Rafael L. Oriel, Jr.
17 Aug 2007

 

 

Ms. Ric, I think you are jumping from one issue to another and juggling the 700M budget of the proposed Alaminos Airport from one project to another. Definitely, problems cannot and must not be solved that way. Politicians, government officials and employees who are not appropriately performing their assigned task especially those who are corrupt will surely like that kind of attitude because they know that they can simply shift the blame of their shortcomings and/or wrongdoings to others and they also know that they can easily make others believe what they want them to believe especially those who have no clear idea of what’s really happening most particularly the cash flow or funding of government project in question.

The proposed Alaminos Airport, widening of the highway in Urdaneta and the fixing of Alcala Macayo Elementary school are three separate issues with three different purposes. They should and must be allocated with three separate budgets with specific sources of funding. To know what is really happening to these three separate works, they must be closely monitored separately. Are you sure there is no funding at all to fix the classrooms of Alcala Macayo Elementary school? Isn’t there a calamity fund to help those who are devastated by calamities? In addition, local and foreign donors are often very generous in helping those who needs help. You should ask the people who are involved in this project to know exactly what’s happening. Are they doing their assigned task?

We must also bear in mind that the country has annual budget amounting to more than a trillion pesos. Let us not forget that this huge amount of money is disbursed annually not only by PGMA but by the whole government, meaning by the three (3) branches of the government, agencies, departments, etc. most particularly the members of the Congress through their pork barrel. That’s lots of taxpayers’ money being spent yearly by the government. It needs very close monitoring by the watchdogs, those who serves as a guardian or protector against waste, loss, or illegal practices, like the Commission on Audit, prosecutors, law-enforcers, judges, etc. At they very first sign of corruption, these watchdogs should be able to arrest, prosecute and ultimately punish all of those who are involved in any wrongdoing to prevent further loses of government resources.

 There should be no reason why disgusting corrupt individuals are able to steal millions or billions of pesos before they are detected. Watchdogs that are inefficient in the performance of their assigned duties and responsibilities should be replaced by those who can serve the community better. Government inefficiency is also a huge waste of taxpayers money that is why it is important to change the government system to a more efficient and productive system of government.

We know that the 700M is budgeted for the proposed airport in Alaminos that will be built in the next three years. The problem with some people is that the airport construction is not even started yet and the funding is not even released but insinuation of corruption is already flying from predictive people with dirty minds. Their crab mentality already started to function or shall I say, malfunction. They already started throwing mud trying to destroy other people’s reputation and integrity. Obviously, their allegations are without concrete evidence because the airport and other projects in Alaminos being currently discussed in the forum are future projects. Most of it is still in the planning stage and as we all know some of them are still a dream. It is totally insane and outrageous for some poster in the forum to already insinuate that FVR who is trying to help realize a dream is already greasing his palm or dipping his finger in a cookie jar that is obviously non-existing yet.

Ms. Ric, I respectfully agree and disagree when you said, “Poor urban planning and lack of foresight and long range plan” has become the norm in the Philippines.” I agree with you because we are all aware of the fact that there are many candidates during elections who possibly do not know or have any idea what to do if successfully elected. On the other hand, I disagree with you because I know that there are some who deserve to be elected because they have visions for the future of their community and know exactly what to do to win the future in order to make those visions come true. In fact, I have been following curiously the moves, plans and accomplishments of some of them especially those I know personally.

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