“And now, the end is near…”
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
AS I recall how Frank Sinatra’s enduring “My Way” song that begins with – “ And now, the end is near…” I cannot but feel that no other line in that song would best describe the scenario for the 7epaLiFes’ short-lived power play to heir ignominious path of “glory” like harebrain juvenile delinquents would.
Consider the sudden and totally unexpected outburst from the usually softspoken Councilor Celia Lim, who rushed to her son’s best friend, Councilor Red Erfe-Mejia’s rescue, in his beleaguered defense of their cause. That was most telling of the desperation and already weakened position of the 7epaLiFes. But to her credit, she became the only redeeming value for the group after she manifested a candid and sincere apology to the members of the city council for her outburst. It was an act that could not be expected nor heard or be said about the majority’s fair-haired arrogant Mr. Erfe-Mejia.
Evidently grasping at straws, there was Mr. Erfe-Mejia invoking the need to review budgets of barangays not realizing he was further exposing his group’s unstudied, reckless and unvetted points of views. At the rate he’s going, the minority members no longer need anyone to discredit him and the majority completely. He has become his own enemy, created no less by his own colleagues in the majority, namely: Councilors Celia Lim, Dada Reyna-Macalanda, Irene Lim-Acosta, Alvin Coquia, Alfie Fernandez and Malou Fernandez. Really pathetic.
At this point of their misadventure, there’s no other justification that the 7epaLiFes can possibly invoke or hope for to change their fate for the better being the vile political monsters who insist on decapitating the city government by holding back the city’s 2023 annual budget all the way till last day.
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SERVE LESSONS ON ACCOUNTABILITY. If only Mayor Belen or any of the members of the minority at the city council can find the motivation to teach future generations of councilors, that politicians like the 7epaLiFes must be made to account for their irresponsible acts, a complaint against all the 7epaLiFes must be filed for sabotaging the city’s development. Such an act is punishable before the Ombudsman (and Sandiganbayan). This was the case of the provincial board of Quezon province who were all found guilty as charged for deliberately refusing to pass the province’s annual budget. DILG caused their immediate suspension in addition to other penalties imposed by the Ombudsman.
If they can’t (or won’t) dare file the charges, they would lose that great opportunity to leave a legacy as the public servants who dared to set an example in fighting and curbing corruption in their time.
Meanwhile, as far as I can see, the only best thing that the 7 epaLiFes can do to mitigate the situation in their favor is to eat humble pie and pass the 2023 annual budget unanimously and unconditionally. It was both their vindictiveness and greed as public servants without precedence, that did them in. They can perhaps hope to redeem themselves after six years by completely withdrawing from public life and return to it with a prayer that by then the electorate’s’ short memory would erase their worst political conduct never seen before.
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ACCOUNTABILITY FOR SCHOLARSHIP SCANDAL. Many can’t wait for the inevitable public condemnation of the 7 epaLiFes with the expected blocking or delayed passage of the 2023 budget either way. Ending that chapter will enable Dagupeños to move on to see how the officials of the Scholarship Committee of the Brian Lim administration will be made to account, too, for their anomalous management of the allocated city’s scholarship fund.
So far, it’s been four weeks since Mayor Belen Fernandez went on record ordering City Legal Officer Aurora Valle to file charges against then Mayor Brian Lim as chairman of the committee and Lenny de Venecia, James Arzadon, Leila Natividad and Linda Ventenilla, as members of the Scholarship Committee. It was under their management that led to listing of fake scholars (being non-residents or ineligible to be scholars, non-existent persons, etc) that resulted in malversation of public funds intended for the poor but serving children of Dagupeños.
So far, nothing has been heard from the city legal officer… worse, nothing from Mayor Belen. Has she decided not to file the charges after weeks of warning and threatening to make them accountable for committing the worst crime – stealing and misusing funds intended for the city’s youths? Dagupeños would like to know.
Let’s see how far the Belen Fernandez administration will go with that classic case of corruption evidenced by documents. It’d be one of the mayor’s great legacies if those accountable are jailed by a court for their crimes.
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WHEN TREES MUST GO. As I was driving through the Urdaneta-Sta. Barbara highway last Thursday, I was made to slow down because before me were personnel from the DPWH busily cutting down decades-old mango trees, the same trees that environmental activists managed to save from being destroyed during Guv Amado Espino Jr.’s incumbency.
I felt very sad seeing trunks and branches cut in size. If only trees could cry, I would have heard shrieks and screams of pain throughout the stretch. But I knew that removing them was the only remaining logical thing to do to prevent major vehicular accidents happening in those areas. Saving them for environment’s sake felt good while it lasted but fearing loss of lives must now be minimized.
Passing through that highway every week without fail, I could not but wonder each time how many motorists and pedestrians were already injured if not killed in those areas where the huge trees stood in the middle of the extreme side of the cemented road. It was not unusual for motorists to attempt overtaking slow-moving tricycles and, ‘garongs’ hugging the center lanes, from the extreme right lanes.
Our environment was already given its chance to help us survive the pollution with those lovely shady trees. It’s time for our people and government to give back to environment by working on other initiatives to replace what those trees stood to contribute.
What could be a reassuring response initially is a DPWH report, replete with photos of the trees planted by both the contractors and DPWH for each tree that was felled along the Calasiao-Sta-Barbara-Urdaneta highway.
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