Different SOCAs
NO ZERO-SUM situation here. I am certain a lot of good things did happen in Angeles City this past year, and even more certain that Mayor Francis “Blueboy” Nepomuceno could not have missed them in his state of the city address (SOCA) scheduled at SM City Clark yesterday. (I wrote this piece Sunday.)
Yeah, a lot of things Mister Blue did accomplish, the most dazzling – literally now – of which are those multi-colored dancing lights at the “beautified” islands and round-about along MacArthur Highway near Chevalier School.
But I want to hear also from Mister Blue a SOCA of a different kind – the state of crime in Angeles.
Last time I heard, the city police are still cluelessly contemplating a blank wall on all the cases of killings, heinous killings at that, in the city dating to 2007 yet – in no definite order now: culinary icon Aling Lucing, businessman Arwin Ting, trader and disc jockey Heherson Punzalan, Apple d.app half-brother Joven Pineda Deala, Angeles City oldtimer American national George Lavalley, Barangay Pulung Maragul Chairman Edilberto Cayanan, American tourist Jerry Melton, former Barangay Malabanas Chairman Thelmo Lalic, to name just the high-profile ones.
Then there are the carnapping cases, snatchings and robberies so reportedly rampant across the city. All these making a mockery of Angeles’ self-anointment as the “city of friendship.” All these making the whole Angeles City police corps the bumbling, inept, idiotic Keystone Cops of silent-movie Hollywood. Or, in the local parlance, the pulis patola and the pulis pansitan combined.
One more SOCA Mister Blue had to deal with is the state of corruption on aliens, or, to put it simply, the extortion activities reportedly undertaken by a so-called “Jojo Group” with purported links to the city government on business establishments along Fields Avenue which, as everybody knows here, are pre-dominantly owned by foreign nationals.
At least one alleged victim had bravely come out in the open, aided by the brave Barangay Balibago Chairman Tony Mamac to denounce these alleged city hall-backed “predators.” The city government slapping these whistleblowers with libel will not clear the city of the muck of extortion in any way, Mister Mayor.
A related SOCA here is the shakedown of collared aliens. This refers to the trumped-up cases police file against foreigners patronizing the local flesh market.
A most celebrated case is that of Dr. Stephen Soul, a former justice of the peace in Australia, who claimed to have been framed up by a conspiracy of local police, prosecutors and judges. His story – and more – is splashed all over the web. Just log on to centralluzoncorruption.com. While the allegations there can be too sweeping, they nonetheless merit some introspective, if not intensive, investigation.
No SOCA this time but a SOGA – the state of garbage in Angeles – needs urgent addressing too by Mayor Blue. What with the barring of the city from dumping its waste at the Kalangitan landfill in Capas, Tarlac owing to its – Angeles’, that is – over P60-million debt.
So where is Angeles’ dumping site now, may we be privileged to know, Sir?
Then there is the SOCA that the city’s barangay chairmen have been clamoring for: the state of collectible arrears of their share in the internal revenue allotment (IRA).
The bread and butter of barangay development, the IRA share is life-and-death situation for the village chairs. IRA share delayed, is barangay development denied, so paraphrased so correctly one chief who looked like Mamac of that maxim on justice.
And last but not least of the SOCAs we’d like to hear is the state of the (sports) complex of Angeles.
So, whatever happened to this centerpiece project of the Nepomuceno administration to wean away the city youth from drugs and nurture a culture of sports excellence in the city?
So what happened to the bitterly opposed -- by Vice Mayor Vicky Vega-Cabigting and her flank of councilors, and as doggedly defended – by Councilor Pitong del Rosario and his silent partners, plan to secure a loan of over P600 million for the complex?
These are the SOCAs we expected to hear from the Honorable Francis Nepomuceno. No state of the city address of his will be complete – and true – without them.
Unless Mayor Blue’s SOCA meant statements of crafty alibis. Which we simply refuse to deem.
Yeah, a lot of things Mister Blue did accomplish, the most dazzling – literally now – of which are those multi-colored dancing lights at the “beautified” islands and round-about along MacArthur Highway near Chevalier School.
But I want to hear also from Mister Blue a SOCA of a different kind – the state of crime in Angeles.
Last time I heard, the city police are still cluelessly contemplating a blank wall on all the cases of killings, heinous killings at that, in the city dating to 2007 yet – in no definite order now: culinary icon Aling Lucing, businessman Arwin Ting, trader and disc jockey Heherson Punzalan, Apple d.app half-brother Joven Pineda Deala, Angeles City oldtimer American national George Lavalley, Barangay Pulung Maragul Chairman Edilberto Cayanan, American tourist Jerry Melton, former Barangay Malabanas Chairman Thelmo Lalic, to name just the high-profile ones.
Then there are the carnapping cases, snatchings and robberies so reportedly rampant across the city. All these making a mockery of Angeles’ self-anointment as the “city of friendship.” All these making the whole Angeles City police corps the bumbling, inept, idiotic Keystone Cops of silent-movie Hollywood. Or, in the local parlance, the pulis patola and the pulis pansitan combined.
One more SOCA Mister Blue had to deal with is the state of corruption on aliens, or, to put it simply, the extortion activities reportedly undertaken by a so-called “Jojo Group” with purported links to the city government on business establishments along Fields Avenue which, as everybody knows here, are pre-dominantly owned by foreign nationals.
At least one alleged victim had bravely come out in the open, aided by the brave Barangay Balibago Chairman Tony Mamac to denounce these alleged city hall-backed “predators.” The city government slapping these whistleblowers with libel will not clear the city of the muck of extortion in any way, Mister Mayor.
A related SOCA here is the shakedown of collared aliens. This refers to the trumped-up cases police file against foreigners patronizing the local flesh market.
A most celebrated case is that of Dr. Stephen Soul, a former justice of the peace in Australia, who claimed to have been framed up by a conspiracy of local police, prosecutors and judges. His story – and more – is splashed all over the web. Just log on to centralluzoncorruption.com. While the allegations there can be too sweeping, they nonetheless merit some introspective, if not intensive, investigation.
No SOCA this time but a SOGA – the state of garbage in Angeles – needs urgent addressing too by Mayor Blue. What with the barring of the city from dumping its waste at the Kalangitan landfill in Capas, Tarlac owing to its – Angeles’, that is – over P60-million debt.
So where is Angeles’ dumping site now, may we be privileged to know, Sir?
Then there is the SOCA that the city’s barangay chairmen have been clamoring for: the state of collectible arrears of their share in the internal revenue allotment (IRA).
The bread and butter of barangay development, the IRA share is life-and-death situation for the village chairs. IRA share delayed, is barangay development denied, so paraphrased so correctly one chief who looked like Mamac of that maxim on justice.
And last but not least of the SOCAs we’d like to hear is the state of the (sports) complex of Angeles.
So, whatever happened to this centerpiece project of the Nepomuceno administration to wean away the city youth from drugs and nurture a culture of sports excellence in the city?
So what happened to the bitterly opposed -- by Vice Mayor Vicky Vega-Cabigting and her flank of councilors, and as doggedly defended – by Councilor Pitong del Rosario and his silent partners, plan to secure a loan of over P600 million for the complex?
These are the SOCAs we expected to hear from the Honorable Francis Nepomuceno. No state of the city address of his will be complete – and true – without them.
Unless Mayor Blue’s SOCA meant statements of crafty alibis. Which we simply refuse to deem.
posted by A.Caesar Z. Lacson at 12:33 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home