By Ermin Garcia Jr.

 

WHAT can one expect, indeed, from arrogant public officials? Expect endless stupid thoughts and antics to reinforce their arrogance.

These can very well be the hallmark of the 7 epaLiFes. From the day Councilors Red Erfe-Mejia, Alfie Fernandez, Dada Reyna-Macalanda, Celia-Chua Lim, Irene Lim Acosta, Alvin Coquia and Marilou Fernandez were proclaimed elected councilors comprising the majority bloc in 2022, they never stopped believing that the city council and the city government under Mayor Belen Fernandez are theirs to do… and undo, never mind that they can do it even at the expense of their constituents.  What a stupid thought.

Their arrogance made themselves believe that it is what a majority is supposed to do.  And that made many wonder whether it was their decision wearing their epaLife uniforms during regular sessions and committee hearings that transformed them into peabrain legislators overnight. That thought came to mind since no majority bloc in the city council since its founding wore uniforms like the epaLiFes do, like a frat (or sorority?).

Their range of their stupidity became apparent the day they crafted the city council’s internal rules and procedures.  They believed that it was imperative for them to show that their control of the council is absolute, incontestable, indisputable and irreversible. There was no thought of delivering the best for the people. It’s all about their “barkada in control”

If that was not stupid enough, they actually believed that any voting in the hall has no bearing whatsoever because it is they who eventually decide on everything. They went as far as believing they can overrule any voting that didn’t favor them because their absentee members are privileged to cast their votes after the fact, to reverse a vote. Can any group be more stupid than them?

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STUPID ANTICS. They should be enshrined as Number One in “Believe it or not” in the world of legislation under democratic principles because the seven epaLifes did all to show they are consistent in their appreciation of being the powerful majority.  

1. They believe it is their privilege, nay their right, to reject whole minutes of a regular session by moving for its deletion in its entirety because it reflected the true discussions, exposing their stupidity. Deleting full minutes is to make themselves believe there was no session held.

2. They believe it was their right and privilege to trash the annual budget submitted by the city hall after a series of committee hearings (including a hearing attended by the city mayor) then later pass an entirely new annual budget that discarded major items in the original budget.

3. They believe it was their privilege as well to ignore and disregard the evaluation of the Department of Budget and Management that found their rehashed budget as “inoperative in its entirety”! They considered it a waste of their time deciphering what was wrong with their submitted stupid budget so they eventually chose the option to force the city government to operate on a ”reenacted budget” .

4. They believe they are privileged to rattle off legal jurisprudence to impress their supporters, never mind that these are completely irrelevant as long as these made them look and sound intelligent.

5. They believe they are privileged to choose who can attend sessions and their committee hearings, so they thought they could bar The PUNCH from attending. Their latest stupid antic was their order to the city secretary to present an attendance report of our managing editor in SP’s regular sessions, whether physical or virtual. Surely, they can’t be thinking of awarding him for his 100% attendance. What a stupid way to intimidate a journalist and the city secretary. So, don’t be surprised if they ask for an attendance report next on the city hall worker whom they publicly humiliated, accusing him of being a would-be assassin during a regular session.

6. And what could be more stupid than for them to believe they are privileged to throw the laws and rules prescribed in the Local Government Code out the window, then simply manifest that the vice mayor (the presiding officer) and the city secretary be charged and penalized if they uphold the LGC, not their crafted rules that acknowledge their supremacy as members of the majority bloc.

To add insult to their own injury, the majority bloc believes it has the authority to stop the presiding officer from ruling on anything that impacts on them.

Believe you me, seeing them consistently making stupid fools of themselves, it can only be sheer arrogance that makes people think and act stupid. The worst kind, may I add.

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NO WAR BETWEEN JEWS AND MUSLIMS. Before the uneducated among us start pitting our local population of Jews and Muslims against each other on account of the ongoing war at Gaza Strip, with the Israel on the offensive against the Hamas, the fact is, the armed conflict was started by a terroristic act, not by differences in religious beliefs and practices.

It is not a war between Jews and Muslims, and this truth must not be twisted to trigger an armed hate-conflict that can no longer be controlled by any government. And the UN is not helping the situation by refusing to tag Hamas as a terrorist organization to prevent it from seeking cover and protection in any UN-member nation.

Our communities must be vigilant in preventing war mongers among us.

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PUNCHERS AS NEWSMAKERS. Please allow me to drumbeat for The PUNCH this one time.

Our associate editor, Eva V. recently won a citation and a cash prize for her submitted article to the National Commission for Culture and the Art ‘s ‘Writer’s Prize’ competition.

Our chief photo journalist Willie Lomibao’s entry recently to the PAGCOR photography contest won.

Our columnist Farah Decano was recently appointed IBP’s Commissioner on Bar Discipline

And it was our columnist Rex Catubig who composed the Dagupan Hymn that will now be sung in flag ceremonies in schools and government offices in the city.

And your Sunday PUNCH? It’s the only newspaper in Pangasinan that continued publishing weekly for the past 67 years without fail… through martial law, typhoons, earthquakes and Covid pandemic! It was also the first community newspaper in the Philippines to have an online edition for the benefit of overseas Pangasinenses in the 1990s.  

The PUNCH family made all that possible for Pangasinan!

Salamat po!

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