By Leonardo Micua

 

IF the seven majority councilors will still refuse to pass the resolution authorizing Mayor Belen Fernandez to sign a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Health for the implementation of the Mother and Child Hospital despite their executive meeting with DOH Regional Director Paula Paz Sydiongco, they will make Dagupan go down in history as the first LGU in the Philippines to stupidly reject a P150 million bonanza from the national government.

Only fools will reject such a big amount of money and it seems the seven majority councilors would risk being called fools and stupid as long as Belen Fernandez will not get the project that could endear her more in the hearts and minds of the Dagupenos.

So, it’s their politics that’s denying Dagupeños the services of a Mother and Child Hospital.

They even insinuated in their last closed-door committee hearing with the technical men of the DOH, that funds could be skimmed off by the implementors of the project simply because the plan for the Mother and Child Hospital was prepared by the city engineering office and not by DOH, although they were told that the plan was based on a standard plan for such project in the hands of DOH.

We can only suspect that this skimming of funds happened under their watch, when national government projects were coursed to them during their administration.

Siguro, this was their SOP when they were yet at the helm. They suspect that Belen will enrich herself more with this project at matatalbugan sila. Umayos nga kayo dyan!

It’s obvious that they will use all the dirty tricks in the book to ensure that the construction of the MCH will not happen under the watch of Belen, even if it’s only a matter of months before the P150 million bonanza will be forfeited and returned to the national treasury.

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With the recent announcement of President BBM that there is no more extension after April 30 to jeepney consolidation, the first step towards Public Utility Vehicle Modernization, owners of jeepneys that were hesitant to consolidate are threatening to launch a transport strike anew. There’s nothing new about that. 

What’s new is the proposal of former Ilocos Sur Governor Luis Chavit Singson to bring his Korean company to the Philippines to manufacture e-jeepneys with the features such as those found in the iconic Filipino jeepneys of old, to be given to jeepney drivers with no down payment provided they can pay their monthly amortization.

This will be definitely cheaper than that of locally manufactured jeepneys and a lot cheaper than the Euro 4 mini-bus type of jeepneys imported from China now plying in some of the roads in the Philippines (and in Dagupan City).

In a talk during a breakfast forum at Club Filipino in San Juan, Metro Manila, Chavit clarified that he will be doing this not to make money but to help local jeepney drivers acquire their own jeepneys. He said he learned that both Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines have stopped lending money to drivers through their coops for fear that they will also default in the payment of their loans for modern jeepneys, like the owners and cooperatives that obtained loans from them.

If this project will be given a chance to prove its worth, I am sure it could innovate PUV modernization because any jeepney owner/driver can modernize his unit with the e-jeepneys that will be manufactured in the Philippines by Chavit’s Korean company.

Definitely, corruption can be avoided as the owners will get the e-jeepneys directly from Chavit at a cost ranging from P800K plus to P900K plus per unit, affordable to any ordinary jeepney owner.

Informed that the government is giving subsidy of P250,000 per unit to cooperatives obtaining loans from Land Bank and DBP, Chavit said the subsidy can help the e-jeepney owners pay less monthly amortization to him or to his company. 

On the problem on where these e-jeepneys will charge their batteries, Chavit said he will install e-charging station in every e-jeepney terminal that will derive power from solar energy, so it can be given free to all owners. 

With Chavit’s e-jeepneys that can run 600 kilometers a day without recharging, cleaner air will prevail anywhere and climate change will be better addressed. 

Note that with e-jeepney, drivers can earn more from their daily grind since they don’t have to buy gasoline, whose cost has become very, very prohibitive nowadays. 

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