUES. The epaLiFes, members of the majority in the Dagupan City Council, remain deaf to urgent calls of the Fernandez administration to approve her submitted supplemental budget to boost the city’s operational funds that have since been depleted by ex-Mayor Brian Lim’s administration.

But the epaLiFes are not at all fazed by the negative impact of the suspension of basic health, social, educational and economic programs of the city government affecting city residents. They seem to naively believe that everything can be blamed on Mayor Belen Fernandez’s administration. Not this mayor.

In fact, during last week’s committee hearing manned by the epaLife members (Councilors Celia Lim and daughter Irene Lim-Acosta, Malou Fernandez, Alvin Coquia and Alfie Fernandez, led by Councilors Red Erfe-Mejia and Dada Macalanda), they reportedly hardly flinched on hearing the same accounts of irregularities from City Legal Officer Aurora Valte and OIC- Treasurer Ubando that marked the scholarship program (then under Ms. Lenny De Venecia’s supervision).

And curiously, even Mr. Ubando was less than honest when he did not identify the office that issued the irregular payments to scholars during the committee hearing. Is he part of the cover-up? Is it possible that an OIC-Treasurer did not know details of the payments by the city government outside his office?

Of course, the epaLiFes knew how the irregularities were committed but the cover-up has to be sustained. By simply going through the motions of a committee hearing, they think they have the justification for the continued delay in the approval of the supplemental budget. 

All efforts of the epaLiFes at cover-up, feigning ignorance the whole time, will soon explode in their faces soon as the results of the special COA audit are reported to the city government.

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