'Q' in July

IN JULY 2007, Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio was hailed as the miracle man with the quarry collection rising to an unprecedented P24.405 million for that single month, his first in office.
Spectacular was Panlilio’s accomplishment – principally through the efforts of the original quarrymen of Balas (Biyaya a Luluguran at Sisikapan), especially when ranged against the dismal non-performance of the Lapid father and son at the Capitol.
At the helm of Lapid the Elder, July 2002 recorded a collection of P1.08 million; July 2003, a total of P1.17 million.
Lapid the Younger made a slight improvement over papa’s collection: July 2004 – P1.17perfect equalization there); July 2005 – P3.12 million; July 2006 – P1.62 million.
Panlilio’s P24.405 million of July 2007 was the highest he ever attained in a month throughout his three year term.
For July 2008, the collection stood at P13.485 million and for July 2009, it was at P17.355.
Comes now the quarry ledger in the first month of Gov. Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda: July 2010: a total of P23.505 million.
In only her first working day – July 1 – with a collection of P1.305 million, Nanay Baby already eclipsed totally the whole July collections of Lito Lapid in 2002 and 2003, and that of Mark Lapid in July 2004.
Beating a dead horse anew we shall be doing here pointing to the scandalously grave discrepancy in the quarry collections between the Lapids’ terms and their successors’. But this we need to, if only to impact in the minds of the Kapampangan the hundreds of millions of pesos squandered if not plundered, and the lost opportunities for development those could have effected.
A comparison among the “good” collectors is just as odious. But a requisite process too. Yes, a little less than a million short of Panlilio’s first month collection is Nanay Baby’s. But then there are some intervening factors that added to Panlilio’s favor.
“The construction of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway was full blast then. Hence the great demand for quarry materials.” So declared Filologo Rodriguez, Balas supervisor then who was unceremoniously dismissed by Panlilio after helping engineer the “quarry miracle,” and now supervisor of the new quarry body Kalam (Kapampangan a Lulugud at Matapat). “Easily, the SCTEx factored in P3 million to P4 million of the July 2007 collection.”
An undermining factor Rodriguez noted in the July 2010 collection were the heavy rains in July 14, when the collections dropped to P510,000; in July 15, with P660,000 collection; and in July 22, with P645,000.
This was more than offset by the 13 days when daily collections exceeded P1 million.
Nanay Baby’s P23.505 million for July 2010 though is lower only to Panlilio’s P24.405 million for July 2007. The nearest he could get to it was April 2008’s P21.510 million.
On record, the last two months of the Panlilio administration registered “measly” P9.255 million in May 2010 and P13.695 million in June 2010. The combined total there short of the July 2010 collections.
So Nanay Baby has started exceedingly good with the quarry collections. Now, she is burdened with the proof of at least maintaining, desirably excelling, her first month collection throughout her term.
More than the millions being collected though, what really matters is how these are used for the benefit of the people of Pampanga.
After all, the quarry collections are not the beginning and end of good governance. That which the Panlilio administration seemed to have believed. And suffered – in electoral defeat – for it.