By Ermin Garcia Jr.

 

HERE’S another hard and humiliating experience for the arrogant 7 epaLifes.

All the ordinances that Councilors Redford Erfe-Mejia, Alfie Fernandez, Celia Chua-Lim, Alvin Coquia, Librada Reyna-Macalanda, Marilou Fernandez and Irene Lim-Acosta had to be vetoed by Mayor Belen mainly for their gross ignorance of the law.

There was no doubt that the intentions of their unilaterally approved ordinances had the best of intentions for Dagupeños, but more specifically for their political agenda, which is par for the course.  The problem is they were fully blinded by their arrogance and ignorance believing that mere good intention is enough to merit full endorsement.

Ordinance No. 2289-2024 which sets a P450,000 yearly fund for the primary clinic at the BJMP’s male dormitory and female dormitory, making it appear that the city government is not doing much for the BJMP.  They either did not know or didn’t bother to know that the city has been providing monthly allowances for personnel, rice subsidies for the inmates, and fuel allowances for both dormitories (even under the administration of their boss Brian).

The 7 epaLiFes want P450,000 annual allocation for BJMP while ignoring what the two supplemental budgets already identified as major programs for the city but which they refused to approve.

There’s a word for this – Hypocrisy.

Ordinance No. 2286-2024 would have given a 50% discount on the business permit of establishments affected during the construction phase. It was meant to provide a tricky alleviation of the affected business sector’s plight. On the surface, it would make them appear magnanimous but their premises were so vague that it never considered the impact on the city’s government’s plight in succeeding years.

For instance, there is no way the city government can determine which business establishments in affected by the road and drainage elevation project of the DPWH and from which period to the next.  Who decides and on what basis can a 50% discount be determined without inviting another needless debate? In brief, it failed to establish to whom the discount would be applied as well as in the final determination of the terminologies used, i.e., business tax vs. business permit.

The 7 epaLiFes  thought that their “good“ intention to help the business sector was all that’s needed. Instead, they exposed themselves as too lazy to establish facts with hardly any consideration for the city government that needs funds to provide an efficient public service.

There’s a word for this – Pretentious.

Ordinance No. 2287-2024 wanted to pay each member of the Sangguniang Kabataan additional P3,000 honorarium for SK chairs, kagawads, secretaries, and treasurers.

They were not aware they were violating DBM’s Local Budget Circular No. 148-2024, that the grant of additional honorarium to SK officials should not be more than the amount of honorarium being received by the barangay officials of the mother barangay of the SK.

Of course, they were not aware that their recommendation exceeded the honorarium of kagawads of Baranggay Lomboy, the smallest unit in the city, alone.

There’s a word for that – Ignorance.

Then, so far, not one of the 7 epaLiFes’ ordinances they plagiarized from submissions of the minority bloc has been acted on by Mayor Belen’s final action. If any of these are eventually vetoed for lack of merits, the 7 epaLiFes only have themselves to blame. They didn’t bother to check and validate what the minority crafted.

There’s a word for this – Stupidity.

On the plagiarism issue, there is nothing to add. There’s the evidence of the violation of the penal code.

A word for it?  Criminal.

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RISKING ZERO BILLING. The move of the Marcos administration to transfer P90-B from the PhilHealth risks the inability of the latter to comply with the Universal Health Law that ensures that everyone, especially the most vulnerable has access to the quality of health care they need without suffering financial hardship.

Even assuming that the money was never a part of the members’ contributions, the fact that the fund is being removed effectively marginalizes plans for better and free services to all Filipinos.

Even Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano joined the move to stop the transfer last week and urged PhilHealth to stay true to its 2015 vision of ‘zero billing’ and expedite efforts to provide more Filipino patients with the medical care they need.

“Ang vision pa rin ba natin ay dumating tayo sa ‘zero billing’ na totoo?” Cayetano asked after citing cases in which patients are still unable to leave hospitals due to unpaid medical bills.

The senator argued that PhilHealth’s 2015 vision of ‘zero billing’ has somewhat “reversed,” with more patients relying on the Medical Assistance for Indigent Program (MAIP) of the DOH and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) for medical support.

Where is the promised Universal Health Care from PhilHealth? And now the Marcos Jr. administration even wants to prevent PhilHealth from accomplishing this mission? 

Our people should deliver that message the Marcos Jr. administration in 2025 – to stop risking the health of Filipinos by electing only independent minded candidates listed under the administration’s slate. 

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DESPERATE ACT. The brouhaha over the contempt charge filed by the quad committee of the House of Representatives against Atty Harry Roque raised by the black operators targeting anything associated with the past Duterte administration.

After failing to pin him down for his alleged ‘human trafficking’, for being a “legal counsel’ and ‘lawyering’ for a POGO (licensed), for ‘housing’ a Chinese fugitive, etc. for over a month, the honorable congressmen finally decided that he’s finally guilty – guilty of being ‘disrespectful towards their honorable and hypocritical selves, for lying about his first absence in the series of committee hearings. No apology for lying and disrespectful is acceptable for such an offense?

Hmmm… disrespectful?? What is truly disrespectful towards their institution in the eyes of their constituents is their habit of lying about their submitted Statements of Assets and Liabilities EVERY year.

But, of course, to them their habitual lying is an honorable act meriting their reelection and getting paid for memberships in various committees even if they skip committee hearings.

Now back to their lies, frustration and desperation about Atty Harry! It pays them well!

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