By Ermin Garcia Jr.

 

MAKING New Year resolutions used to be a serious activity for the young and the old.

I remember our Grade Six teacher telling us how important it was to make New Year resolutions if we were to become better children and make our parents happy. So we were told to write down what we should stop doing that make our parents angry and sad. Make that as many as you can, she said.

That sounded like a contest of sort – who can make the most resolutions. And we, naively,  did just that! The more, the better!

Then there was a catch to it – our parents should be able to read it.  Little did we know, of course, that we were actually being made to do a confession –  confessing to our parents what we’ve been doing wrong behind their backs.

Since that was about six decades ago, I can no longer recall all that I wrote and how many I listed as resolution for the rest of the year but I do recall my mother constantly reminding me about one particular resolution that I was constantly ignoring – to brush my teeth before going to bed. But her reminders (and admonition) made me remember that NY resolution to this day!

Meanwhile, as I grew older, I would hear adults talking about their own resolutions, from stopping their smoking or drinking habits to waking up early every day to regularly joining the family for Sunday masses. It was funny listening to how they promised to fulfill their resolutions, and admitted why they failed in accomplishing some in the past.

And, over the years, more people viewed New Year’s resolutions as “resolutions meant to be broken.” These views were shared obviously by those who never succeeded in making good on their yearly resolutions.

Today, hardly anyone talks about resolutions for the year –  to be a better person, to be healthier.  After all, with the advent of smartphones, written words have become cheap. Who cares about writing resolutions  in one’s phone?

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MY MSBS RESOLUTION. I do have one resolution that I hope many seniors can relate to –  and make it their firm resolution for 2024 and beyond as well.

It is to MOVE SLOWLY BUT SURELY or MSBS.

It’s about avoiding to fall anywhere whether at home or in the streets, or in public places.  It is to avoid bone fractures that can preempt natural causes of death.

My mother, Paulita, was already on her 10^th year of dialysis in Chicago, and the prognosis was she would live through it in the next 5 years! It was not to be. She fell off her bed and believing she was hardly hurt, she went on like nothing happened. She died 3 days later because of internal hemorrhage.

A friend who thought nothing of the day he stumbled and fell on the pavement. His spinal column was hurt that resulted in some organ complications. He died 7 days later.

Another friend slipped inside the bathroom. She was unconscious and never recovered. She died 10 days later.

The morale of these accidents: Take one step at a time. Don’t rush to do anything.

Remember MSBS!!

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TROJAN HORSE IN BELEN’S CAMP. The debacle of the Belen Fernandez administration and her allies in the minority bloc during the special session of the Dagupan City Council last Thursday was expected.

It seems nobody in Mayor Belen’s camp is still convinced that derailing and sabotaging anything and everything about the Belen administration is what the playbook of the majority bloc composed of Councilors Red Erfe-Mejia, Alfie Fernandez, Celia Chua-Lim, Alvin Coquia, Irene Lim Acosta and Marilou Fernandez –  is all about.

Unfortunately for Mayor Belen, she was naïve to believe her sidekick, seemingly loyal, City Legal Officer Atty Aurora Valle that the majority bloc will simply disintegrate without lifting a finger.  She cited the surprise passage of the 2023 annual budget as proof. But she stopped there because she knew the enacted ordinance continued to be the source of conflict between the majority and the minority blocs.

Poor Mayor Belen, she was not only humiliated again after the majority prevented her from speaking during the special session that she called for but pushed back further with a legal move by the majority that Atty Valle should have done herself to protect the city government, but didn’t.

The majority filed cases (though no specifics cited) before a regional trial court and the Ombudsman against Vice Mayor Bryan Kua and the minority councilors and conveniently invoked the subjudice rule that Atty. Valle obviously failed to anticipate. Unlike the majority bloc. she adamantly refused to file cases against the majority bloc  and officials of the Brian Lim administration for the series of violations of basic provisions in the Local Government Code.

Given the seeming endless uphill fights and debacles suffered by Mayor Belen and her programs since Atty. Valle became the city legal officer, she is already strongly suspected by the mayor’s allies to be a Trojan horse for the majority.  Some already cited her suspected affinity with the Brian Lim administration because then Mayor Lim retained her husband as general manager of the Dagupan Water District.

There are indications today that Atty. Valle, as city legal officer, will not even lift a finger to question in courts the subjudice rule being invoked by the majority that summarily closes all possibilities to pass any initiative that will be filed by Mayor Belen’s allies in the city council. Kawawang Dagupan!

I hope Mayor Belen realizes that her continued refusal to fight the majority bloc every inch of the way will end up in her being blamed, not Atty. Valle, for the city hall’s miseries.

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WELCOME 2024 WITH HOPE. I sincerely pray that 2024 will prove to be a great blessing for the Guico administration and all mayors of towns and cities and their constituents!

Let’s welcome 2024 with a prayer that Pangasinan and Dagupan City, in particular, that partisan politics will stop  getting in the way of good governance.

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