By Ermin Garcia Jr.

 

MUCH as I’d like to believe that the thousands of BSKE candidates in Pangasinan who rushed to file their candidacies have shown sincere interests in serving their barangays and Sangguniang Kabataan in different capacities, I’m afraid this is farthest from the truth.

Without a doubt, some may have sincere intents to improve community life in our barangays as they look forward to using the barangays access to hundreds of thousands of funds from Internal Revenue Allotment, to fast track implementation of long overdue social services and benefits for their constituents.

There’s the rub.  The use of and access to hundreds of thousands of funds by barangay officials is precisely where the line is drawn between the true public servants and those motivated by greed and misuse their power and authority.

I know that all incumbents know the deal and the drill about this access to and use of IRA funds. They know that barangay officials are not tasked to account for every centavo of public funds they used to COA. Has anyone heard of past and incumbent barangay kapitans and their allies being charged for malversation of funds even when they flaunt a new affluent lifestyle after acquiring brand new cars, remodeling their or building new homes, hosting huge birthday celebrations, etc?

All that’s required by COA from barangays are mere one-page certifications signed by the barangay chairman and treasurer that states the purchases and expenses are true!  No supporting documents are needed to validate the claimed expenditures.

Hence, overpricing and padding costs of construction of halls, sheds and sports equipment, for purchases of ambulances, organizing social, health and youth and senior citizens programs are aplenty in our barangays.

The murder of the candidate for barangay chairmanship in Aguilar town bears this fact. Why would a mere barangay election lead to political violence if not motivated by greed and whimsical full access to public funds without accountability?

Most incumbents fear losing the grand power and authority over the use of hundreds of thousands of cash at their disposal, while many wannabes who heard of these “benefits” surely want to enjoy such a power.

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MAKING IT WIN-WIN. All candidates who lose in this BSKE can, in fact, still do their communities more good than the winners. How? By diligently monitoring expenditures in the barangays and report suspected anomalies with documents to the Commission on Audit and to the Ombudsman.

Only those who lost would have this rare chance to stand up and fight for good governance and prove their sincerity to serve their respective barangays by volunteering as the “unofficial auditors” of barangay funds.

While the winners are having the time of their lives thanking their constituents for their mandate, forgetting their campaign promises, those who lost can manifest to their supporters of their intention to keep a close watch on any incidence of corruption.

When they do, it will be a win-win situation that will benefit of communities in the barangays if both  the winners and losers maintain their respective advocacies for good governance.

And if these defined roles prove to be effective, this could develop into a tradition not only for BSKE but for local elections over the years.  Who knows, this proposed practice may rub off on town and city elections as well?

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IRENE AS TALKING HEAD. Dagupeños must be wringing their hands in utter frustration and disbelief at the rate the majority bloc is continuing with their plots to nullify the approved annual budget.

Obviously absent in the minds of the members of the majority bloc today is the fact that while they are doing their worst to declare the approval of the budget null and void it is becoming more evident that they do not care for the welfare of Dagupeños at all. That all they care about is having the power to reject anything that doesn’t serve their agenda.

Last Tuesday’s regular session was no different except that the group’s designated talking head that time was Councilor Irene Lim-Acosta. Not Councilor Red Erfe-Mejia. Not Councilor Alfie Fernandez. Not Majority Leader Dada Reyna-Macalanda – all have been exposed for their ignorance of the laws and rules that applied to their antics.

Recall that it was Councilor Irene who shouted the loudest to insult and cuss Vice Mayor Bryan Kua, during SP’s October 10 regular session. Last week, she agreed to do her part to talk authoritatively to present a legal argument for the nullification of the budget.

Of course, she was reading a script that she was made to believe would stand in any court proceedings. Well, she found out that merely reading a script with feelings is never enough to sound convincing.

As some had expected, her manifestation merely showed how ignorant she, too, is of laws and rules. She was thoroughly rebuffed with legal arguments when interpellated by Minority Leader Councilor Michael Fernandez.  She was in no position to rebut or clarify her position because there was nothing in the script that prepared her to rebut legal argument arguments.

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A RUDE AWAKENING. Alas, Councilor Irene made the mistake of wanting to be known as the majority’s legal mind that she wasn’t. A first-year law school student could have done much, much better. Compared to her rowdy, arrogant behavior last October 10, she was speechless, silenced and embarrassed this time. Not even a nasty word this time to Councilor Michael for putting her in a spot.

Unfortunately for her, the initial public perception of her as being simply young and naïve daughter of Benjie Lim, a former mayor, became a rude awakening for her. She’s earned a reputation of being birdbrained and foolish if not simply stupid for daring to misrepresent herself in situations clouded with legal implications. 

Councilor Irene  ended up bungling  the majority’s  devilish objectives, and further exposed the groups’ devious plans to deprive Dagupeños of what’s due them. 

She should slap and kick the person in the ass for making her believe that making a manifestation by reading a prepared script would be a walk in the park.  But given her arrogance, I’m certain convincing her was the easy part.

Watch her out in succeeding sessions. She might just make a fool of her arrogant self again.

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