Ganzon, Malabor turncoats with questionable loyalty

"My whole thing is loyalty. Loyalty over royalty; word is bond."  Fetty Wap

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- We can't blame some Liberal Party (LP) mainstays in Iloilo City if they are not comfortable with the presence of former city councilors Jeffrey Ganzon and Mandrie Malabor in the administration bandwagon.
The two balimbings (turncoats) are running for the city council in the 2016 polls under the LP ticket of reelectionists Rep. Jerry P. Trenas, Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, and Vice Mayor Jose Espinosa III.
Strange bedfellows, indeed.
In the 2013 elections, Ganzon lost to Espinosa for vice mayor, while Malabor lost for councilor when they ran under the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).
All the UNA local candidates from congressman, mayor, vice mayor and councilors were, in fact, massacred in an unprecedented 15-0 blitzkrieg. 

CASUALTY

One of the UNA casualties for councilor was Dr. Gold Gonzalez, daughter of the late Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr., who is now running for mayor against Mabilog.
Members of the opposition party shared one vision and mission and vowed to stay together and go down together against titanic odds.
But when Gonzalez and her team filed their certificates of candidacy (COCs) in the Comelec last month, Ganzon and Malabor were no longer with the group.
They filed their COCs under the LP.
Like opportunists, they abandoned the opposition and embraced the administration to save their own necks.
They probably thought their chances of winning in 2016 were nil if they did not jump ship and join the "enemy."

DEFEAT

Were they demoralized after their 2013 defeat? 
Are they desperate to win and have underestimated the capacity of the party they jettisoned? 
What happened to the principles and cause they loudly espoused in the 2013 elections?
In 2013, their group accused the Mabilog and P-Noy administrations of graft and corruption and election fraud (owing to the 15-0 result in the local and national elections).
Some of them and their subalterns even filed a case against the mayor in the Ombudsman.
Can we blame Mabilog and other LP stalwarts if they will distrust these deserters and suspect them to be Trojans? 
By joining Mabilog's group, Ganzon and Malabor are expected to "behave" once they are back in power--or they will be ribbed as "ingrates."

Hypocrites casting a stone at city tourism chief

"The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy."  William Hazlitt

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- If they think they don't live in glass houses, detractors of Iloilo City tourism officer Junel Divinagracia should not telegraph their punches and hide in anonymity.
These detractors wanted to raise some "sensitive concerns" now that the city council is set to confirm her appointment after being appointed to the position by Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog on October 19.
She replaced Ben Jimena, who has retired but is still part of Mabilog's cabinet as consultant.
Some city councilors, who hate to be accused as field reporters of Boy Abunda and Inday Badiday, have alerted Divinagracia, who was in Manila for APEC Leaders’ Meeting from Nov. 16 to 19.
The city councilors are also aware that they are not saints, thus they can't just easily jump the gun on Divinagracia without due process.

SENSITIVE

Other public officials (both in the executive and legislative branches) are also being bedeviled by the so-called "sensitive" private matters like Divinagracia, but they weren't placed under hot seats because they are males.
By zeroing in on Divinagracia, the shades of bitterness, bias, prejudice and double standard are very much evident on the motives of these hypocrites.
Is it possible that the snakes are just around the corridors of power sibilating?
Let us remind them of Matthew 7:3 that says, "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?"
And also John 8:7 that says, "And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, 'Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.'"

-o0o-

BY giving the municipal mayors liberty to select their own bet for Iloilo vice governor, Gov. Arthur "Art" Defensor Sr. was short in saying that "I am caught between the devil and the deep blue sea."
As an astute politician, Defensor will never take side, at least not yet, while everyone in the poker table is still in the guessing game. 
Vice gubernatorial aspirants Neil "Junjun" Tupas Jr. and Christine Garin, both with political parties affiliated with the Liberal Party (LP), are hoping like anxious suitors to get King Arthur's blessing.
The governor has vowed earlier to campaign only for the party's official candidate.

AFFILIATE

Garin, mayor of Guimbal, Iloilo, is with the National Unity Party (NUP), an LP affiliate. 
She is the sister of Iloilo first district Rep. Oscar "Richard" Garin Jr. and the sister-in-law of Health Secretary Janette L. Garin, Richard's wife.
Her family has questioned Tupas' certificate of nomination and acceptance (Cona) as "official" LP bet for vice governor.
Defensor has long reconciled with the two powerful political clans in the province, and they have been working together under the umbrella of President Aquino's ruling party.
Political observers think Defensor has already in mind who to pick when push comes to shove, but is only keeping the aces in his sleeves.
Who will the fountain bless?  
The answer to that question is another question: Which clan is the lesser evil?

Selling life insurance to a dying patient

“A dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist.”  Stewart Alsop

By Alex P. Vidal

CITY hall is wishing for the stars if it hopes to find a buyer for the anomaly-ridden P137-million Pavia housing property in Pavia, Iloilo while the ghost of unresolved graft and corruption cases filed against city officials and several private persons is still hovering.

We can’t blame the city government, however, if it continues to cling to its last and only hope: sell the property.

It’s better to try than doing nothing.

The project has been rotting like a dead rat.

It must be disposed of by hook or by crook.

For several years now, it has become an ugly sight for people who pass by the area; it evokes memories of greed and corruption.

The area can’t escape the sight of motorists and even tourists who go to the airport and vice versa.

Those familiar with how the project went wrong can’t help but gnash their teeth, stomp their feet and shake their heads in utter disbelief, anger and frustration as they take one desperate look at the doomed project.

IMAGE

It’s a ghastly image of how the taxpayers’ money was scandalously wasted and stolen by a few privileged and abusive characters.

The longer it stays there, the more painful memory it will give the taxpayers.

But a wise real property buyer will always see to it that the deal is not bedeviled by any legal entrapment.

No rational real property investor will risk his money in a failed government project.

Even if the amount of the property is reduced to half, the nightmare it will bring to the buyer can't be compensated by any gain once he is sideswiped by the legal turmoil in the future.

It’s like buying a drum of fishes in January for a big party in December.

Or selling a life insurance to a terminally-ill AIDS patient.

-o0o-

MOST death-related motorcycle accidents could be due to the riders’ non-wearing of helmets.

When the bike is hit by a speeding car or bus in the highway, the tendency for the two-wheeled motorcycle is to fly away like a saucer.

If the rider and another occupant don’t have helmets, the impact could kill them immediately; they could suffer from fatal head injuries.

Either their heads, upon landing in the pavement, are violently damaged or pierced through by a pointed object or concrete steel like what happened to famous ballader Ric Segreto many years back.  

Balikbayan biker Manny Alcalde realized this when he met an accident in the highway in Mandurriao district, Iloilo City last month.

“I was in a hurry as I was getting late for a meeting that day,” recalled Alcalde, a newsman in Qatar. “A car in front of me slowed but hesitated to cut my lane, thus I lost control of my motorcycle.”

Alcalde suffered minor injuries in the arm.

“It’s good that I was wearing a helmet,” he hissed. “I picked myself up and rushed myself to the Iloilo Doctors Hospital using the same bike.”

Alcalde said he learned two lessons from the near-fatal road accident as a motorist: 1. Always wear a helmet; 2. Always prepare for an appointment earlier.

The non-wearing of helmets for bikers is actually a violation of

Republic Act No. 10054 or the Motorcycle Helmet Act of 2009.

The law mandates all motorcycle riders to wear standard protective motorcycle helmets while driving.

The law will secure and safeguard citizenry, particularly the operators or drivers of motorcycles and their passengers, from the ruinous and extremely injurious effects of fatal or life-threatening accidents and crashes.

The law mandates “to pursue a more proactive and preventive approach to secure the safety of motorists, their passengers and pedestrians at all times through the mandatory enforcement of the use of standard protective motorcycle helmet.”

Will Mabilog ‘save’ city hall execs in market mess?

“A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.” Arnold H. Glasow

 By Alex P. Vidal

HITLER defended his controversial personal physician, Theodor Morell, from Nazi intriguers when they tried to link him in the aborted assassination of the Der Fuhrer on July 20, 1944.

Will the world’s number five city mayor, Jed Patrick Mabilog, also defend Iloilo City administrator Norlito Bautista and former Local Economic Enterprise Office (LEEO) chief Vincent dela Cruz?

Bautista and Dela Cruz could not be victims of intrigues like Morell as it was the City Council committee on slaughterhouse and public markets chaired by Rodel Agado that is poised to recommend the filing of raps against them for the alleged rackets at the Iloilo Terminal Market or popularly known among Ilonggos as “super.”

The committee conducted several hearings and invited key witnesses and parties involved before coming up with a decision to hold the two officials accountable.

The hearings uncovered, among other irregularities, the unauthorized use of job hires and employees to collect rental fees and issue receipts and other accountable forms to market vendors.

DETAILS

Councilor Plaridel Nava said the full details of their investigation will be revealed this week.

Ribbed in the media for being a “rubber stamp” of the mayor’s office, Agado and Nava are beginning to let their critics eat their words with their bold decision to throw the books on two of Mabilog’s minions.

Mabilog may have already been tipped off of the committee’s move against two of his trusted lieutenants, and must be willing to subject them to any disciplinary action if evidence will warrant.

The city mayor is aware that prematurely absolving Bautista and Dela Cruz of any culpability in the market fiasco is not the logical step at this stage.

He is expected to let the chips fall where they may and respect the city council’s recommendation against his two underlings as a co-equal branch in government.

 -o0o-

ILOILO cable TV host Vicente “Danny Baby” Foz, Jr., and former scribe and now Iloilo capitol employee Nelson Robles share contrasting stories.

While Good Samaritans led by Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog came to Danny Baby’s rescue when the latter was fighting for his life after suffering from stroke at the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Iloilo Doctors Hospital on January 15, Robles is hard-pressed to look for cash needed for his “immediate” operation for prostate cancer.

The two met at Madge Café in La Paz Public Market in La Paz district, Iloilo City on Friday and shared their respective plights.  

Danny Baby: “First of all, I would like to thank Mayor Mabilog for visiting me three times during my confinement (from Jan. 15-29) despite his busy schedules. I understand that his schedule was full because it was a Dinagyang festival week.”

Danny Baby said he was at Amigo Terrace Hotel at around five o’clock in the afternoon on January 15 when he felt a pain in his abdomen and he couldn’t breath.

He was rushed to the hospital. Nurses called people listed in his cellular phone. First to arrive were fellow cable TV hostess Tonette Toledo and Manny Alcalde. Panay News managing editor Herbert Vego and DPWH Engr. Mario Castillano also came.

Danny Baby, 52, said Tonette texted Mayor Mabilog, who immediately sent political affairs consultant Ariel Castaneda "to fix matters."

Rizal–Lapuz village chief Releo Lumayad and Jalandoni Estate, Lapuz village chief Efren Gimeo also arrived one after the other.

Among those who also extended help, Danny Baby said, were Rep. Jerry Trenas, Councilor Lex Tupas and contractor Jojo Ang. “I thank God because this is now my second life,” he intoned.   

CANCER

Robles, 64, said he learned that he has a prostate cancer only last January 5 when result of his biopsy came out.

He underwent biopsy examination on December 22, 2014 conducted by Dr. Raul N. Sancho.

“My cancer is stage one,” sobbed Robles.

He said he needed immediate cash so he can undergo a nuclear bone scan “as soon as possible” before the operation which, he said, is scheduled in April.

“I’m only a capitol employee. I’m alone now (his wife, Zenaida, a public school teacher in Oton, Iloilo, died several years ago) and my three children are not anymore living with me. I might die if I can’t raise the needed amount for my operation,” teary-eyed Robles lamented. 

“To tell you honestly, I’m getting desperate right now and I’m waiting for my children to at least get in touch with me. I missed them so much. I want to see them before everything will be too late.”

Illegal Jaro plaza vendors: Are you talking to us?

“Uncertainty is a very good thing: it's the beginning of an investigation, and the investigation should never end.”  Tim Crouch

By Alex P. Vidal

THE task of clearing the sidewalks of Jaro district plaza of illegal or ambulant vendors falls on the office of Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, not with the city council.

Instead of bellyaching, city councilors should leave the matter to the city mayor’s office.

The city mayor’s office implements ordinances. 

The city council enacts them.

The city council can’t usurp the powers of the executive office, vice versa.

Councilor Joshua Alim said they will investigate reports that illegal vendors were allowed to erect stalls on the sidewalks of the plaza during the Jaro Agro-Industrial Fair after paying certain fees, which, he said, was illegal.

Only registered stalls inside the plaza were allowed and authorized to pay rental fees, etcetera.

The city councilors, receiving complaints from legitimate stall owners inside the plaza, wanted to know who's behind the racket.

Three council committees will spearhead the investigation after the February 2 district feast of Jaro's Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, Alim said.

COMMITTEES

These committees are: tourism, culture and historical affairs headed by Councilor Nielex Tupas; good governance headed by Councilor Jason Gonzales; and barangay affairs and community development headed by Councilor Carlos Guarin.

What for?

Any step made by city hall authorities after the event would be moot and academic.

The “crime” has been consummated.

Illegal vendors won’t give a damn about any council investigation to be held after they have served their purposes.

They can even snub it.

When city hall first heard that illegal vendors were being allowed on the sidewalks of Jaro plaza in exchange of unauthorized fees in January, Mabilog should have ordered a team to drive them away.

The demolition should have commenced before the Jaro fiesta or the start of the agro-industrial fair.

If stalls of ambulant vendors are demolished by city hall only after the fiesta or the holding of the agro-industrial fair, city officials will look stupid.

‘THANK YOU’

Illegal stall owners will loudly tell city hall: “thank you for the free services.”

But the city mayor’s office has been mum over the furor.

It was only the city council that made a lot of noise, threatening to hold a committee investigation to determine who’s at fault.

The vendors were reportedly allowed on the sidewalks after paying P200 to the Special Services Unit of the city government for P200.

They vendors also paid P30 per light bulb to a light contractor. An organization also charged them as much as P4,000 to P5,000 per stall without any receipt.

Based on these tips, city hall should have started clamping down on these illegal vendors and the illegal transactions involving some organizers as early as last month.

The issue here is corruption. 

Somebody made money out of the presence of these eyesores within the belt line of the plaza.

While nobody from the city mayor's office is aggressive enough to identify and punish the scoundrels, some city councilors consider the issue an urgent matter.

Thus they will investigate after the smoke has disappeared.

In Tagalog, they have this popular aphorism: "Aanhin pa ang damo kung patay na ang kabayo." (The grass is useless if the horse is dead.)

Interesting ‘conflicts’ in City Hall

“Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.” Ronald Reagan

By Alex P. Vidal

WHEN we covered the City Hall beat during the administrations of the late former Mayor Rodolfo “Roding” Ganzon (1988-1991), former Mayor Mansueto “Mansing” Malabor (1991-2001), and now Iloilo City Rep. Jerry P. Trenas (2001-2010), the clashes happened usually between members of the legislative and executive branches.

Ganzon sprayed with water the seven recalcitrant members of the City Council using the hose of a fire truck at the Freedom Grandstand.

The maverick Ganzon, a former senator, was at loggerheads with most members of the local legislature that his administration was marred by legal skirmishes and interrupted by preventive suspension orders.

He even went as far as padlocking the office of Councilor Lorenzo “Larry” Ong.

City hall could not find peace as long as Ganzon was at the helm and the seven city councilors: Trenas, Ong, Edgar Gil, Rolando Dabao, German Gonzales, Eduardo Penaredondo, Cirilo Ganzon refused to assume sycophantic roles.

Malabor and his minions in the executive office were constantly under the watchful radar of former Councilor Perla Zulueta, who is now Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog’s executive assistant for finance.

LAMBAST

Each time firebrand Zulueta lambasted the executive office in privilege speeches and media interviews, Malabor’s blood pressure skyrocketed.

His legal chief, Atty. Mary Milagros Hechanova, always had plenty of paper works to review to save the king.

The clashes normally occurred in the name of check and balance.

It was always a healthy sign for democracy when the Mayor’s Office and the City Council were at each other’s throats and not singing a chorus when it comes to policing their ranks.

The City Council under the Trenas administration was not as adversarial compared to the previous administrations, but Trenas also had his own share of goose bumps from feisty councilors who refused subservient functions.

Today, Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog’s relationship with the City Council appears to be sweeter than real life sweethearts.

The honeymoon is expected to extend until probably their terms will expire; and the bacchanalia, so far, has not been interrupted despite veiled differences in the choices for presidential candidates in 2016.

While everything has been going on smoothly between Mabilog and the City Council, civil wars occur from time to time within Mabilog’s inner circle, involving his key factotums.

KITCHEN

City legal chief Jose Junio Jacela got out of the kitchen when he could not anymore stand the heat after his appointment was rejected by the City Council.

The City Council rejection was not the one that wounded him most: it’s the Brutuses and Cassiuses who kept on planting thumb tacks in his back.

Until now no one can tell if Jacela and former Vice Mayor Victor Facultad, also Mabilog’s consultant, can still see each other eyeball to eyeball.

Spokesman Jeffrey Celiz’s wings had been clipped at the time when he was making mincemeat of Mabilog’s detractors.

In frontal combats vis-à-vis the mayor’s critics, no one can match Celiz.

Intrepid, brilliant and consistent, Celiz can single-handedly neutralize if not clobber all of Mabilog’s deadly detractors in debates and other verbal shootouts.

Why we haven’t heard of Celiz for awhile only the mayor knows.

Most recently it was Zulueta and City Legal Chief Daniel Dinopol who figured in a heated exchange of words in media.

So far, no heavy bombs have been unloaded. Only powder puffs and brickbats.  

If the apparent cold war between Mabilog’s two top lieutenants won’t be settled soon, it has the potential to escalate into ugly proportions.

Ex-city LEEO chief being singled out in anomalies

“I don't blame people who suspect my performance. My own mind suspects it. How can I blame them?” Sri Chinmoy

By Alex P. Vidal

Either he is a victim of black propaganda by some people who want to ease him out from the graces of Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog or he really is a crook.

First, Vicente de la Cruz was linked to the murder of a young lady, a single parent shot to death outside a big mall in Iloilo City on January 27, this year.

Then he was relieved of his post as Local Economic Enterprise Office (LEEO) chief.

Reportedly on a “floating status” after being assigned in the city mayor’s office, de la Cruz is now being accused as one of the “tuklo” (thief) masterminds in the city public markets.

In a recent city council committee on public market hearing, de la Cruz’s name surfaced as among those behind the alleged city public market anomalies.

Whistle-blower and committee chair Rodel Agado called for the investigation on suspicion that de la Cruz was being pampered by Mabilog.

Media also lashed at Agado for his refusal to name names after he aired the “tuklo” brouhaha on several interviews this year.

ANSWER

De la Cruz did not answer his critics in relation to the mall murder where his former casual worker, Enrico Robles Jr., was said to be the triggerman that killed Frances Lei Reyes, a 22-year-old resident of Oton, Iloilo.

But de la Cruz broke his silence when his name was mentioned in the committee hearing November 13 in relation to the tuklo issue.

“Ambot. Waay ko kabalo pero. I’m sure nga waay ko ‘ya gapanuklo (I don’t know about that and I’m sure I am not stealing),” he swore.

De la Cruz insisted that he never awarded stalls contrary to allegations and “I know that for a fact.”

He admitted though that he allowed interested vendors to temporarily occupy empty stalls sans awarding and letting them pay cash tickets “for the interest of the city”.

The local market law did not prohibit such practice, de la Cruz added.

“Kanugon lang sang empty stalls kun indi magamit kag makolektahan sang city,” de la Cruz told the committee investigation.

Accountable Officer Emmalene Diana claimed de la Cruz ordered LEEO job hire Fedelyn Villalobos to issue illegal receipts to a certain “Lilia Cordova” for her stall rentals from January to February 2014.

RECEIPTS

The receipts were tagged under Diana’s name.

Diana included de la Cruz’s alleged order in the affidavit she submitted to the executive department’s market committee and Agado’s committee.

“Cordova” had arrears from July 2011 to Dec. 2013 amounting to more than P100,000 and must not be issued receipts for January to February 2014, according to Virgilio Tunogbanua, Iloilo Terminal Market in-charge.

De la Cruz asserted that he never ordered anyone to issue receipts to Cordova.

“I have not done anything that would affect the collection of the city,” he added.

Now that de la Cruz has been allowed his day in court, critics should give him now the benefit of the doubt.

In fairness to de la Cruz, if his guilt has not been proven yet, detractors should refrain from making speculations so as not to muddle the issues leveled against him and his alleged cohorts.

Market thieves who?

“In societies that profess some respect for law, suspects are apprehended and brought to fair trial. I stress 'suspects.’” Noam Chomsky

By Alex P. Vidal

SINCE the news broke out early this year that several characters with "strong" connections in the city hall were behind the thievery or unauthorized collections of fees, among other anomalies in the Iloilo Central Market, no names of suspects have surfaced yet.

Officially no one has been identified or charged in any formal report.

Media also failed to zero in on the real identities of the culprits as they were waiting for Councilor Rodel Agado to spill the beans.

Although some names have surfaced in the gossip mill, nobody has owned up to the anomalies and bitterly deny any wrongdoing or culpability.

It boggles the mind why Agado was hard-pressed to mention their names since they were already allegedly identified by witnesses.

In fact, it appears that Agado, a public market habitue even before he became a public official, knows some of them. 

Agado, chair of the market committee, who blew the whistle on these unscrupulous city hall employees, have failed to name them in his recent privileged speech in the regular session of the city council.

DEFEND

Agado only exhorted the “suspects” to defend themselves from accusations hurled against them when his committee conducts a formal investigation starting November 13.

In other words, the people will only speculate about the identities of these suspects who will be known only once they are invited in the hearing.

What if none of those to be invited will show up during the committee investigation?

The law cannot compel them to appear and incriminate themselves.

How can they honor any invitation to appear in the committee hearing when there is no formal complaint lodged against them yet?

How can one defend himself if there are no formal charges filed against him?

“Except for one who has already been dismissed for tapping on city power lines to run his dormitory and water business, at least eight of these suspects will be invited to come to that hearing to defend themselves,” said Agado as quoted in a report by city hall beat reporter and columnist Wenceslao Mateo in the October 30 issue of The Daily Guardian.

Mateo’s report said one suspect “is a market official charged for allegedly usurping the power of the mayor to appropriate and approve stall occupancies.”

DUMMIES

The guy, Mateo’s report added, “is also suspected of employing dummies at the market after witnesses claimed that he allegedly paid for the rentals of several delinquent stall occupants.”

“Another suspect is a regular employee who allegedly divested some P200,000 in market collections,” added the report.

According to the report, the Commission on Audit has already recommended to the City Legal Office the filing of a graft case against the regular employee.

“The rest of the suspects are job hires who either collected market fees without issuing tickets, failed to remit their collections, or tampered receipt entries to chip off some amount from their collections. Some of the suspects purportedly admitted their guilt to both the executive market committee and Agado,” concluded the report.

HOLD

We were surprised why Agado had to hold his punches during the privileged speech when it was supposed to be the perfect opportunity for him to skin those rapscallions alive.

For his failure to name names after unloading the “tuklo” (colloquial word for thief) accusation, public criticism has boomeranged on Agado, a former crusading radioman.

No guilty party is stupid to honor any committee investigation if he knows that he will only be lynched and humiliated.

We hope Agado can have a little success in his efforts to lower the boom on these dishonest city hall employees.

The only consolation for him is that he is being reportedly backed up by Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, who is also hell-bent to eradicate his office with undesirable employees.

Salaries of city hall big cats

“Salary stories are intrusive. Do you ask your neighbour what they earn for their job?”

Nicole Kidman

By Alex P. Vidal

We were surprised to learn from the piece of paper recently posted by lawyer-journalist Pet Melliza on his blog that some of Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog’s most active and deserving executive assistants are receiving only paltry salaries, while some of those who can't be considered as assets in his administration are getting huge monthly pays.

We don’t question the amount that these subalterns receive since they have been supposedly inherently specified in the plantilla duly authorized under the law.

The paper did not have the signature of any authorized city hall official, but we presumed its contents were correct since it was presented to public by a very credible lawyer and journalist, my colleague in media for more than 20 years.

Jeffrey Celiz (executive assistant on political affairs) and Fernando Jose “Boyet” Rico (executive assistant on barangay affairs) are two of the most diligent, vocal and active members of city hall’s executive branch, yet their salaries are not even half of those being enjoyed by some of their peers.

The big cats swallow the lion’s share of the total salaries appropriated for all executive assistants, Mabilog’s appointed officials who hold co-terminus positions.

RISK

Celiz, who risked his life and limbs as Mabilog’s spokesperson and “shock absorber” especially during elections, gets only P23,044 a month, far cry from the P58,028 monthly pay of city administrator Norlito Bautista, who is not as gutsy and as tough as Celiz when it comes to “biting the bullets” and “eating the punches” of Mabilog’s political and media adversaries.

No one among Mabilog’s executive assistants--not even Bautista--is as intrepid and as passionate compared to Celiz when it comes to doing his assigned tasks.

In fact, among the soldiers of Mabilog, Celiz tops the list as the most harassed, the most ridiculed, the most maligned, and the most dedicated.

No one among the members of Mabilog’s political family has incurred voluminous scars inflicted on Celiz in his many no-holds-barred skirmishes with Mabilog’s political enemies.

If Julius Caesar had Mark Antony, Mabilog has Celiz.

And Celiz knows who are the potential Brutuses and Cassiuses in his boss’ backyard.

With all his talent, dedication and sacrifices, Celiz should get more than P23,044 a month.

Boyet Rico suffers the most—when it comes to “unequal distribution of wealth”, so to speak.

CHIEF

The former village chief of Housing, Mandurriao, who is Mabilog’s confidante and liaison to all barangay officials—chiefs and councilors—is receiving only, would you believe, P15,081 a month.

Almost less than half of what Engr. Romeo “Boy” Paloma III (executive assistant on barangay projects) receives at P37,376 a month.

Rico, who comes from the city’s illustrious political clan whose members have carved a niche in public service since the post-war era, is also the most maligned like Celiz.

His salary obviously isn’t commensurate with the scope of his responsibility which covers the city’s 180 barangays.

Among all of Mabilog’s executive assistants, Rico is the most active especially in promoting barangay-level programs and projects implemented by the city government in the social media.

While other co-terminus officials are either too shy or too lazy to post some of Mabilog’s community outreach programs, barangay symposia and other related activities in social media, Rico almost always overloads his Facebook account with these events.

Rico, who was recently bruised by an ugly canard that emanated from city hall’s inner chamber, deserves more than what he gets like Celiz.

INTERNET

With the advent of technology and internet, political propaganda has shifted from the mainstream to the social media.

We’ve seen how Mabilog feverishly struggled to promote his programs, activities and projects and patiently answered critics in his interactions with both foes and allies in the Facebook.

Where were the overfed co-terminus knights while the king was single-handedly thwarting attackers of the castle in this new battlefield?

Ilonggos will know who are those who deserve gargantuan pays and those who don’t according to their performances and tasks.

Mabolog's co-terminus officials are the following:

Atty. Daniel Dinopol (city legal officer), P58,028/month; Jess Sio (assistant department head), P49,750/month; Dr. Perla Zulueta (executive assistant on finance), P42,652/month; Victor Facultad (building administrator), P42,652/month; Ely Estante (executive assistant on markets), P42,652/month; Erwin Plagata (executive assistant on medical services), P42,652/month; Dominador Coo (executive assistant on tourism), P36,567/month; Norma Jimenea (social services), P29,025/month; Ariel Castaneda (political affairs), P29,025/month; Jay Victor Mabilog (executive assistant), P29,028.

Dr. Guillermo de la Llana (executive assistant on mentally-ill), P25,161/month; Patrick Alan Sy (executive assistant on dengue concerns), P23,044/month; Felix Muchada Sr. (security), P23,044; Melchor Tan (executive assistant on barangay special), P23,044/month; Mitch Antiquena (executive assistant on water system); P23,044; and Hector Alejano (executive assistant on environment concerns), P16,292.

Tax increase zugzwang

“The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes.” Lao Tzu

By Alex P. Vidal

When people are hungry and desperate, they steal foods, commit crimes like robbery and holdup, and vandalize government offices.

Poverty breeds lawlessness. A hungry stomach fears no authority.

Survival instinct means food is a hungry man’s only god; which explains why during calamities, victims resort to lawlessness, storm and empty padlocked supermarkets and grocery stores despite the presence of cops.

But why vandalize or destroy government properties? There are two reasons for this: 1.The hungry are outraged and blame the government for their woes; and 2.They think the government is rich and awash with cash, thus they target the treasurer’s offices like what happened recently in Escalante City, Negros Occidental and Concepcion, Iloilo.

CASH

Thieves carted away some P2 million cash from the vault of the Escalante city hall last July 11 when the janitor reportedly failed to lock the office, police said.

Police also reported that robbers ransacked the vault of the Concepcion municipal treasurer’s office and ran away with P490,000 cash by forcibly opening the office’s sliding window last July 19.

Probers led by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are eyeing an inside job in both heists, but are not ruling out the involvement of other civilians not connected in the two offices.

Although the two robberies occurred in a span of only one week, police found no reason to connect them as the offices were located miles away separately in two islands.

PATTERN

But the twin robbery incidents could be used as patterns for those intending to rob government offices like the capitol, city hall and municipal hall.

Thieves now have an idea that some treasurer’s offices, just like some of the pawnshops, money lending corporations and money transfer outlets, do not actually deposit all their cash in the bank after office hours.

The burglaries in Escalante and Concepcion should send alarm signals to other treasurer’s offices in Western Visayas.

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We expected a zugzwang in the public hearing conducted by the Iloilo city council’s committee on ways and means headed by Councilor Plaridel Nava on the proposed increase in real property taxes (RPT) at the City Hall penthouse area last July 18.

The Iloilo Business Club and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Iloilo opposed the measure put forward by Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog who dangled a proposed 50 percent to 100 percent RPT increase.

It’s good that both sides have agreed to confer with City Hall’s local finance committee to address the concerns aired by the private sector groups determined to protect the interests of their members as well as those of the incoming investors.

DISCUSSION

Any discussion about proposed increases in taxes—real property and otherwise--is always chaotic and bloody, to say the least.

The cons, or those against it, will always outnumber the pros, or those who support it which includes the proponents.

Since the time of the Roman Empire, residents have struggled against all forms of taxation; opposition has been vigorous and passionate.  

"Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's," Jesus was quoted by historians as saying.

Who authorized city hall and casino ‘cash-sunduan’?

“The measure of life is not its duration, but its donation.” Peter Marshall

By Alex P. Vidal

Whoever authorized city hall’s modus vivendi with the Casino Filipino for the latter to remit to the former P500,000 cash monthly since 2012 and operate in Iloilo City without a business permit, should be charged administratively or sacked.

Just because Claudius married Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, Hamlet will no longer seek justice for the murder of his father by Claudius, who is Hamlet’s uncle?

To make the long story short, no one is above the law. Not even operators of the Casino Filipino, which has been operating in Iloilo City since 2012 without a business permit.

The city’s tax ordinance requires all business establishments, big or small, to secure a business permit before they can operate anywhere in the city. No ifs. No buts. The Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO) is mandated to enforce the ordinance lock, stock, and barrel sans favoritism and exemption.

OBLIGATION

The monthly P500,000 cash remittance does not absolve Casino Filipino from dodging its obligation to secure a business permit. The law does not give any establishment or individuals a special treatment. No business permit means no permission to operate.

The argument that the fee the Casino Filipino would be paying for the business permit "is peanuts" compared to the P500,000 monthly cash remittance to the city hall coffer, is illogical and hogwash. It’s non sequitur.

A fee is intended for the business permit. A remittance can be relaxed or waved especially if it is not covered by any memorandum of agreement (MOA), which must be ratified first by the legislative body and approved by the executive branch. It is not mandatory.

Casino Filipino’s P500,000 monthly cash remittance to the city government since 2012 was never authorized by the Sangguniang Panlungod. If the treasurer’s office received it, the cash should be considered as donation. Any donation, cash or kind, cannot be invoked to hostage any ordinance or hold its implementation in abeyance. It should not be used as a bargaining chip to circumvent the law.

The origin of the "cash-sunduan", or whatever we may call it, could have emerged from a poisonous tree and, therefore, irrelevant and off tangent in as far as the issue of requiring all business establishments in the city to secure a business permit is concerned.

-o0o-

Many Ilonggos were saddened by reports that their best bets for the presidential derby in 2016, DILG Sec. Mar Roxas and Senate President Frank Drilon, recently fell by the wayside in the recent approval ratings.

While they received the survey results with bated breath, Vice President Jejomar Binay’s ratings skyrocketed once more.

This could be the reason why each time Binay made an out-of-town visit, eager-beaver political underlings of administration governors and mayors were excited to be photographed with the diminutive political kingpin of Makati.

Binay, like the late former senator and Iloilo City mayor Roding Ganzon, has the habit of calling characters introduced to him for the first time by their first names. It's a political strategy, of course. Calling individuals by their first names titillate them. They are thinking that Binay will remember them when the latter wins in the 2016 presidential polls and occupies Malacanang.

We beg to disagree. All politicians do the same to almost all those they meet in out-of-town sorties especially when the election is near. Binay, a traditional politician like Roxas and Drilon, et al, is not an exemption. Politicians want people forming a beeline and a wall around them to feel a sense of belongingness. That these nameless individuals have become part of their "extended family". Tralala.

Once they are in power– or in Malacanang, for that matter—they can’t even remember a mole on your face.