By Leonardo Micua

 

LATEST data from the Provincial Health Office, and even from the City Health Office, shows  that Covid-19 is again on a downturn after surging at the start of the new year. If you look at it, it is the same trend that happened in the National Capital Region and its neighboring areas, prompting the national IATF to downgrade their classification from Alert Level 3 to Alert Level 2.

Are we seeing a downgrade in our quarantine classification in Pangasinan and the entire Region 1 too in the next few weeks? Possibly, unless we again relax our guard and throw all cautions to the wind just like what happened during the past holiday season when almost everybody disregarded health and safety protocols and adopted care-free attitude to join the celebration.

But wait. Isn’t the campaign period for the national candidates starting on February 8? As one of the vote-rich provinces in the country, Pangasinan will always be in the itinerary of national campaigners, no doubt about that. So, expect the overcrowding of people anywhere in our midst and in every turn, the social  distancing protocol will be breached.

Like when Vice President Leni Robredo barnstormed the province, particularly Alaminos City, Lingayen and Dagupan City last January 30. She was welcomed by throngs of pink supporters everywhere she went. In Dagupan, she only wanted to pay a courtesy call on Archbishop Socrates Villegas but was swarmed by her supporters on her way to the archbishop’s palace.

Then she had a reunion with former Mayor Belen Fernandez at CSI Stadia where again she was mobbed by fans and supporters heartily cheering her name.

This will happen too in the coming days when all the other national candidates come and woe the Pangasinenses for their votes. So, brace yourself for more Covid infections, especially because the highly transmittable Omicron variant is still very much around the corner.

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The latest taunt of Mayor Brian Lim, courtesy of the Dagupan PIO: “ KUNG GUSTO, MARAMING PARAAN. KUNG AYAW, MARAMNG DAHILAN” and “STOP ACTING LIKE CHILDREN” directed at the majority in the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Dagupan. That  won’t work and is not helping his cause. It will only prolong his agony of having to contend with a reenacted city budget for how long, is really all up to him. 

The nine members of the SP, who command the majority in that law-making body, could not be shackled by the mayor’s childish antics as they believe they have solid basis in demanding for the submission of pertinent documents by the office of the city executive that should accompany the Annual Investment Plan before they can even begin to tackle the city budget for 2022,

The stalemate on the budget will continue, no doubt for as long as the mayor continues his adversarial attitude towards the majority in the SP, and defies the call of that body to submit the required pertinent documents. 

These documents required of the mayor to submit, we were informed, will show where exactly the money of the people will be spent and to prevent misuse of this money for other purposes, except those for which they were really intended to. The majority in the SP fears that unless the plans are clearly defined, funds – especially the multi-million peso bonanza from the Mandanas ruling—will be misspent by the executive. 

 Abangan!

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In the Second District of Pangasinan, a politician was reported to be going around bringing ayuda to households, making it appear he’s the reincarnation of Santa Clause who breezed through from the North Pole. But some households refused to receive his ayuda because the caviat is for the recipients to have their pictures taken while receiving the goodies.

Some people seem not to know the old adage, “Beware of Greeks who bring gifts”. We hope the ayuda will not be like the Trojan Horse that eventually spelled the doom for the walled city of Troy in Homer’s Iliad. The people are hesitant to receive the gifts as their photos  could be used against them. My advice is take the “ayuda” but “no picture please”!

The problem is some politicians treat the voters so low, like paupers and mendicants, believing that they would readily exchange their precious votes simply for the ayuda. That’s too much of an insult to them!

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