Departamento de los ladrones

Hole of Justice
by Peter G. Jimenea

Make my day!

Few years ago, the Department of Agriculture, Regional Office 6, was lorded over by officials with large propensity to pounce on government coffers for every chance they get. Thus, it creates a public misperception that this office had been overrun by thieves!

Even the auditor and resident ombudsman deliberately stepped over the line of pardonable behavior in exchange for you know what. Instead of reporting the discovered anomaly, the auditor jumped to the rescue of the boss by helping him correct his messy records in office to obviate unwanted consequences..

A resident-ombudsman of the department had been charging also notarial fees for documentation of poor farmers transactions at the regional office. But the law says, being a government lawyer, notarial fees of clients with transactions in their office should be free of charge.

I also lost an insider friend, Marlyn Esperat in this war against the corrupt officials of the department. She was killed by assassins reportedly hired by top DA officials in Mindanao for her expose' of their wrongdoings in office.

Another good insider friend Mr. Lino Sustento, also passed peacefully but after his wish was granted by time. He had been praying that if somebody takes over as the next regional director, he should be Mr. Larry Nacionales, the now Regional Executive Director of DA-6. He admired the man's honesty and dedication in public service.

Now here's a story that won't go away. When DA-6 livestock dispersal program was implemented, officials distributed hogs, piglets and cattles to farmers in the region. The first livestock were piglets, the price of which for high breed does not exceed P1,200 per head.

The department has purchased 1,800 piglets from a hog farm (piggery) at the central part of Iloilo for its program. Due to the big volume of purchases, DA-6 acquired its stock from the supplier for only P900 per head.

But the cash purchase voucher was tainted with grave abuse of discretion. The price that appears in the voucher was no longer P900 but P9,000 for each piglet. Instead of paying P162,000 for the 1,800 heads, the DA-6 paid P16,200,000. This is what got me so disgusted about!

A “zero” has prostituted the voucher. It was added by DA officials with Midas touch in reverse to the P900, thus, making it appear in the voucher as P9,000. The overprice in this transaction was over P16M, enough for the crooks to enjoy their share of the loot.

When I report this to the Regional Director, he dished out the usual line that one is innocent unless proven guilty. What a glaring proof of camaraderie. It resonates well with my earlier suspicion that this is a big syndicate I will be dealing with. But it gives me more reasons to miff them with a name departamento de los ladrones – a department of thieves!

I also brought this matter to the attention of NBI Region 6. It triggered the bureau to call a probe. The director even assured me that their investigation will be over in just a month's time.

But I was badly disillusioned. Every time I visit the NBI director, an assistant would meet me to say he's out of office for an important transaction and also uncertain as to when will he return. This is where the bribery subplot came into my mind!

The NBI director resurfaced only when the issue slowly died down. It makes me sick to think why it seems that protecting the crooks is the right thing for him to do. But perhaps, contrition is taking its toll on his conscience that even before I utter a word he seems already badly beaten by his looks.

This is not what we think the NBI business is all about. The same is true with the DA director. They should know that to conceal is one thing, to be silent is another. The tragedy is we still have no guarantee that when they stepped down all crooks will go with him.

It is written though, qui peccat ebrius luat sobrius - he who offends when drunk shall be punished when sober. I hope to have made your day in this column, you ask for it, unlike me who asks others to make my day!

Hole of Justice: Grand Plan at the Kingdom by the River (9)

Hole of Justice: Grand Plan at the Kingdom by the River (9): "By Peter G. Jimenea, Hole of Justice The parliament at the Kingdom by the River recently did something funny: it appropriated funds for a no..."

Mayor Bing's Legacy

Hole of Justice

by Peter G. Jimenea

The Mayor's Legacy

Few months after his election as local chief executive of Bacolod City, Mayor Bing Leonardia built a Kingdom in the City of Smile. But for nine years of Mayor Jerry Trenas, Iloilo City has no City Hall except a rented third floor of Robinsons Place as his Kingdom by the Mall.

This is the difference between the practical and the theoretical mayor. Look at the Iloilo City government housing project of 413 units for lowly city hall employees at Pavia, Iloilo. It started in 2001 and totally deteriorated in 2009, without a unit built.

The supposed 413 houses under the city government project was bankrolled by a loan of P120M from the Philippine National Bank (PNB). The contract was awarded to Ace Builders Construction, owned by Alex Trinidad, a friend of Mayor Trenas.

As the construction starts, the P120M loan from the PNB was transferred to the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB). On why, only God knows. But the transfer cost has bind the city government to a new account of P132M due to alleged expensive documentation.

The problem starts when the materials used by the contractor were discovered of substandard quality. The city council passed a unanimous resolution urging the mayor to rescind the contract with Ace Builders and sue the contractor.

But Mayor Trenas cannot be intimidated by a resolution. He just ignored it until the intensity of negative tirades against the contractor became unbearable that the latter abandoned the project.

It was only a misfortune for the taxpayers that Mayor Trenas continued paying the contractor's billing in millions when the latter has already abandoned the project. Despite the contractor's unpardonable behavior, their will was done!

The deliberate waste of government fund is enough to hold the mayor liable for violation of RA 3019, or the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. Spending of taxpayers' money has official responsibility and accountability under the law. On why Mayor Trenas was unafraid of consequences, your guess is as good as mine!

The sad part of this story is the P17,000 daily interest for that loan paid by the city government for over a year including holidays, or a total of P24.7 million. The mayor should know that it is only for him and his contractor cohort that what he did was good!

The intervention of the Ombudsman stopped the mayor from paying the contractor but not until Alex Trinidad has pocketed P62.5 million of people's money from that “hao shiao” project or a “white elephant.”

This is our problem with officials who always ask compensation for what they never lost. They easily yield to temptation of greed. But this deliberate injustice to the taxpayers' money is crime that cries to God for vengeance!

Here, we cannot easily dispel the people's bad impression of Trenas as the most despised mayor Iloilo City ever had. Yet, he cited his victory a continuing trust of the people towards him, Sad to say, the people he referred to are poll-vendors!

For failure of the low-cost housing project, city employees are badly disillusioned. They believed now that the mayor and the underlings he had been tapping overtly professed what they covertly undertake.

He also promised us a City Hall but we only heard about the blueprint of the building nothing more. Even then Kgd. Tony Pesina claimed to have not seen that very expensive architectural drawing that cost – P12 million!.

Lowly City Hall employees are most sorely tempted to steal but don't. Now they have to tolerate brave words to save face. The failed low-cost housing project of the city government is already a vital document by which I shall judge them.

A 2010 COA report also revealed the city property, plant and equipment (PPE) at the start of Mayor Trenas last term, has a book value of P1.3B. But after audit, the unreconciled balance amounts to P821M. This mess is due to lack of supporting documents or no document at all.

The nine years of Trenas as mayor of Iloilo City is smack of unabated anomaly which become a scroll that forms the basis of their blasphemy. The Bacolod City Hall is already a legacy of Mayor Bing Leonardia. Here in Iloilo City, what more absurd legacy can we ask?

Grand Plan at the Kingdom by the River (8)

By Peter G. Jimenea/ Hole of Justice

Two employees of the Kingdom by the River have been de facto fired and deprived of their salaries for the month of February.

Thanks to Oplan Pagbag-o, the deformed version of pagbag-o (change) that King Tura promised during the last electoral campaign.

Nine months since he sat on the throne, King Tura’s most palpable achievement in that field is to have an incompetent but highhanded Hydrocephallus installed as Kawkaw head last September.

The next success of Oplan Pagbag-o came in December, when Hydrocephallus wrestled an executive order that de facto dissolved three offices, his own, that of Ma’am Malou who headed the Kingdom Information Office (KIO) and Radyo Mo, a two-way radio facility that connects the palace to the municipalidades of the kingdom, and their merger into a new office Kawpid whose head is none other than Hydrocephallus himself.

But Ma’am Malou opposed and rightly, the merger and dissolution of her office and position. She questioned that before the Civil Service. For that, Hydrocephallus and conspirators like Tibakla and Gin Butlog arbitrarily deleted the names of Ma’am Malou and her assistant Bikya from the payroll. They told Ma’am Malou and Bikya their salaries will only be restored once they concede to their demotion by filing with the human resource job descriptions and positions different from their current ones. For example, Hydrocephallus, Tibakla and Gin Butlog want Ma’am Malou to register herself only as Administrative Officer V, not as head of the KIO.

I have never seen such highhandedness and official abuse at the Kingdom by the River, not even during the reign of King Rading when the entire archipelago of Las Islas de Malaya was under military rule.

What qualifies Hydrocephallus is a big question. He had lost his high paying position  as communication consultant of an NGO in Guam(aras) funded by the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) after fellow employees petitioned higher ups to kick him out due to his highhandedness. 


That debacle of his debacle came after he was caught red handed copying verbatim other's news articles that led to his loss of employment as correspondent of a national broadsheet. And he is being groomed to protect the image and good name of the kingdom and that of King Tura?

His rapid promotion to chief of Kawpid skirted the requirements of publication of job opening and invitation to interested applicants and screening through the Kingdom Selection Board (KSB).

Opposition Bord Jerri recalls that the parliament did appropriate 9.7 million combined budget for Kawkaw, KIO and Radio Mo but denied that the legislature had the intent to dissolve three offices and merge them into one when they enacted the budget. Only the budget was enacted, not the creation of KAWPID. He will be delivering a privileged speech deploring how the august body was misled into appropriating 9.7 million to a non-existing office.


Ellen of Troy, key member of Oplan Pagbag-o who took and retook the civil service examination again, again and again, but did not notch a score beyond 50 percent, has a lot of explaining to why she allowed a fictitious office in the budget proposal she submitted to King Tura.

Hydrocephallus never learned. Last year, he lobbied to have his Muni-Muni promoted at the Hospicio de Gran Salvador. He failed and that angered him which led to an angry confrontation between him and the general manager and hospicio co-owner Doc Joanna.

His Muni-Muni resigned and after that, he created a web page and filled with filth that he threw on Doc Joanna who, in turn, fought back by hailing Hydrocephallus and his Muni-Muni to court.

Hydrocephallus flaunts his sick mind by parading Muni-Muni at the palace of the kingdom and de facto made her assistant by entrusting to her the keys of his offices. He just does not care whether fellow subjects personally knew his legal wife who was named after the great American baseball star, Baby Ruth or The Babe.

He is now in deep trouble because his former business partner and friend, Kalipay, lately testified against him and identified him before as responsible for the slanderous webpage. Unknowingly he himself had confirmed that on text messaging that Kalipay secretly kept and later presented to the court.

Nine months since he started his reign, King Tura has only one palpable achievement of pagbag-o that he had promised during the campaign, which is the Grand Plan, unbeknownst to him to have been hatched by Hydrocephallus and Jijimon Mutya, to pave the way to the entrance of Bigboy and his Jijimon media, and Oplan Pagbag-o itself which led to the displacement of two employees, Ma’am Malou and Bikya who now are worried where to find the money to feed their families after they were scratched from the payroll. (to be continued)

THE MIWD BIDDING

Hole of Justice

by Peter G. Jimenea

The MIWD bid next month

More than 11 companies, among them Maynilad and Manila Water are expected to join the next month’s public bidding for the “bulk water supply” contract with the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD).

This is a rare opportunity for big business to rake a windfall, spring from the wretchedness of the MIWD which is self-inflicted because the board of directors deliberately sabotaged its operations by scrimping on physical investments like repairing major pipelines and tapping surface water.

The collusion forged by top Ilonggo political leaders and leading city businessmen could be behind this sabotage for their will to be done. The chief local executive has a hand in the appointments of MIWD Board of Directors who overtly professed what they covertly undertake.

Their godfathers are the people who want to control the water distribution business in the city. Due to that premeditated design to sabotage the operation of the management, MIWD is now in its worst rotten stage.

To privatize the distribution of water, a strategic need, would mean more profits going to private hands. Among its consequences, is the price of water that would shoot up. The P159 minimum monthly payment for households consuming two cubic meters or less, could double when the PPP-inspired bulk water supply contract is in place.

The target is additional 30,000 cubic meters of water daily. Iloilo City has no more of that, given the systematic destruction of its “natural water harvesters” and the contamination of its shallow aquifer or the underground water within the maximum depth of 50 meters.

By “natural water harvesters” it means the surface area that nature has given us to collect and preserve rainwater. I am referring to the wetlands, grasslands, mangrove areas and marshlands that Iloilo City had been known for in the past.

Rain water percolates in these “water harvesters” and gradually seeps to the aquifer. At the rate underground water is being extracted, Iloilo City’s natural surface could no longer replenish its aquifer.

Underground water source badly depleted, MIWD has to pump in neighboring towns. This does not solve the problem, it merely transfer the burden to another’s shoulders. This is how the Board of Directors and their godfather “solve” the problem - letting somebody else to bear it.

The winning bidder will be entitled to pump 10,000 cubic meters daily in Pototan town, 15,000 cu. m. in Oton and 5,000 cu.m. in Pavia. What right does the MIWD have in arrogating the prerogative that belongs to the constituents of the towns it intends to extract water from?

The winning bidder will draw water from Pototan, Pavia and Oton when these towns, Iloilo Province in general, has no participation in the bidding process. San Miguel town already “surrendered”; it already barred MIWD from drilling another deep well because it has to fill first the needs of its town people.

That would mean, Pototan, Pavia and Oton would eventually bleed dry. I wonder how the residents of these towns would deal with the depletion of their natural wealth. Other than the danger of erosion in the long process of extraction, water, is said, would be the next cause of, to replace oil, as spark of future armed conflicts.

The public bidding will be done next month. Supposedly, bidders have yet to comply with requirements, among them, documents showing their respective track records in the field of water supply services. They have to conform to prequalification procedures which in this case, are being done away with.

There is a script, my sources point out, that either Maynilad or Manila Water, both having an unworthy track record in water supply management will win, but once awarded the contract, it will be subcontracted to the other local bidders.

The big question is why did the two big water suppliers from Manila come here when the volume of water supply required of them by their big city clients were not even met and are dissatisfied of their services? Our elected leaders and their businessmen cohorts will soon be named to answer this!

Grand Plan at the Kingdom by the River (7)

By Peter Jimenea/ Hole of Justice

King Bungs, the grapevine says, is busy doing rounds this early, visiting contacts throughout the Kingdom by the River. He does not miss the KBL either, which is, “kasal, bunyag kag lubong”, occasions that bring kins and clans together, to share joy and sorrow.

According to people close to him, he will be running to retake the palace of the Kingdom by the River from the reigning and defending King Tura. The current occupant of the palace is shrouded in mystery. Some say he is staying only for a term because failing health would prohibit him from seeking reelection. Others guess that he’s still running for reelection and his likely opponents would be King Bungs and graduating solon Prince Jenil Burns.

Prince Burns, accordingly, is also interested in the politics of the Kingdom by the Mall. He will go for the crown of the Kingdom by the Mall if he realized that 2013 is still too early for him to challenge King Tura.

So that brings us to the possible King Tura – King Bungs rematch. The equation is that King Bungs will be enjoying the backing, politically and materially, of the party in power, he being the regional head of it. P-Noy is fully behind him.

The man who turns 80 in 2013 is still up on his feet. He still hikes and plays tennis. He neither smokes nor drinks and still trade banters and laughter with ordinary people he encounters.

So far, when election time comes and given the pace with which the current administration at the Kingdom by the River are running its affairs, King Tura will have nothing to show as proof of “pagbag-o” that was his campaign battlecry. He has only Oplan Pagbag-o, the deformed version thereof, which is currently being implemented by a pack of nitwits comprising Hydrocephallus, Dok Kagaw, Mamasang, Tibakla, Ellen of Troy and Boy Bakling.

The only tangible proof of pagbag-o is Oplan Pagbag-o that illegally kicked out Ma’am Malou and Bikya from the kingdom information office (KIO) and coerced them to submit new job descriptions tantamount to demotion. For their resistance, Hydrocephallus, Dok Kagaw, Tibakla and her sidekick Gin Butlog, deleted the names of Ma’am Malou and Bikya from the payroll should they continue to refuse to concede to lower positions and recognize Hydrocephallus as the new KIO and tsar of two other offices, namely, Kawkaw and Radyo Mo.

Three divisions have been dissolved and merged into a single department without legal basis and Hydrocephallus enthroned into the super-office without having gone through the process called “Kingdom Selection Board” (KSB) and despite his incompetence and lack of academic qualifications.

I have never witnessed such lawlessness happening at the Kingdom by the River. Not even during the reign of King Rading, during martial law, has this highhandedness happened with impunity.

Such official arrogance is seen in Hydrocephallus flaunting his Muni-Muni 2 around and giving her the authority to act like his assistant. She is a private citizen but she has the power to keep Hydrocephallus’s keys to the offices.

As Kingdom Information Officer, better still, as usurper of that position, Hydrocephallus should know that he cannot intervene with the editorial prerogative of media outlets and individual reporters. But he did just that. Unable to stop me from churning these series, he called up media outlets to shut my columns out. He threatened Kenjan of Radyo Kapuso after learning that the latter ran an interview of Ma’am Malou. “Ah, ikaw gali atong nag-interview? Andam ka lang!”(“So, you were the one who ran the interview? Better watch out!”) he told Kenjan.

On the other hand, orders of medicines, supplies and equipment that have been publicly bid in September – October last year have not yet been delivered to the hospitals owned by the Kingdom by the River; so are the requisitions from the kingdom agriculture office that were publicly bid last year yet.

Bureaucratic gridlocks erected by Oplan Pagbag-o are chaining the hands of winning suppliers to deliver.

In effect, the delivery of basic services have been seriously hampered by the circuitous procedures devised by Dok Kagaw, et al.

And the loyal subjects of the kingdom? Majority at least are loyal supporters of King Tura but that layer of buffer is thinning. The highhandedness of Hydrocephallus and Dok Kagaw is inversely proportional to the growth of support for King Tura from the ranks and file. (to be continued)

The Iloilo City Housing Scam

Hole of Justice

by Peter G. Jimenea

The Iloilo City Housing Scam

We learned that the remaining unsold portion of the city government lot in Pavia, will soon be in-line for sale by our city officials. It is the site of a housing project that started in 2001 but was abandoned by the contractor thus, totally deteriorated in 2009.

Of the 413 houses to be built under the contract with the city government, not even a single unit was completely built by the contractor. Still, then Mayor Jerry Trenas failed to explain why this thing happened to the millions worth of project under his watch.

The waste in millions of taxpayers money without any good return is stepping over the line of pardonable behavior committed by a public official. Trenas surely know that the spending of government fund carries with it official accountability and responsibility under the law.

Yet, the mayor kept mum about this corruption in his administration. Deliberate or not, he failed to notice that his early stewardship of the city government as chief executive seems to have been distorted by indomitable corruption!

The Iloilo City Government Employees Low Cost Housing Project was bankrolled by a loan of P120 Million from the Phil. National Bank (PNB). The contract was awarded to Ace Builders, owned by Mr. Alex Trinidad, a friend of Mayor Trenas.

When the construction started, the P120M loan from the PNB was transferred to the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB). On why, nobody knows. But this eventually bind the city to a new account of P132M due to expensive documentation.

The problem starts when the materials used in the construction of the supposed 413 houses in Pavia, Iloilo, were discovered of substandard quality. So the city council pass a unanimous resolution urging the mayor to rescind the contract with Ace Builders and sue the contractor.

But Mayor Trenas cannot be intimidated by a mere resolution. He ignored it and continued paying the contractor's billing in million of pesos. Despite the residual imperfection their will was done!

The failed project could already hold the mayor liable for violation of RA 3019, or the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. As a lawyer, he surely knew his official responsibility and accountability attendant thereto. Yet, it seems a stranger to him by feeling immune from consequences of his act.

Thus, the project that started in 2001 during his first term as mayor has ended a white elephant in 2009, months before his term expires. In street-smart parlance, the project is a "hao shiao." The mayor should know that it is only for him and the city hall crooks that what he did was good!

Few have the faintest idea that the city had been paying P17,000 daily interest for that loan including holidays for over a year. The total interest paid for this mess has reached P24.7M. This deliberate injustice to the taxpayers' money is a crime that cries to God for vengeance!

Only the intervention of the Ombudsman has stopped the mayor from paying the contractor. Unfortunately, Mr. Trinidad, had already pocketed P62.5M.of the city government fund before the the public learned about it.

Here, we cannot easily dispel the people's bad impression about Trenas as the most despised mayor Iloilo City ever had. But again, he cited his victory last election as a continuing trust of the people towards him, Sad to say, but the people he refers to are today's poll-vendors!

In fact, majority of his supporters are now badly disillusioned and convinced that the mayor overtly professed what he covertly undertake. Worse, they also surpassed the atrocities committed by thieves of the previous administration.

Lowly City Hall employees are most sorely tempted to steal but don't, what a shame. Now they have to tolerate brave words to save face as the failed Iloilo City housing project in Pavia is already a vital document by which I can judge them.

Worse, other than that failed housing project, his nine years administration of the city has created a history of unabated anomaly and this is now a scroll that forms the basis of their blasphemy!

Grand Plan at the Kingdom by the River (6)

By Peter G. Jimenea, HOLE OF JUSTICE

You may wonder why King Tura of the Kingdom by the River has an account in Facebook.  Don’t be misled. He does not care to open it. The ones maintaining it are the hydrocephalic twins, namely, Hydrocephallus the usurper to the throne of the kingdom information office (KIO) and Boy Bakling.

The two have become inseparable twins after one gave the other new meaning to the word “friend” by supplying him with “cats”, I mean, cats in the figurative sense walking on a pair of legs, not four, if you know what I mean. In other words, one became a “bugaw”, the other, “ginbugawan”.

Befriending King Tura in Facebook will only give these hydrocephallic twins opportunity to pry into your private lives.

***

Two subjects of the Kingdom by the River de facto lost their jobs as outcome of Oplan Pagbag-o, a nightmare hatched in the megalomaniac heads of Hydrocephallus, Dok Kagaw, Tibakla, Mamasang, Ellen of Troy and Boy Bakling.

The objective of Oplan Pagbag-o is to execute the “Grand Plan” which aims to pave the way for the entry of Bigboy to the throne of the kingdom. This plot is premised on the scenario that King Tura’s health is deteriorating fast and might disable him before his term ends. Hydrocephallus is at the center wind of the storm that is sweeping away obstacles to the takeover.

Ma’am Malou the kingdom information officer or KIO and her assistant Bikya were simply stricken off the payroll on the lame excuse that they refused to submit their new designations to the personnel department led by Tibakla, the one who has a twisted understanding of marital fidelity.

Dok Kagaw threatened to punish her administratively for “insubordination”. Dok Kagaw forgot that he does not have the power to appoint, punish or remove any subject of the kingdom. Even if he had such power, he cannot use it arbitrarily. He has to follow rules and procedures that allow the person charged administratively to answer and face his or her accusers.

Tibakla and her assistant Gin Butlog backed up Hydrocephallus’s scheme to usurp the KIO throne by deleting the names of Ma’am Malou and Bikya from the payroll.

That is a wise move for the plotters of Oplan Pagbag-o but Ma’am Malou and Bikya are wiser. To concede to the plot would be tantamount to acceding to their scheme of demotion. Ma’am Malou is being coerced to submit a new job rank and job description, from KIO which is in the plantilla and approved by the Civil Service Commission, to Administrative Officer V, a new position which is a demotion. The position of KIO is provided for in the Local Government Code which Hydrocephallus and whoever his backer may be, have to abide with.

Now the kingdom is abuzz with the news that Ma’am Malou and Bikya are filing a complaint to the king against Hydrocephallus et al. They are asking that a “grievance committee” be immediately formed pursuant to CSC rules and regulation to investigate and address the gripes of the complainants who charge their tormentors for oppression, abuse of authority, dishonesty and usurpation.

They also question the qualification of Hydrocephallus and the legality of the Kawpid which was not created by any law or ordinance but by a mere office order.

Hydrocephallus does not have the experience and academic credentials to qualify for the position but he still has the gall to expand his clout by annexing smaller offices, projects and their personnel under his wings. After grabbing Kawkaw, KIO and Radyo Unit and illegally formed it into “Kawpid” and getting full control of their combined budgets of P9.7 million, he now eyes to snatch the disaster management with P60 million, the school board with P100 million, the function of the GSO of publishing public notices, and the division of the planning office that keeps tab of the economic and business profile of the kingdom. 


He even attempted to transfer the P10 million intelligence fund from the office of King Tura only that, he later retreated after sensing that oppositionist Board Jerri, himself a former spookie of the Philippine Constabulary, would grill him until he burned.

He never learns from his own self-caused debacles. He lost a promising job as correspondent for a national daily because of sheer laziness to gather news. He contented himself copying news of colleagues verbatim. He is now haunted by the word “plagiarism” wherever he goes.

He should have mended his ways. He had lost a high paying job from the project funded by the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI). The Guam(aras) based NGO fired him after its staff unanimously signed a petition against him for his highhandedness which he is replicating today at the Kingdom by the River.

A song for Monalisa

Hole of Justice
by Peter G. Jimenea

A song for Monalisa

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez is actually the one referred hereto as Monalisa, a song based on a legendary painting of a beautiful lady admired by hundreds of men who brought their dreams at her doorstep, each hoping to be the lucky guy.

It was only a misfortune for the hundred of dreams at the doorstep of Monalisa as they just lie there and die there without seeing the dawn. The story of Monalisa resembles Ombudsman Gutierrez, whose lot of graft cases in office were believed to have died unattended.

We have also our mess in the Iloilo City Low-Cost Housing Project at Pavia, Iloilo. It started in 2001 with a P120M loan for 413 units of houses for lowly City Hall employees, unfortunately, not even a unit was completely built. The project that started in 2001, ended a "white elephant" and has totally deteriorated in 2009.

A case was filed with the Office of the Ombudsman against the then mayor and few city officials about seven years ago. But it just lie there and seems to have died there without getting a result. This is what got us so disgusted about!

An employee at the office of the Ombudsman in Quezon City, claim that Monalisa... ehe, este Omb. Gutierrez took the case folder of that Housing Scam on the premise that she will review it personally. Sad to say, it was a review-in-eternity. 

Rumor mills are grinding overnight that Omb. Gutierrez and Mayor Trenas are classmates at the Ateneo Law School few years ago. This may be the reason why no action had been taken by her office against the respondent classmate.

The Ombudsman is so powerful that her mere signature is feared by local officials required by law to file statements of assets and liabilities. Her arrogance is noted, too, during the Senate hearing of the (sweetheart?) deal entered into by her office with AFP Gen. Carlos Garcia over the latter's plunder case.

But not until Cong. Niel "Junjun" Tupas, Jr. of Barotac Viejo, Fifth District of Iloilo, get into the picture. Even before the hearing starts for her impeachment, Omb. Gutierrez who is known for her fighting spirit, seems already badly beaten by her looks. As easily gleaned, only her will to fight is there, the spirit disappear!

Why? The Supreme Court (SC) in a majority vote of 7 to 5 junks the petition she filed seeking to declare unconstitutional the impeachment proceeding against her by the Justice Committee of the Lower House chaired by Cong. Tupas, Jr.

It cited the House Justice Committee's decision to simultaneously take up two impeachment complaints filed separately by leftist and civil society groups against her, violated a constitutional provision that bans the filing of more than one impeachment case against a public official within a year.

Party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros, rebel officer Danilo Lim and the parents of the late Ensign Phillip Pestano, filed the first complaint on July 22, 2010. This is for her failure to correctly decide on the cases of the ZTE deal with the Arroyo administration.

On Aug. 3, 2010, Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes Jr. also filed a second complaint against her after she failed to go after Jocelyn "Jocjoc" Bolante and other people behind the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.

She probably thought of having an ally in the person of Mr. Midas Marquez, the SC spokesman. But she was badly disillusioned to discover that Midas, her perceived ally, has a Midas touch in reverse - the decision he touched did not turn into gold but a disgrace!

The SC spokesman said that after review, the high court found the House justice committee did not infringe on the Constitution as the two complaints against Monalisa ehe, este Ombudsman Gutierrez, were both referred to the committee “at the same time.”

Majority of the Justices in this case said that although there were two complaints, the House Committee on Justice was only working on one impeachment proceeding. This sends a strong signal that her end is near!

Monalisa...ehe, este Ombudsman Gutierrez' impeachment now seems inevitable. If I may suggest, the song “My Way” should be her marching theme on the way out being fit to this story. Here, the tragedy is not to go - but having no one to remember you!

Grand Plan at the Kingdom by the River (5)

By Peter G. Jimenea, HOLE OF JUSTICE

I have kept my word not to hit King Tura as I had already exhausted my energy riling at the previous administration, that of King Bungs because of what the Trio Los Bobos , namely, Kuyabog the ring leader, Sirum-Sirum and his ka-love team Tibakla, had been doing there.

Of the trio, only Tibakla remains. Sirum-Sirum is already in the freezer and Tibakla has packed up her belongings from the office of Sirum-Sirum. Kuyabog now works for somebody else not connected to the kingdom.

I am wondering, Tibakla’s own office is spacious, more than enough to keep her wardrobe but for quite a time, she had made the office of Sirum-Sirum her virtual aparador where she stored even her pieces of underwear. During seminars outside the kingdom, she and Sirum-Sirum did the kingdom a favour by saving on accommodations. Instead of staying in separate rooms in hotels, they share one. How conscientious of them. Tibakla, now key player in Oplan Pagbag-o, is looking for a new ka-love team.

Oplan Pagbag-o is still at work at the Kingdom by the River. The most visible pagbag-o that came about was Hydrocephallus, a newcomer becoming the head of the Kawkaw division. His instant ascent is followed by the questionable merger of three offices into Kawpid, a super office, with him heading it, despite his disqualification both in terms of academic attainment and experience. He further usurped the powers and functions of Ma’am Malou as information officer which is illegal because that position is  not vacant and two, Hydrocephallus skirted the process of passing through the employee selection board, a requisite to promotion.

But Malou is no pushover. She has sought refuge to the Civil Service Commission questioning the brazen abuse of power, her illegal demotion, her constructive termination, and the usurpation by Hydrocephallus of her functions.

She had held her ground against Kuyabog in the previous administration, there is no reason she would cave in this time. May I suggest she also file a complaint before the CHR because what is happening to her is clear abuse of power and violation of her rights.

Because of her principled stand, Hydrocephallus and Tibakla deleted the names of Ma’am Malou and her assistant Bikya from the payroll. Their only fault, if fault it may be, is that they resist the arbitrariness of Oplan Pagbag-o which wants them to file to the personnel office their new job positions and descriptions which are different from the ones approved and kept in the files of the Civil Service Commission. For instance, instead of submitting her position and job description as “kingdom information officer”, Ma’am Malou is made to submit her new one, which is Administrative Assistant V, which she rightly opposes. Insakto bala ‘na?

With poor Ma’am Malou and Bikya being not in the payroll, they will also not receive salaries. Not even under the reign of King Bungs and King Rading has such brazen abuse happened!

Oplan Pagbag-o is component of the “Grand Plan” hatched by Hydrocephallus’s master Bigboy who thinks the seat of King Tura would be his in a short while. That thinking is premised on the scenario that King Tura’s health is deteriorating fast and he will likely not finish his term.

With that, Oplan Pagbag-o is laying the ground to seize power and dislodge those who are disloyal or potentially disloyal to Bigboy. Hydrocephallus’s team is expanding. He now has in the league his hydrocephalic twin Boy Bakling, Ellen of Troy,  Tibakla, Mamasang, Jijimon Mutya, and Dok Kagaw.

The Grand Plan includes seizure of key money making programs. Oplan Pagbag-o is now working to take the disaster management which has P60 million funding, the school board P100 million, the IT section of the planning office headed by Tom and Joel, the function of the general services office of publication of public biddings.

Previously, Hydrocephallus’s Kawkaw division had only P1.9 million budget but with the combined Kawkaw, information and radio room sections (Kawpid), he now has P9.7 million at his disposal.

Hydrocephallus attempted to re-channel P10 million in intelligence fund from the budget of King Tura to Kawkaw. He gave up the plan after sensing that opposition Board Jeri would grill him until he fries himself.

Oplan Pagbag-o is indeed pagbag-o, but this time for the worse, with an incompetent and oppressive Hydrocephallus ascending to the corridors of power in the Kingdom by the river. Since becoming Kawkaw chief, he has not crafted a single program of action, nor attained an achievement he could call his own. As pretender to the throne of the information office, he has not churned a single press release or feature article to promote the image of the kingdom.

His dark past will continue to haunt him. His over-eagerness to copy verbatim others’ press releases, too lazy even to rewrite them para padismular, cost him his job from a national broadsheet. The word “plagiarist” will always precede his name.

Previous to his employment in the kingdom, he bullied his officemates that further cost him his as communications consultant of the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI). His colleagues at the office in Guam(aras) unanimously filed a petition sacking him which CUI acted on unfavourably for Hydrocephallus.

He is indeed sick!

The Iloilo City Housing Scam

Hole of Justice

by Peter G. Jimenea

The Iloilo City Housing Scam

We learned recently that the unsold portion of the city government lot in Pavia, the supposed site of the failed low cost housing for poor city hall employees, will soon be in-line for sale by our city officials. As to what purpose, they have yet to say.

The failed project that started in 2001, during the term of now Cong. Jerry Trenas as city mayor, was abandoned by the contractor and had totally deteriorated in 2009. Out of the 413 houses as stipulated in his contract with the city government, not even a unit was completely built by the contractor.

Local media practitioners informed this writer the mayor was riled by my expose' of corruption in his administration. He doesn't know that we are also fed-up by reports of deliberate wastage of taxpayers money. Few honest city hall employees even commented that as to contrition for what he did, apology cannot be accepted!

This Iloilo City Government Employees Low Cost Housing Project at Pavia, Iloilo, was bankrolled by a loan of P120 Million from the Phil. National Bank (PNB). The contract was awarded to Ace Builders, Inc. owned by Mr. Alex Trinidad, a friend of Mayor Trenas.

When the construction started, the P120M loan from the PNB was transferred to the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB). On why, only God knows. But reports claim that a relative of the mayor has a big role in the transfer of loan which eventually bind the city government to a new account payable of P132M due to expensive documentation.

The problem started when the materials used by the contractor in construction of the supposed 413 units of houses were discovered of substandard quality. Alarmed by the discovery, the city council pass a resolution urging the mayor to rescind the contract with Ace Builders and sue Mr. Trinidad.

It was only a misfortune that Mayor Trenas cannot be intimidated by a resolution. He just ignored it and continued paying the contractor's billing in millions of pesos that despite the residual imperfection their will was done!

The amount paid for that abandoned project could already hold the mayor liable for violation of RA 3019 or the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. As lawyer, he surely knew the official responsibility and accountability attendant thereto. Yet, the law seems a stranger to him who feels immune from consequences of his act.

For that, the housing Project that started in 2001 during his first term as mayor has ended a “white elephant” in 2009. In street-smart parlance, a "hao shiao" project. The mayor should know that it is only for him and the sharing groups that what he did was good!

Few have the faintest idea that the city government had been paying P17,000 daily interest for that failed housing project including holidays for over a year. The total interest paid for this mess has amounted to P24.7M. This deliberate injustice to the taxpayers' money is a crime that cries to God for vengeance!

Only the intervention of the Ombudsman has stopped the mayor from paying the contractor. Unfortunately, Mr. Trinidad had already pocketed P62.5M.of the city government fund before the public has got wind of it.

Due to this mess, we cannot easily dispel the public impression without affirming the perception that Trenas is the most despised mayor Iloilo City ever had. Yet, he cited his victory last election as a continuing trust of the people towards him, Sad to say, but the people he referred to are today's poll-vendors!

He failed to see the regretting majority who voted for him into office. The same is true with the growing number of middle class who are now convinced that he overtly professed what he covertly undertake. They eventually realized this absurd legacy is now a scroll that forms the basis of his blasphemy!

This story won't easily go away because God knows, lowly employees are the most sorely tempted to steal but don't. Now they have to tolerate brave words to save face. But it is written, que peccat ebrius luat sobrius - he who offends when drunk shall be punished when sober!

Grand Plan at the Kingdom by the River 4

Grand Plan at the Kingdom by the River 4

By Peter Jimenea

I am momentarily stopping my tirades on Dok Kagaw who called up yours truly to give him time to correct his mistakes.

But I am resuming my brickbats on Hydrocephallus, a key agent in Oplan Pagbag-o at the Kingdom by the River whose main agenda is to pave the way for the entrance of Bigboy, the “Grand Plan” as Hydrocephallus and his Jijimon reporters call it.

The Grand Plan is premised on the scenario that King Tura is ill, very ill and that he might not finish his term.

Hydrocephallus should know that King Tura is very much healthy and he and his Jijimons are only courting disaster if they continue with their game plan of throwing their weight around and egging out those perceived to be against his bossing Bigboy.

Yours truly is very much aware that Hydrocephallus had gone to the palace of King Tura and tipped off the latter who were the “traitors” at the Kingdom by the River. My friend Zarbo, seated away within hearing distance, blurted at him straight face: “Ano gid ginbulig mo kay King Tura sg eleksyon, haw? Wala mo gani napadaug tatay mo...” (“What help did you really extended to King Tura? You even failed to make your own father win...”) His poor father ran and lost for the municipal council of Airport Town last May.  

Zarbo’s remark was like a dynamite that blasted right on Hydrocephallus’s nose who grinned and turned away. "Zarbo" is Lazaro Borongan, a hard hitting broadcaster in Iloilo.

Hydrocephallus in the last elections worked for Long Legs. He landed in the Kingdom by the River after the elections due to the endorsement of Bigman and Bigboy, giants of the south, who based their favourable recommendation on the information fed by Jijimon Mutya.

The Kingdom by the River is still in a state of trance since July last year. Long standing procurement contracts, done last year yet, are not delivered yet. The team leading Oplan Pagbag-o has erected too much bureaucratic gridlocks. Almost all hospitals have no medicines and supplies because bureaucratic mazes bound the hands of winning contractors from delivering. Even the clinic at the second floor of the Kingdom by the River is plagued by the same malaise of lack of medicine.

The only palpable sign of pagbag-o is Hydrocephallus usurping powers and functions not his and is still scheming more sinister plots to expand his powers and functions notwithstanding his ineptitude and lack of formal qualification.

His first job was to head the Kawkaw division. Since August that he was the head thereof, he can’t even point to a single program he planned and achievement attained by the office under his leadership. But he still has the gall to bump off and usurp the rank, position, power and function of Ma’am Malou, a competent information officer. Question: since Hydrocephallus usurped the power and function of Ma’am Malou in December, can he point to a single press release or feature story written by his own hands, that promotes and protects the image of the kingdom and its king?

As far as this writer is concerned, all that Hydrocephallus can point to as “achievement” are the articles he copied verbatim for which he was sanctioned with dismissal from a national broadsheet.

Through his machination, he became “head” of a super-office from the combined radio, Kawkaw and information divisions, a position that he illegally seized and for which he is unqualified to head because he holds only a BS degree, not master’s as required.

But we don’t know when he would relent from his megalomanic onslaught. He still wants to expand his powers and illegally. He is now working to dismember the planning office of its evaluation section which stores and analyzes data and the center of its IT development; he still wants to seize the school board with P100 million funding, and the disaster mitigation program with P60 million. Not contented,  this incompetent but overly ambitious slob further schemes to rob the general services office of its function to publicize notices for biddings. (To be continued)

imported from my other blog accounts

Who robbed Nilo Sazon?

Hole of Justice
by Peter G. Jimenea

Who robbed Nilo Sazon?

The Ilonggos cannot stomach this grabbing by shameless individual of the credit due to Nilo Sazon, the man who reformed from being a Capone of his time, who vowed to make good in his remaining years for the people to remember him.

Sazon has bagged different national awards for the clean-up of the Iloilo River with his volunteers from the Coast Guard Auxilliary group. He also received other awards from Malacañang that a city environmentalists even quipped; "What more a legacy can we ask from this man?"

But if we look at that gigantic taurpalin erected on the roadside going to the Iloilo airport, one can easily glean the robbing of credit from this man and the volunteer members of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxillary who rightfully deserved the honor.

The billboard has the smiling pictures of Cong. Jerry Trenas and Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog of Iloilo City. Perhaps, those smiles to the ears are for their livelihood program including the clean-up of the Iloilo River (kuno) which earned them an award from an international body we have yet to identify.

It was ten years ago when this writer met Sazon at the promenade, a small drinking place along the streetside across Gaisano City, in La Paz District, Iloilo City. The man disclosed his plan to do something good for the city and for the Ilonggos to be remembered. In short, - a legacy.

Looking at the garbage floating on the river, he smiled and I know something is in his mind. When he told me, I acquiesced with his plan to initiate the cleaning of the Iloilo River described by Mr. Pistong, as the biggest septic tank in Asia.

Sazon started this program by building a small bamboo raft for use in gathering the floating debris. Months later I saw him with fellow volunteers from the Coast Guard Auxillary, personally cruising the river, collecting floating debris like plastics, styrofoam and many other.

Knowing the small bamboo raft cannot accommodate the pile, they built a bigger one. The garbage collected on the raft are brought under the bridge approaching the Marina Restaurant of Ross Gorriceta, and down there, wait for the city-hired garbage truck to pick up the pile for Calajunan dumpsite.

I aired this work of Coast Guard volunteers over my cable tv program during Saturdays. Sometimes, I invite them to guests in my talk show to tell the people about their valuable undertaking that appeals for public cooperation.

By keeping the public posted about the ongoing clean up drive being done by the Coastguard Auxilliary group, we eventually noticed the developing willingness of the people to cooperate in this task initiated by Sazon and Co. 

Iloilo City Councilor Ely Estante also contributed his share. He went to Manila with this writer (thanks to Dept. of Fisheries Dir. Sonia Seville), to study what should be done for marginal fishermen who will be affected in case the clean-up drive of the Iloilo river starts.

When Kgd. Estante's resolution was approved for the clearing of the river from constructed fish fence and other structures, Sazon bought a motorized rubber boat (courtesy of his daughter abroad). The boat tugs the big bamboo raft with debris to the riverbank which hastens the work of his volunteers.

Today, though not yet completely done, we can see the beauty of the Iloilo River free from floating eyesores. Sad to say, it also opened the desire of opportunists wanting to share the credit they don't deserved. They even plan to erect structures praising themselves as the advocates of the successful undertaking.

We cannot blame the people who want to share the credit for this success. But they should have started it ten years ago from the basis of their affordability. Perhaps, they just want to share a joyride in this success now to make money.

Well, let's give them the privilege to lie. Anyway lies cost nothing. But we cannot allow them to get closer legalizing their racket by using the now beautiful Iloilo River in putting up a foundation or the like without the people getting wind of it.

It's true, God sometimes joke on us. Imagine, we ask only for a “world class river” to brag about but He includes the “world class liars” we have to deal with. Well, that makes our day, but as to these liars identity, your guess is as good as mine!

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011

On wisdom of the Court

Peter G. Jimenea, Hole of Justice

After fifteen long-years, the Supreme Court acquitted Hubert Webb and six other convicts jailed for the grisly 1991 Vizconde massacre. The Court thrashed the testimony of prosecution star witness Jessica Alfaro as “inconsistent and unbelievable.”

In a voting of 7-4-4, the Court acquitted Webb, Antonio Lejano, Michael Gatchalian, Hospicio Fernandez, Miguel Rodriguez, Peter Estrada and Gerardo Biong “for failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.”

The Supreme Court reversed the decision dated Dec. 15, 2005, and the resolution dated Jan. 26, 2007, of the Court of Appeals and ordered the immediate release from detention of Webb et al. unless they are confined for another lawful cause.

Article VIII, Section 15 (1) of the Constitution directs: All cases or matters filed after the effectivity of this Constitution must be decided or resolved within twenty-four months from the date of submission for the Supreme Court, and, unless reduced by the Supreme Court, twelve months for all lower collegiate courts, and three months for all other lower courts.

Then why did it take that long for the SC Justices to read in detail the inconsistencies in Alfaro's testimony as their claim pointed out? Convicts who had been released from the National Bilibid Prison cannot believe the sudden acquittal of Webb et. al, based on the not guilty findings of the SC.

Convicts I interview said they never heard of inmates imprisoned for 15 years and above who were released from prison due to reversal of sentence from guilty to not guilty. As disclosed, the probable reason for an inmate's release ahead of his term is by commutation of sentence.

Others were released from prison not on the ground of a not guilty findings of the SC which review their cases but because of their good behavior. In which case, prison officials recommend them for parole or pardon.

Had there been report of any late-arrest of suspects that can be attributed to the massacre, it will surely cushion the negative impact of this SC reversal of verdict from guilty to “not guilty.” For that, they only added this celebrated case to the list of unsolved crimes in Philippine history.

Worse is the entailed statement of the Court in its decision to acquit the seven accused. It says; “In our criminal justice system, what is important is, not whether the court entertains about the innocence of the accused since an open mind is willing to explore all possibilities, but whether it entertains a reasonable lingering doubt as to his guilt.”

Jurisprudence tells us that a question of law exists when the doubt or controversy concerns the correct application of law to a certain set of facts; or when the issue does not call for an examination of the probative value of the evidence presented, the truth or falsehood of the facts being admitted.

There is also a question of fact when a doubt or difference arises as to the truth or falsehood of facts or when the query invites calibration of the whole evidence considering mainly the credibility of the witnesses, the existence and relevancy of specific surrounding circumstances, as well as their relation to each other and to the whole, and the probability of the situation.

The credibility of the witness and her testimony have been dealt with accordingly and calibrated by the lower court during the niceties of the trial, of which the CA eventually upheld. Sad to say but these were reversed by the SC on mere technicality.

Due to the still existing procedural questions relative to this case, it creates an impression without affirming the perception that this long-delayed decision of the SC of acquitting Hubert Webb et. al, is in exchange for - you know what!

So, who murdered Estrellita Vizconde and her daughters, Jennifer, 7 and Carmela, 18, who was raped before being stabbed to death? If the murderers are still at-large they could be smiling to the ears by now. For Lauro Vizconde, this wisdom of the SC Justices is another tragedy as he is becoming now their last casualty!

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2011

I don't like him either!

Peter G. Jimenea, Hole of Justice

Cong. Jerry Trenas may be feeding grudge against me for bringing out on line the corruption of his administration when still a mayor of Iloilo City. But during his term as elected mayor, he committed misgivings that as to contrition for what he did, apology not accepted!

First is the construction of Iloilo Terminal Market bankrolled by the P120M city government loan from the Philippine National Bank (PNB). It was delayed because the first P17M loan released by the bank prior to the start of the project went to the wrong pockets. The crooks hurriedly cut into pieces the gold at hand as if passengers catching the last plane out, forgetting the man at the treasury who also wants a share of the loot. Thus, the delay!

Even the relative of the mayor wants a slice of the pie by lobbying to sub-contract the electrical and water pipe installations inside the market. I am privy to this deal being the manager of an insurance company who issued the performance bond of the contractor as his guarantee to finish the job.

When the mess broke out, city officials threatened to confiscate the bond and sue the contractor for the delay. But the mayor slowed down for fear it may open the hidden mystery of the contract as some officials have become overnight millionaires from that deal.

To obviate unwanted consequences, they decided to takeover the construction of the Iloilo Terminal Market. The project was undertaken by administration to cover-up the mess they're in until it was completed. This is one of a story that won't go away. 

Then comes the Iloilo City Government Employees Housing Project in Pavia, Iloilo, funded by another P120 million loan from the PNB. The contract was awarded to Ace Builders of Alex Trinidad, rumored to be a friend of Mayor Trenas.

But as soon as the project started, the P120M loan from the PNB was transferred to Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB). The “kamag-anak” factor has played a big role in this transfer which eventually bind the city government to a new accountability of P132M due to alleged expensive transfer-documentation.

Worse, the materials used in the construction of the supposed 413 units of houses were incidentally discovered of substandard quality that the media feasted on the issue. Alarmed by the discovery, the city council pass a unanimous resolution urging Mayor Trenas to rescind the contract with Ace Builders and sue the contractor Alex Trinidad.

Unfortunately, Mayor Trenas cannot be intimidated by a resolutions. Deliberate or not, he ignored it and continued paying the contractor's billing in millions of pesos. Worse, despite the residual imperfection their will was done!

Only the intervention of the Ombudsman stopped the mayor from paying the contractor. Unfortunately, Trinidad has already pocketed P62.5M.of the taxpayers money without a single unit built out of the 413 low-cost houses stipulated in the contract.

The Employees Housing Project that started during the first term of Jerry Trenas in 2001, eventually ended a “white elephant” in 2009, months before he stepped down. In streets smart parlance, a hao shiao project and the mayor has a lot of explaining to do. But as Mayor Trenas doesn't want to talk about it anymore, these stories of anomaly became a scroll that forms the basis of his blasphemy!

Few have the faintest idea that the city government pays P17,000 daily interest for that failed housing project including holidays. For over a year, the total interest paid is P24.7M. This deliberate injustice to taxpayers' money is a crime that cries to God for vengeance!

Here, we cannot easily dispel the growing public perception that Trenas is the most despised mayor Iloilo City ever had. But God knows, que peccat ebrius luat sobrius - he who offends when drunk shall be punished when sober. So if Jerry says he doesn't like me..... see the title!

The Office of Monalisa

Peter G. Jimenea, Hole of Justice

This old song Monalisa is dedicated to Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez: Monalisa, Monalisa men have named you. You're so like a lady with a mystic smile. Is it only cause you're lonely men have blamed you, for that Monalisa's strangeness in your smile. Do you smile to tempt a lover Monalisa. Or is it the way to hide your broken heart. Many dreams have been brought to your doorstep, they just lie there and they die there. Are you warm, are you real Monalisa, or just a cold and lonely, lovely work of art.”

Ombudsman Gutierrez occupies one of the most powerful offices in the government of the Republic of the Philippines. She is blamed by many people for dereliction of duty yet, idolized by corrupt public officials for her tolerance of their cases sleeping at her office.

She posed now a big challenge to President Noynoy Aquino's battlecry; Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap. As reported, a number of officials with long-overdue cases at her office were allies or have strong connection with former Pres. Gloria Arroyo.

In Iloilo City, the 413 units of Low-Cost Housing Project of the city government for lowly employees in 2001, resulted into a white elephant. The project that cost P130 million pesos has no single unit completely built. This is official corruption of the highest Order!

This P130M project is under the stewardship of then mayor now Congressman Jerry Trenas of Iloilo City. Despite the payment of P62.5M received by the contractor and the P24.7M in loan interest paid to the bank, the housing project that started in 2001 was abandoned and totally deteriorated.

Mr. President, this expose' is what got the public so irate about. Lowly employees are most sorely tempted to steal but don't. Yet here are some officials with temerity to pounce on government coffers for every chance they get, what a shame.

This violation of graft and corrupt practices act was already filed against the former mayor and some people linked to this mess over eight years ago. On why the charge-sheets are still out there sleeping at the Ombudsman's Office, only God knows.

But Trenas is already a congressman and still we heard nothing about his case. It is also widely believed that he is now under the umbrella of Senator Franklin Drilon who convinced him to jump ship from the Nacionalista to the Liberal Party, three or four days before election.

This alliance of Cong. Trenas with Sen. Drilon has created an impression without affirming the perception that this scandal involving millions of taxpayers money will eventually disappear in the course of time.

Only the intervention of Congress and the president can reinvigorate our dwindling trust in the office of Monalisa ehe...este, Merceditas Gutierrez. What's more, we had already enough stories of her irresoluteness in performance of duty as Ombudsman.

For that, this Pavia Housing scam and hundred other unresolved cases at her office, are misconstrued to have been buried in exchange for ...... you know what. As the song Monalisa goes, they just lie there and they die there!

She might have that large propensity to watch macho-male like Gen. Carlos Garcia, and Gen. Angelo Reyas AFP former Chief of Staff kneeling before her asking mercy for the mess they're in. It may be true as what is somewhat missing in the empty lives of these people is to die with dignity!

Going back to our story, the P90M wastage of city government fund to that Pavia Housing Scam is P90M of the taxpayers' money. The amount is already a vital proof by which I judge the former city chief executive and now Cong. Jerry Trenas as the most despised mayor Iloilo City ever had.

It is widely believed that the number of unresolved cases at the office of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez are already enough to justify the change of name of The Office of the Ombudsman to....... see the title!

The cost of finding the truth

Peter G. Jimenea, Hole of Justice

After the long verbal tussle between the pros and cons of the Reproductive Health Bill, it eventually hurdled the first barrier at the Lower House of Congress. But the leaders of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) vowed to continue the fight against it.

They failed to notice the diminishing support of the people in this Church battle against the Bill. CBCP leaders even ignored the news about the two women who challenged the Church to excommunicate them for their open support to the RH Bill.

The reports of exodus by women devotees who transferred to other religious groups of similar faith, become a cause for alarm. Why did these people leave their Church to join the smaller group of the same believers?

If we look back to history of parish priests under the Catholic Church, they depend mainly on support of parishioners. This could be the reason why they opposed the Bill as its population control provision would eventually redound to Church lose of big income if enacted into law.

Church leaders are concerned only about income without taking into consideration the government side especially its problem on how to provide the basic needs of the fast growing population of poor families. This is easily gleaned on the widening gap of economic disparity between the rich and the poor.

Ordinary government employee cannot provide the proper education needed by all his five children unless he steals. What about the unemployed? This is without yet the idea whether the jobless parents has afforded the family its three regular meals a day.

What's more for people in squatter areas with five children and still counting? If only twenty percent of their children finished high school and only one can have a step in first year or second year college, what's in store for them? Aren't the others endangered to become notorious criminals of the future?

This only shows that birth control by calendar method doesn't sit well in slum areas. If birth control pills and condoms are bad for the Church, then what about abortion which seems today as the logical solution for unwed and unprepared young mothers-to-be?

If Church leaders has only showed sincere concern to the life of poor families in this country, their flocks will remain loyal to them. Even without too much nitpicking on the State's affair, their income can still be derived from wealthy donors, special mass, wedding ceremonies and many others.

But why are they against this plan of the government when it protects the lives of pregnant women, helps maintain the peace and order situation and improve the life of the people including their flocks? The RH Bill does not solely dwell on the use of birth control pills and condoms.

It teaches responsible parenthood and to that effect, includes the limit in number of children by a family. This is true as it concerns on how parents can provide the children the needed education based on their income, for the kids to become useful citizens of tomorrow.

Today, many young pregnant-women failed to undergo a pre-natal check up and other child health-care preparation due to financial constraint. But recent international report claims that one in three pregnant women in Asia died during pregnancy or while giving birth to a child.

This is a cause for alarm that Church leaders must take into consideration. They should now ask themselves on why abortion are so rampant and why this illegal business proliferate. Maybe they are against the RH Bill for the sake of opposition without looking into the benefits of women in particular and to all citizens in general.

A great number of women-devotees are now moving away from their divine faith in Catholic Church due to their opposing views about the Bill. Church leaders has failed to notice that since the EDSA revolution, their flocks who had been loyal to them are now slowly moving away due to difference in opinion about the RHB.

The CBCP should know that it is only for them and their group that what they did was good. They don't have the faintest idea that the Church is now losing in this battle.

True, divisiveness is the cost of finding the truth. The great number of Catholic flocks are now in exodus. Most have realized that the prize at stake in this battle - is unworthy of the war they are fighting for!

Excommunicate me!

Peter G. Jimenea, Hole of Justice

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is openly opposed to the Reproductive Health Bill (RHB) now under deliberation in the Senate. I find no fault in this except, their propensity to nitpick with the State affairs when their own backyards are in shambles.

Before the May 2010 elections, they threatened the legislators supporting the RH Bill with rejection of votes. Now they are also threatening Pres. Noynoy Aquino with impeachment if he will support the RH Bill. But in Church, they taught us that Jesus Christ has never threatened with retributions the Roman soldiers who persecuted Him.

It is widely believe that parish priests of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines survive through the support of devoted-parishioners. So perhaps, they fear the lose of income from these flocks once the population control is enacted into law.

This holds true to their big income from baptismal, wealthy donors, special masses, wedding ceremonies and many others. During our younger days, we were told that no dead members of the family can go to heaven without the blessing of the church - for a fee!

But if we concede with the whims of our faithful devotees, how could this struggling government contain the fast growing population? It cannot even provide the basic needs of million poor families in the squatter areas. What's in store for these people who are mostly unemployed?

The best credential in job hunting today is not what you know but whom you know. Children of well-off families easily landed a job after graduation. Majority are hired not on personal capability but on political expediency. This is what got the poor so hopeless about!

Not only that. Today, many young-mothers died due to lack of proper education about early pregnancy. Church leaders must also ponder why abortion are rampant today. More so about abandoned fetus almost everywhere. 

This only shows that birth control by calendar method is not working well in slum areas. If the birth control pills and condoms are bad for the Church, what about abortion which now seems the most logical solution for unprepared young mothers-to-be?

Timendi causa est nescire – ignorance is the cause of fear. This could be the reason on why women with understanding of RHB are emboldened to challenge the Church to excommunicate them. This is a cause for alarm as it can propel more exodus from women devotees of the Catholic Church.

The RH Bill is not strictly confined in birth control or family planning like the use of condom and pills. It provides helpful information on how to raise a child, maintain a good family, and many other helpful tips for a responsible parenthood.

Church leaders must also look for a better solution other than going against the Bill. The population explosion is inevitable. They government had provided our Church leaders with a lot of opportunity to lobby in Congress for the amendment of the Bill before it's enactment into law. They should make use of it.

Lot of devotees are now moving away from their divine faith in Catholic Church due to difference in opinion regarding the RH Bill. Church leaders may have their own interpretation of the law but it may be at odds with the gutsy young women of the new generation.

They should work hand in hand with the government for best result. An argument aimed to sway popular support by appealing to sentiment weakness rather than facts and reasons would only end in a miserable compromise. A lop-sided stand on this issue can propel more women to challenge the Church and say ........see the title!

SUNDAY, JANUARY 30, 2011

The Barbecue Park

Peter G. Jimenea, Hole of Justice

Pres. Noynoy Aquino should take note of the recent spat between Roy Fanunal, a restaurant owner with establishment alongside the Iloilo river bank, and Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog. This is a step forward for the latter's sincere desire to clear the river banks with eyesores.

It is the restoration of the once clean and beautiful Iloilo River in the name of environment protection. But by skipping the Barbecue Park, a restaurant owned by a Chinese which is just across the street and even occupying more space of the river bank, connotes a selective approach to prosecution.

Mayor Mabilog could start up from that Chinese eatery which over the years had been the cause of public consternation for its continued expansion along the riverside. But if city officials cannot stop the guy when he was still a private citizen, how much more today that he is now a city councilor?

Perhaps brilliant city councilor-lawyers like Plaridel Nava, Joshua Alim and Leonel Geroche with smooth mastery of the law can cite to us the persuasive reasons on why Mayor Mabilog's persecution of Fanunal and protecting Councilor Yee is the right thing to do.

If ever the mayor feels that by doing so there is a violation of inter-parliamentary courtesy, they can go back to the constitutional principle of separation of powers in this case. There are counter arguments against this order as a matter of course but meantime, they must set aside the good views of the mayor they refuse to share.

Should Mayor Mabilog dish out the usual line of his predecessor that we'll study it first or we will deal on that later, it is a glaring proof of camaraderie that goes with the saying, what are we in power for? But victims know they only overtly professed what they covertly undertake from the public's irreverent gaze.

The high-profile campaign of Mabilog to get rid of nuisance and eyesores at the river banks only shows a working-mayor far different from his predecessor who has done nothing but confined on studying the problem that comes into his office.

We just hope that as Mayor Mabilog now eagerly waded into the areas of private life and private enterprise, there will be more enthusiasm than embarrassment as his aggressive tactics and public performance connotes a high level of hostility.

His sudden intervention to stop the ongoing filling up of the area around the establishment of Fanunal beneath the river showed us the determination of a local executive to protect the environment which no government official has boldly did before.

Mayor Mabilog's sincere sentiment and determination to restore the beauty and the once cleanliness of the Iloilo River is sending us a strong signal that he is bound to preserve the city government property and it should stay with the government and not handed to businessmen.

Thus, the trouble between him and businessman Fanunal, so far has shown that he is a man – hinting a grim possibility of a secret compromise in exchange for you know what, otherwise, the only ones who get screwed in the end are the Ilonggos as usual.

Sad to say, his attention is centered only on the establishment of Fanunal, skipping the Barbecue Park of Councilor Yee. The controversy of this Barbecue Park that has consumed the city for years, was as it turned out, not good for other businessmen and to the Ilonggos as well.

This is not what we think how mayor should dispense justice. By ruling out the business establishment of Councilor Yee from the others who have committed the same violation is a selective approach to prosecution. To skip Barbecue Park from those to be demolished, instead of using it as an example to obviate consequences, is designing his own downfall.

The mayor should know that the media is behind him in this war against the unscrupulous businessmen whose establishments are encroaching the Iloilo River banks. Despite his harsh words against the press people, the latter forgive him and even join this cause as they are certain the prize at stake in this war is worthy of the battle they are fighting for!

Your honor for such commitment is per bene meritus, very well deserved. But keep your cool because a despot rule is not at all times tolerated by the Ilonggos and si ves pacem, para bellum – if you want peace, be prepared for war!