Role reversal
NO, the Reverend Governor Eddie T. Panlilio did not renege on his campaign promise to open the capitol to the people, especially to those whose concerns he vowed to take with him upon assuming the governorship. “Dala ta la ding daing ding pakakalulu king Kapitolyu,” (We shall bring the lamentations of the poor to the Capitol). Still remember?
So Panlilio has not forgotten. He flung the doors of the capitol wide open: but not those of his own Office of the Governor.
Monday afternoon, the corridor leading to the sangguniang panlalawigan session hall resembled the charity ward of an already charity-run public hospital.
People – in all degrees of ailment, in all stages of want, in all ranks of destitution – patiently waited for the honorable SP members to end their closed-door executive session.
The cacophony of concerns that crisscrossed that corridor comprised more than enough substance, if not form, to make an indictment on the Panlilio (mal)administration.
A case in point: An old woman from Bundagul, Mabalacat needed P5,000 to get her daughter out of the hospital. She managed to borrow fare from a neighbor for her trip to the capitol.
At the Office of the Governor, she was told to secure 1) a certification from the barangay captain that she indeed resided in Bundagul; 2) a certification from the municipal social welfare office that she indeed was an indigent; 3) the “abstract of the illness” from the hospital. And then return.
The poor woman asked if the Office of the Governor would be so kind as to give her some cash, P200 to be exact, with which to repay the fare she borrowed.
Came the retort: “Ala keng pera keni. Munta ka king sanggunian karin la ring pera.” (We don’t have money here. Go to the sanggunian, the money’s there.)
So she was there waiting for her Board Member Cris Garbo to grant what the Office of the Governor denied her.
The story of the old woman was multiplied in the number of people in that corridor – all having undergone the same routine.
“Penabi da ke pu king opisina nang gubernador. Tiru da ke pu keni king sanggunian, uling ila kanung makabiye king pamangailangan mi.” (We were driven away from the governor’s office. They directed us to the sanggunian, telling us that it is here where we can get what we needed.) An emaciated mother toting a nutrition-challenged boy told anyone who cared to listen.
“Pipakit-pakit no pa mo retang P500,000 ibat kanu Malakanyang. Obat e na nala pemye reta kekatamung mangailangan, mikaatin la pa sanang pakinabang.” (He (Panlilio) showed off the P500,000 he alleged to have come from Malacanang. He should have just doled this out to the needy so they amounted to something good.) So observed a man from Panlilio’s own town of Minalin.
Seconded one from Macabebe: “O detang pagmayabang dang metung milyun kada aldo king quarry. Kekatamung atsu ngeni keti, e man siguru miras siyentu-kinyentus mil ing pamangailangan tamu. E la man mapitna reta andiyang aldo-aldo ating manyad masakit keti.” (How about the P1 million daily quarry income they are bragging about. The needs of all of us now here could barely amount to P150,000. Given even daily to the sick and needy, this will barely scratch the quarry fund.)
Comparisons – odious as they are – could not be helped in these desperate situations. Thus, a grizzled panhandler from San Pedro Cutud, San Fernando ruing “the good old days”: “Sabi ra mapanako la ring Lapid. Pero mas higit da no mang pekinabangan ding kalulu uling mapanyaup lang tutu kesa kening pari pa mong mesabi, sidsad neman king kalangi.” (They said the Lapids robbed us. Still, the poor benefited more from them because they really helped. So unlike this priest who is so stingy.)
At the time of the Lapids truly, the Office of the Governor served as the primary dispensary for the needy; the sanggunian no more than a bonus or a pandagdag. As it should: the funds being reposited in the executive, the laws being the province of the legislative.
In Panlilio’s term, a reversal of roles obtains. See how the governor’s twin towers of clitoral fixation make their own interpretation of the law and give the sanggunian the run-around-and-round!
Now, were the sanggunian given the quarry collections to run in return…
(Zona Libre/Punto! November 7, 2007)
So Panlilio has not forgotten. He flung the doors of the capitol wide open: but not those of his own Office of the Governor.
Monday afternoon, the corridor leading to the sangguniang panlalawigan session hall resembled the charity ward of an already charity-run public hospital.
People – in all degrees of ailment, in all stages of want, in all ranks of destitution – patiently waited for the honorable SP members to end their closed-door executive session.
The cacophony of concerns that crisscrossed that corridor comprised more than enough substance, if not form, to make an indictment on the Panlilio (mal)administration.
A case in point: An old woman from Bundagul, Mabalacat needed P5,000 to get her daughter out of the hospital. She managed to borrow fare from a neighbor for her trip to the capitol.
At the Office of the Governor, she was told to secure 1) a certification from the barangay captain that she indeed resided in Bundagul; 2) a certification from the municipal social welfare office that she indeed was an indigent; 3) the “abstract of the illness” from the hospital. And then return.
The poor woman asked if the Office of the Governor would be so kind as to give her some cash, P200 to be exact, with which to repay the fare she borrowed.
Came the retort: “Ala keng pera keni. Munta ka king sanggunian karin la ring pera.” (We don’t have money here. Go to the sanggunian, the money’s there.)
So she was there waiting for her Board Member Cris Garbo to grant what the Office of the Governor denied her.
The story of the old woman was multiplied in the number of people in that corridor – all having undergone the same routine.
“Penabi da ke pu king opisina nang gubernador. Tiru da ke pu keni king sanggunian, uling ila kanung makabiye king pamangailangan mi.” (We were driven away from the governor’s office. They directed us to the sanggunian, telling us that it is here where we can get what we needed.) An emaciated mother toting a nutrition-challenged boy told anyone who cared to listen.
“Pipakit-pakit no pa mo retang P500,000 ibat kanu Malakanyang. Obat e na nala pemye reta kekatamung mangailangan, mikaatin la pa sanang pakinabang.” (He (Panlilio) showed off the P500,000 he alleged to have come from Malacanang. He should have just doled this out to the needy so they amounted to something good.) So observed a man from Panlilio’s own town of Minalin.
Seconded one from Macabebe: “O detang pagmayabang dang metung milyun kada aldo king quarry. Kekatamung atsu ngeni keti, e man siguru miras siyentu-kinyentus mil ing pamangailangan tamu. E la man mapitna reta andiyang aldo-aldo ating manyad masakit keti.” (How about the P1 million daily quarry income they are bragging about. The needs of all of us now here could barely amount to P150,000. Given even daily to the sick and needy, this will barely scratch the quarry fund.)
Comparisons – odious as they are – could not be helped in these desperate situations. Thus, a grizzled panhandler from San Pedro Cutud, San Fernando ruing “the good old days”: “Sabi ra mapanako la ring Lapid. Pero mas higit da no mang pekinabangan ding kalulu uling mapanyaup lang tutu kesa kening pari pa mong mesabi, sidsad neman king kalangi.” (They said the Lapids robbed us. Still, the poor benefited more from them because they really helped. So unlike this priest who is so stingy.)
At the time of the Lapids truly, the Office of the Governor served as the primary dispensary for the needy; the sanggunian no more than a bonus or a pandagdag. As it should: the funds being reposited in the executive, the laws being the province of the legislative.
In Panlilio’s term, a reversal of roles obtains. See how the governor’s twin towers of clitoral fixation make their own interpretation of the law and give the sanggunian the run-around-and-round!
Now, were the sanggunian given the quarry collections to run in return…
(Zona Libre/Punto! November 7, 2007)
posted by A.Caesar Z. Lacson at 6:11 AM
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