Treating Foreigners Fairly
Cagayan de Oro City is a microcosm of the entire Philippine archipelago in terms of entry of foreigners for varied purposes.
As we walk just around the city, from the malls to markets, to piers and the airport, the beaches and the bars, even in downtown Divisoria, we see a lot of foreigners.
We see Caucasians, colored folks, Koreans, Japanese, Indians and all sorts of races and nationalities walking around, driving by or just enjoying the amiable and peaceful environment of Cagayan de Oro.
However, in the past years, I have personally noticed that more and more foreigners are getting frustrated and angry and disappointed at how our community as a whole has been treating some of them.
I, for example, had a German client before who married a girl from Camiguin and set her up in an apartment in Nazareth with all the appliances and food supply and financial support and the girl convinced my client to hire a house boy to which my client agreed. He went back to Germany to liquidate his assets and when he came back here he realized that his apartment was empty and all the appliances were sold out because the house boy after all was the high school sweetheart of the girl.
I also had a couple of American clients who brought all their savings from the States and invested everything here and they were later arrested and jailed because their Filipina wives eloped with their Filipino boyfriends while the foreigner husbands were out of the country.
I also had some Korean businessmen who invested in big time ventures like mining and trading and where duped to bankruptcy by their Filipino partners.
Some foreign retirees and pensioners who planned to spend the rest of their lives in Cagayan de Oro and built huge houses here, or invested in beach resorts, or ventured into restaurants or into every other seemingly profitable enterprise or business which later on were discovered by them to be just fraudulent schemes of their Filipino wives and the wives’ relatives to fleece the foreigners for their hard earned money.
There are also Japanese client of mine who invested money to buy ten jeepneys at a cost of half a million per jeepney or a total of five million pesos. Very soon he realized that the jeepneys costs only 350,000 pesos each and the jeepneys were registered in the name of his fiancée who ran away with one of the drivers and all his money were gone.
These are certainly very sad stories which paint a very bad picture and project a very bad reputation of Filipinos. This should be stopped if we are sincere in making Cagayan de Oro a foreigner-friendly and investment-attractive city.
Time and again I had been complaining of the thieves that abound in our city in the guise of taxi drivers who extort money from tourists who arrive in our airports and piers. These are shameless incidents which should be stopped.
The unfair treatment we extend to foreigners who are not only tourists but would-be investors or permanent residents and the fraud we perpetrate upon them would boomerang on us in the near future if we do not cooperate and educate each other to treat foreigners in our city in the best way and the fairest manner we could.
Reputations go a long way as much as first impressions are lasting.
We should always understand and realize that the treatment we accord to the foreigners who come to visit, invest or live in or city will spell the impression and the lasting reputation of our city as a foreigner-friendly city. Failing in these, we will all suffer from a bad reputation and the millions of dollars in future investments will cease to come.
Finally, as I have asserted before, we should even include in our elementary and high school curriculum the subjected of courtesy and respect and giving value to how we treat all visitors to our city whether they be Filipinos or foreigners.
That is called Filipino hospitality. We had so much of that in the decades past but Filipino hospitality had become an alien word and a strange tradition to the younger generations. If we fail in this, then we will have a future nation of rude, dishonest, inhospitable and greedy Filipinos.
Failing in all these, all the efforts at image-building, tourist promotions, national advertising and economic propaganda will all be brought to naught and will all go to waste because we have miserably fail in the basic and traditional tenet of Filipino hospitality.
Published by: Joe Pallugna on July 21st, 2008 | Filed under People, Cagayan de Oro
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Roe vs. Wade
The recent controversy on the issue of legalizing abortion in the Philippines brings back to memory the historic case in the United States of Roe vs. Wade, thus the title of this article.
The exact case is Jane Roe vs. Henry Wade. Jane Roe was only a name appended to the case to make disguise the name of the woman whose real name was Norma L. McCorvey.
Jane Roe claimed that she became pregnant because of rape in 1970. She then wanted to have an abortion to eliminate the fetus which was a product of violent sex, of rape. She did not want to bear the child and give birth to the rapist.
Henry Wade was the District Attorney of Dallas County, Texas, USA. The lower court refused to grant an injunction to bar the imposition of Texas law prohibiting abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court, by a vote of 7 in favor and 2 against, ruled that the Texas law prohibiting abortion is unconstitutional because it violates the right of free choice for abortion enshrined in the U.S. constitution’s 9th Amendment.
Thus, by the landmark 1973 ruling in the case of Roe vs. Wade, abortion was legalized in the United States.
right of citizens to a free choice — to abort the unborn child or not is a personal and protected right. That s what the constitution and the law says. So be it.
The religious and moral debates that preceded the ruling in Roe vs. Wade cut deeply into American society. Even now, or some 35 years later, the arguments still linger and the convictions of people had been more entrenched and solid. The anti-abortion groups have banded together and expanded in numbers. The pro-choice, the pro-abortion also have grown in numbers. Nevertheless, abortion became legal and any woman of legal age, or 18 years old, can have an abortion in a legal abortion clinic or hospital.
This raging debate in the U.S. also encompasses Philippine society these past days. The bill legalizing abortion was filed in Congress and the Catholic church has threatened that it would not allow the sacred rite of communion to congressmen and senators who would vote favorably to legalize abortion. Even the president of the republic would not be allowed communion if she signs the bill into law.
I personally believe that abortion should not be legalized.
I take side with the moral and religious argument that the life of the unborn child, the fetus, is not for the mother to decide on whether it should be ended or be allowed to be born. Life is not for anyone to decide upon. It is similar to suicide which is morally and logically wrong. The person committing suicide is not in his right mind to decide to end his life. The more if the mother, the victim of rape like Jane Roe for instance, is in his right frame of mind and would choose to kill the fetus just because she does not want the fruit of the rape to be born.
But the other and more stronger argument for me is practical life. In the Philippines, the right to choose abortion is not enshrined in our Constitution. That is why a law needs to be passed to legalize abortion. If the drafters of our Philippine Constitution, who were noble men and men of virtues and upright to the bones did not see the justness and the rationale of instilling the right to choose abortion in our Constitution, then there must have been a very strong reason for doing so. Let us not disturb that fact.
And we are also much aware that women in our country are not as informed and are not as responsible to be given the right to choose. Of course, there are many women who are much more capable of rational and emotional thinking in our country. We have women senators, two women presidents, and many congressional representatives, doctors, lawyers, corporate executives and highly educated professionals. But they are the exception and not the rule.
Many of our young women are low in education, experience, emotional stability, psychological maturity and financial capability to decide whether an abortion is appropriate and how should it be medically performed. Their very lives will be at risk as they choose to end their pregnancies and kill the fetuses in their wombs.
There simply is no chance to choose for many of our women. The circumstances are so restricted that the right of choice is just a figment of the pro-abortionists’ minds. The poverty and lack of education does not present a chance to choose. These poor women could be misled in their decisions to choose abortion. They could go to the wrong doctors who are cheap but untrained and to the unsanitary clinics and even to the quack doctors or hole-in-the-wall abortionists and die of infection, bleeding and other complications.
These women could die in the hands of unscrupulous abortionists. Our conditions simply cannot make abortion as safe as in other advanced countries.
Legalizing abortion is a matter which the Filipinos are not mature enough nor financially nor psychologically prepared to make as a matter of personal choice.
So whatever arguments there are of the pro-abortionists, I will never be persuaded. There is simply no reason in my lifetime that would justify the legalization of abortion in the Philippines.
With or without communion in church for any Catholic, of which I am not because I am a Protestant, I would not favor the law legalizing abortion ever.
Published by: Joe Pallugna on July 17th, 2008 | Filed under People, Religion, Philosophy
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In Defense of Bacal
The accident last week involving Kagawad Aldrin Bacal which resulted to the death of a 14-year old boy would have been an ordinary accident that occur everyday all over the country.
What made the accident sensational in the news was because Bacal is a public official being a councilor of Cagayan de Oro City. He hugged the headlines and was subjected to all sorts of speculations and innuendos which, at times, were unfair, to the good councilor.
However, an unbiased review of the facts surrounding the accident would show that the truth has not been divulged by some news reporters who have personal reasons to twist a little the fact to serve some hidden agenda.
It is true that Kagawad Bacal admitted that he had imbibed alcohol before he drove his Toyota Revo home early dawn of Thursday. Certainly, driving under the influence of alcohol is prohibited by Law and we should serve the penalty for such violation. The rest of the story however bears stressing.
An accident may happen anytime by a congruence of forces and circumstances which man will not be able to avoid. Hence, whether Kag. Bacal was under the influence of alcohol or not, the boy would still have been killed if he indeed drove his bike right smack into the path of Bacal’s vehicle in so short a span of time for Bacal to avoid hitting the boy.
The real legal issue in this case is whether or not Kag. Bacal drove his vehicle recklessly and with negligence or imprudence or lack of foresight which resulted to the death of the boy. Kag. Bacal still have to be charged in court for reckless imprudence resulting to homicide. However, just like in any other criminal charge, Kag. Bacal is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
This offense carries a penalty of imprisonment of less than six years and anyone convicted of this offence could apply for the benefit of provision and will never stay a day in prison until the probation program is served out. Kag. Bacal will be treated like any ordinary accused.
Kag. Bacal also could avail of bail bond for his temporary liberty pending trial, just like any ordinary man. The problem of the prosecutors in this particular case is that the family of the deceased boy repeatedly stated in tv and radio interviews that they would attend to the filing of the appropriate charges against Kag. Bacal only after the burial of their child. This only means one thing — Kag. Bacal will have to be released from detention or from the custody of Vice-Mayor Emano because there is yet no legal basis to detain him because there are no charges against him.
Thus, technically speaking, Kag. Bacal is a free man and could go wherever he wants because there are no criminal charges filed against him yet.
As to the allegation that he figured in a hit-and-run incident, the same certainly is not true. Any practical and logical man would not stay in the scene of the accident especially when a boy is seriously injured because the family and neighbors of the boy will most certainly harm the vehicle driver. In the case of Kag. Bacal, he spontaneously declared that he had to leave the scene of accident and surrendered himself to Vice-Mayor Vicente Emano who then advised him to report the accident to the Police Station to where he then went.
Those were the only acts legally required of Kag. Bacal. The matter of financial assistance to the family of the boy is a matter of personal decision of Kag. Bacal. There is yet no legal obligation to provide financial support, although a moral obligation may already exist. In fact, the law provides that extending financial obligation to the family of the deceased in cases like this is not an admission of neither criminal nor civil liability.
Kag. Bacal would also cannot go for fear of his personal safety because passions are still very high and the relatives of the boy might hurt him.
While I take pity and compassion on the family of the boy for the unfortunate incident that resulted to a great loss of the life of a child, I also take the defense of Kag. Bacal in taking pity also of him to be subjected to wrong perceptions and false accusations and unfair innuendos just because people have misunderstandings of the law and some news reporters have the tendency to make unfair commentaries against the man just because he is an elective public official.
In the end, the courts of law will render justice to whom justice is due. But in the end of the day also a workable compromise may be entered into between Kag. Bacal and the family of the boy. In that, the feelings of loss and the wounds of despair would heal and both parties could move on in their lives.
Published by: Joe Pallugna on July 14th, 2008 | Filed under People, Politics, Commentaries
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The possibilities
I am making here a scenario of sorts.
I am looking not at the scenario of the expected elections to replace the vacant position of Cong. Danilo Lagbas of the first congressional district of Misamis Oriental.
I am looking at the elections in 2010 because I personally believe that there is never any special elections to replace my good friend’s place in the Congress.
So what gives?
Let me tell you a not-so-absurd but a realistic situation.
The present governor Oca Moreno, my good friend also, may not run for governor anymore. He could very well run for congressman of the vacated position of the late Cong. Danilo Lagbas and Gov. Oca could come into the limelight in the national scene as a senatoriable. Oscar Moreno hails from Balingasag town of the same first congressional district of Misamis Oriental as that of Sugbongcogon town where the late governor Lagbas hails from.
As I perceive Oca Moreno, he is a very good material to represent Mindanao as a Senator. Oca is an experienced lawyer, a past congressman and an incumbent governor. A leader in his own right and a proven darling of the electorate.
Certainly, for whatever elective position that Oca Moreno takes, he will always win. And the congressional seat of Danilo Lagbas is a welcome place for him. And why so? Because we really need a congressman of the same and even better quality and ability as the previous congressmen of our province.
But who should be governor then of Misamis Oriental? I propose the incumbent Vice Governor Norris Babiera. He is a very qualified and capable candidate for governor.
So who will be the next vice-governor to replace Norris Babiera? It is no other than Kagawad Peter Onabia of the the Sr. Pedro Lechon Manok chain of barbeque stands. He is a self-made man and he is humble and sincere and true to public service. He has provided livelihood to thousands of families of Misamis Oriental with his chicken out-grower program and he will easily overcome any political candidate for vice-governor come 2010.
And where will the Lagbas family come in? The possibilities are endless. We have as a present Kagawad Benedict Lagbas. He was a former mayor of Sugbongcogon and an undefeated politician. He is also humble and sincere in his profession for public service. He could continue as provincial Kagawad in his second term and let one of the children of Danilo Lagbas come in as a Kagawad also of the same district by direct vote or as councilors league representative in the province by being elected first as a Kagawad of Sugbongcogon.
The scenario above only allows a transition stage for 2010. The strength of this political slate will ensure two things, the sure victory for the administration and the sure headache of the opposition. It is well to note this early that the problem of the national opposition is the same with the local opposition of Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro City.
There is no established leader of the local opposition of Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro who could finance or provide the political clout to raise funding for opposition candidates. In fact, their lack of funding, leadership and organization will drive the local opposition into the deep abyss of defeat in 2010.
The alignment of political administration forces, including the possibility outlined above, will not only capitalize on the weakness of the political opposition but will also entrenched some more the political power base of the local administration party.
If the administration party cannot pull each act together and maintain unity, the political opposition will be given a fair chance of victory when at the beginning they had none.
But the elections of 2010 are still almost two years away. Some miracles and twists of fate of some politicians may still happen.
And by then, I could be proven utterly wrong or, on the contrary, surprisingly correct. Lets keep guessing and analyzing to at least help us forget that, once again last Saturday night, the prizes of gasoline and diesel rose by P1.50 while we were asleep.
Published by: Joe Pallugna on July 6th, 2008 | Filed under People, Politics, Commentaries
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Fred Pfahl’s knock-out
Last Sunday’s title fight of Manny Pacquiao against Dangerous David Diaz was more entertaining and credible compared to Pacquiao’s last fight against Marquez.
Like the Triple-D that Diaz wore on his shirt prior to the fight, the win of Pacquiao this time was a Triple-D — decisive, deadly, and determined.
Like the past two title fights of Manny Pacquiao, the wins in the boxing arena of the Philippine boxing champion and national icon of Manny Pacquiao was made more satisfying and enjoyable because of the free treats of my American client Fred Pfahl who consistently hosted free breakfast and beer and lunch and a huge-screen live viewing of the Pacquiao fight.
I give credit for patriotism to an American who feels more of a Filipino that Fred Pfahl is. But, as I gave credit to the fettuccine that he served in the last fight of Manny Pacquiao before last Sunday, I give credit now to the sashimi and the surprising unique sauce that went with it in last Sunday’s fete for about thirty people who were there in his house to savor the sashimi and the lechon and all the delicious food which were all served after we relished the knock-out win of Manny Pacquiao over David Diaz.
But this article is not only about the delicious food of Fred Pfahl and his hospitality to us all who were his guests last Sunday as this is more about how Manny Pacquiao improved so much in skill and ability as a professional boxer. Of the eight rounds prior to the ninth round knock-out of Diaz, Manny Pacquiao won seven and, as per common observation, had one apparently a draw. From the first round to the final fall of Diaz into the canvas in the ninth round, Manny Pacquiao was clearly in control of the fight which turned out to be one of the best fights that Manny Pacquiao had in his professional boxing career.
Unlike Pacquiao’s last fight with Marquez which I criticized his win to be unfair because I and many others thought that Pacquiao lost, the fight last Sunday was a triumph of the heart and the determination and the skill of Manny Pacquiao who will live down in the annals of Philippine boxing history as the greatest Filipino boxer ever.
I give credit where credit is due. And without batting an eyelash, I give credit and salute Manny Pacquiao and his coaches and trainors for having Pacquiao improved so much as could clearly be seen in Pacquiao’s performance last Sunday.
Even David Diaz admitted that he never believed the power of the left hand of Pacquiao who is a south-paw like Diaz which stunned Diaz to fall faced-down into the canvas. And Pacquiao has proven to the world that he is serious in the business of professional boxing to be able to outbox any Mexican contender or champion in the four categories that he now holds.
And I ardently wish that Manny Pacquiao will strive some more to train and learn more skills and better techniques as a professional boxer and make more conquests in the years ahead. I cannot imagine the day when Manny Pacquiao will lose a fight in the coming years because I cannot also imagine the Sunday of a Manny Pacquiao fight when Fred Pfahl will stop serving his fettuccine and his sashimi and his lechon and his cases of San Miguel beer.
As I write this column in praise of a great Filipino that Manny Pacquiao is, I also write this column in gratitude to a great American that Fred Pfahl is. Manny Pacquiao exemplifies a great heart in boxing as Fred Pfahl exudes a great hospitality in food.
May there be many more victories of Manny Pacquiao in the years ahead as there may be more great recipes in the house of Fred Pfahl.
To both good men, I tip my hat in admiration and gratitude and hope that there be more men of their caliber in the years ahead.
Published by: Joe Pallugna on June 28th, 2008 | Filed under People, Commentaries
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An Impossible Special Election
The death of my friend Rep. Danilo Lagbas of the first congressional district of Misamis Oriental left a void in the people’s representation in the House of Representatives. The void also left a vacancy that created a frenzy among wannabes to assume the vacated post.
Many really believed wrongly that a special election will be conducted by the comelec for the replacement congressman who will serve the remaining term until June 30, 2010.
As far as I could analyze, the special election is impossible to happen. All the reasons for not having the special elections are present.
For one, there is no money to spend. Millions of pesos are needed to print the election paraphernalia like ballots, election returns, certificates of votes, of canvass and election returns. Millions also are needed to pay for salaries of the members of the board of election inspectors and comelec officials.
The municipalities of Balingasag down to Magsaysay and the component city of Gingoog will participate in the special elections. That would involve close to two hundred thousand voters. And where will the comelec get the millions of pesos to be spent for the special elections?
Congress has to enact an appropriation measure to allocate a special budget for the special elections. Then the Senate has to concur in and approve the budget and the President of the republic has to sign it. That is a very long and improbable process. The time element alone will make the exercise impossible to happen. Political bickerings and quid pro quo will occur and that would derail the entire effort.
As history would tell, in the past eighteen years, there has not been a special congressional election that happened in this country. The costs far outweigh the benefits. Many congressmen already died in office and there was not a single special election made to refill the vacated position.
For another, the assumption of a new congressman for the unexpired term is not even certain. Granting for argument’s sake that an election is conducted, there could be protests and counter protests that the supposed winner may not even assume the post and the office remains vacant with the long delays that election protests go. And with the closeness of the regular elections on May 2010, the possibility of no one occupying the position until 2010 is very high. So what is the use of a special election?
And there is another talk I hear around the rumor mill that Congressman Bambi Emano of the second district will dispense the funds of the late Congressman Lagbas. That is utterly wrong. That is technical malversation.
The congressional funds of the first district can only be disbursed by the congressman of that district. These are political subdivisions which are clearly defined and the crisscrossing of congressional representation is simply not allowed. The political trust that was vested on Rep. Lagbas was not vested also on Rep. Emano. My friend Bambi knows this well enough.
The political representation of Rep. Lagbas cannot be assumed by another whom the people did not vote into office. The political trust and representation is exclusive. It cannot be assumed by any other. For how could the congressman of the second district of Misamis Oriental, or of the Bukidnon or of Camiguin or of Lanao del Norte represent the people of the first congressional district? There is simply no law that allows it.
And that is why the special elections to fill the remaining term is provided by law. The rumor mill is simply that — a rumor mill. Nothing is correct there.
So why are many of our kagawads in the province posturing themselves as congressionables (pardon the wrong word here)? The reason is obvious. They want to be considered as a political contender in the 2010 elections, the regular elections. Name-recall is made best by chest-drubbing like the apes in Tarzan films. Hearing one’s name in the radio often and reading one’s self in the newspapers as a contender or a big weight in the not-coming elections make for political mileage.
But the people should be made to know and understand the truth, the reality. That there is no special election is a fact, a reality.
Our kagawads in the province should concentrate on their jobs of legislating for the betterment of their constituents and stop playing sheer politics. Gov. Oca Moreno could very well take care of the needs of the first congressional district. The funds for infrastructure projects may not come because the good Danilo Lagbas has already joined his Creator. However, the funds will not be lost. It is only delayed until a new congressman is elected in the regular elections of 2010.
In all aspects, it is to the best interests of the people of the first district if there is no special elections made. The millions spent for the special elections could best be spent to buy medicines for the poor, to build more classrooms and hire more teachers, to build concrete roads and markets and libraries and hospitals.
Certainly, the death of Cong. Lagbas should better be used as an opportunity to create more projects with the funds used for a special election to fill his post. Millions spent just to elect a filler congressman makes no sense. And I’m sure, if only Danilo Lagbas could talk from his grave, he would rather say that the money spent for a political exercise like a special election be better spent for the medicines, infrastructure and education of his beloved constituents.
That I’m sure this could be his wish. And the special elections is far from his heart.
Published by: Joe Pallugna on June 21st, 2008 | Filed under Politics, Cagayan de Oro, Commentaries
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The 21-Gun-Salute
In very rare moments in my life as a lawyer and as a human being, I never almost go to funerals.
The reason is simple.
I cherish more the lives of people I associate with than spare moments of grief when my friends come to pass or die.
But these rare moments had exceptions of their own. Last Saturday, the 14th of June 2008 was one of them.
I attended the burial of my good friend Congressman Danilo Lagbas to witness the singular opportunity of accompanying a good man to his grave and see his casket lowered to the depths of the earth of the high noon when the Lords of the Sun would have given justice to his last wishes to pass from this world into the realm of the unknown.
But my attendance in the burial of Danny Lagbas is just a ceremony. Just like the procedures that ended with the 21-Gun Salute was just a commemoration of the life of a person who died in the line of duty and made the reputation of his family so complete.
Danilo Lagbas was an upright man. Simple in his ways and humble in his actuations. I first met him when I was 28 years old and he died when I was 44. The span of 16 years was more than a realization because we have stood in more than a couple of times in different political spectrums but maintained friendship and respect all along the way. And the only reason for this is that Danilo Lagbas was a respectable man.
Never had the man taken a personal spite against me nor had he spoken any ill word in the political turmoil that we had gone thru. In fact, in his last birthday we drank beer with Bingo Alcordo in his house in Cagayan de Oro City relishing the goodness that life has brought upon him, without realizing that it would be his last birthday celebration.
In his burial ceremony last Saturday, I cannot help but shed a tear for a man who lived a life of dignity and pride, of sincerity and honesty, of dedication to family and friends, and of apparent and inarguable loyalty to public service.
In his passing through his life, I dedicate the 21-Gun-Salute to the man who has proven that life is not a matter of who has been but to the mission that the man has served humanity to the best that he can.
To my friend Danny Lagbas I write this column as a memento of who he was and who he shall be to the people he had served so well until the noon time of Saturday when we all witnessed and heard the final 21-Gun-Salute.
Published by: joe on June 15th, 2008 | Filed under Politics, Cagayan de Oro, Commentaries
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Tisa Speaks
Of all the numerous comments I received every time I have a column, one of the most personal in recent weeks is the reaction of Tisa Rodriguez on my column regarding the hilarious story of policemen acting as teachers in Metro Manila schools.
I find that program hilarious and funny, to say the least, because we have policemen acting as teachers in Metro Manila. I have to be specific about my commentary. It is the Metro Manila situation that I made comments on.
Tisa Rodriguez, the then-First Lady of Brig. Gen. Roland Rodriguez of the 4th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army based at Camp Evangelista, Patag, Cagayan de Oro City, made a very clear and explicit reaction to my column last week.
Tisa Rodriguez, the unofficial trainor of the commanding General of the Army division at Patag, Cagayan de Oro City complained that army personnel acting as teachers in the hinterland barangays are actually a boon rather than a bane of the fight against insurgency and the New People’s Army [NPA].
That is not only quiet true in one sense but extremely correct in another. The boondocks and the hinterland barangays are not the same as the Metro Manila situation. Therefore, the deployment of Policemen as teachers in Metro Manila is not entirely in the same reasonable ground as the deployment of Army personnel as teachers in the hinterland barangays where there are not only shortages of teachers but also an extreme shortage of classrooms.
Tisa Rodriguez was right in taking exception to my commentary if my reference was with deploying policemen or army personnel as teachers in hinterland barangays. I never meant it that way. We always need volunteer teachers in the hinterland barangays and the boondocks, be they army men or priests or volunteer social workers. But we don’t need them in Metro Manila.
Again, Tisa Rodriguez was correct in her commentary about volunteer teachers in the provincial barangays of the country. But then, again, I would stand my ground that having volunteer teachers in the uniforms of policemen in Metro Manila is nothing but commercialization and advertising to sweeten the image of the police director general.
Deployment of policemen around the campus gates in Metro Manila is the solution to curve criminality but never the pretentiousness of policemen in uniform getting into the classrooms in the Metro Police and acting as teachers to pupils in elementary schools. That is sheer hypocrisy. The hypocrites of the top echelon of the police hierarchy in Metro Manila cannot hide behind the skirt of teaching as a mode of curbing criminality.
In fine, Tisa Rodriguez and her army commander are correct. We should provide more teachers to the hinterland barangays to teach and encourage literacy among the populace in order to prevent a necessary indoctrination by the NPA. Surely, ignorance among the community leaders and members breed the swell-grounds of communist insurgency in the hinterlands. By educating the people of the beauty of democracy and informing them of their rights as individuals, I am sure that the communist insurgency would have no leg to stand on.
In the end, Tisa Rodriguez and her army husband will always be proven correct.
And in the end, the PNP chief of the country and of Metro Manila will always be proven wrong in that, the deployment of policemen as teachers in Metro Manila is a wrong move in the wrong direction.
The right move should be to deploy more policemen in and around the schools of Metro Manila and to deploy, inside and within the schools, more teachers who are more adept in teaching methods and instruction because that is where teachers are needed most.
Policemen should be deployed for police work and teaches should be deployed for teaching work. Let not the policemen meddle with the profession of teaching in the same way that teachers should not meddle with the profession of policemen.
Published by: joe on June 11th, 2008 | Filed under Politics, Cagayan de Oro, Commentaries
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A hilarious police project
I am not bent here on criticizing the police. My brother-in-law, Rex Acabado is a police superintendent. Doy Trampe is a police senior superintendent and a classmate in law school while Superintendent Tony Montalba is a longtime friend.
In fact, I have a long list of policemen who are my fraternity brothers, classmates, drinking buddies and longtime friends. They are all gentlemen and upright policemen.
Thus I won’t criticize this new police program implemented in Metro Manila wherein the policemen are deputized and assigned as teachers in schools. Policemen as teachers in Metro Manila? I won’t say it is a crazy idea. It is neither pretentious nor ambitious. Of all irony of ironies, having policemen as teachers in elementary schools is just plain hilarious. It is funny, to say the least.
We all know that there is a shortage of policemen all over the country. The ratio of policemen to the general population is disproportionate. We have much less policemen than we ought to have. Even in Cagayan de Oro, the policemen manning the ten precincts are so low that the precincts are severely undermanned.
This situation gets worse in Metro Manila where there are millions of people densely spread over the metropolis. The policeman to population ratio is incredibly low. On the contrary, we have hundreds of thousands of teachers, the licensed ones, waiting for appointments with the Department of Education. Many have applied for jobs as salesladies at the malls, as clerks in government offices or are engaged in selling beauty products and Tupperware just because they can’t get teaching jobs.
So what are policemen doing as teachers? They should be in the streets fighting crime. They should be investigators solving crime or simply manning their posts where they are needed most.
But acting as teachers? That’ hilariously absurd. That’s a cheap gimmickry and plain political advertisement intended for no other long-term benefit than sure coverage in front pages of newspapers. That’s ungentlemanly for the police chief to think of and implement.
We all know that teachers are trained to do teaching work. Their training includes child psychology and effective teaching methods. The lesson plans are coordinated with all the subjects and there is a yearlong plan with means of review, evaluation and improvisation to be most effective. Now what happens if a policeman is suddenly implanted into the system? Chaos and confusion occurs.
So I pity the school principal and classroom teacher who is suddenly faced with the prospect of a policeman in her school or in her classroom.
The entire class schedule is altered and the school curriculum is messed with. A policeman, even how intelligent and well-intended, is not trained to teach young people. Kids would become confused and wrong approaches may be implemented by the policeman-teacher. A new environment is created that the kids may have difficulty adjusting to.
We should well remember that a teacher-pupil trust is created first for the learning process to bloom. This is not so with a sudden policemen in uniform acting as teachers. This is not play-house where roles could be assumed all too suddenly and reversal of roles may also ensue. School is not a game but a noble institution that policemen should not desecrate with cheap gimmickry.
And I pity the policeman who is assigned as a teacher and who could not complain. Obey first before you complain is a common rule to maintain discipline in the service. Should that also be taught to the pupils in elementary schools? Follow the chain of command? Should this also be the guiding rule with the policeman standing before the chalkboard? Hilarious at the least? No. Illogical at best.
But as I have said I wont criticize this police project then I will just laugh at it. Not make a mockery of it for that would be too brutal to the helpless policeman assigned to teach in schools against their will, most probably.
I can just laugh and I hope the police chief in Metro Manila will just cut that program short and stop it to stop me from laughing. The police chief should just stop from being hilarious and funny.
He should bring back his policemen to the police precincts and bring the teachers back to the classrooms. He should stop the unfair competition or maybe just give away police uniforms to the jobless teachers and deputize them as quasi-policemen to man the gates of schools. At least, in doing so, he employs the jobless teachers and prevents severe police shortage in the precincts.
In doing so, he stops being hilarious and begins being serious in police work. Yes, being serious and not being hilarious.
Published by: joe on June 10th, 2008 | Filed under Politics, Cagayan de Oro, Commentaries
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Kagawad Nacaya and The Drivers
Kag. Ian Mark Nacaya was a treasure-trove of ideas when he was my guest in my weekly tv program at COC-Tv Chanel 39 last week.
His position as chairman of the city council of Cagayan de Oro’s committee on public transportation and the committee on police, fire and public safety certainly put him in the eye of controversial topics and matters of public interest.
First on the matter of motorela and trisikad regulation. We have the fare increase of motorelas from P5.50 to P6.00. Actually, the fare matrix provides for a legal fare of P5.50 but the good drivers of Cagayan de Oro imposed only a fare of P5.00 for motorelas. Now they are asking to implement a minimum fare of P6.00 which the City Council will approve and, by the time this column sees print, the fare would have gone up to P6.00.
And there are no audible objections from the riding public since everyone knows that the price of gasoline has gone crazily up in the past months. The drivers need the relief of increased incomes by increasing the fares.
Don’t know if trisikads will also clamor for fare increases since the regulation of trisikad fares is not controlled by the City Council and beyond the realm of the committee of Kag. Nacaya. The barangays councils control the fares of trisikads since the circumstances in each barangays are distinct. The road conditions, the elevations and curves of the roads, the distances and the number of trisikads plying the streets are not the same. Hence, each barangay council determines the fare matrix of trisikads.
But it is not also fair to say that trisikads cannot increase their fares just because they don’t use gasoline. The trisikad drivers also eat to have the strength to pedal their tri-tires. Rice is as expensive as gasoline and they have to increase their incomes, too.
The eventual classification of motorelas into districts will also get to be implemented. Those motorelas plying the city central streets cannot cross over to the Carmen side. The bridges become their boundaries. Thus, we can expect an end to the motorelas crossing the bridges and roaming at will. The Carmen district will all serve the people there. The city central side will be served by another set of motorelas on this side.
The entry of new motorelas will also be regulated in that a person can have only one motorela. He cannot have a fleet like taxis since the essence of motorela ownership and driving is for livelihood for the poor. Big business should stay out of motorela business.
In police matters, Kag. Nacaya also divulged that there is now an allocation of P200,000.00 to purchase new radio equipment for police patrol cars. We can still remember that then-Mayor Dongkoy Emano bought last year with City funds ten Mitsubishi Adventure cars for the ten police precincts. Certainly, with Kag. Nacaya in the committee of police, fire and public safety, the police force will never be neglected and left behind.
Kag. Nacaya also explained on the theory behind allowing jeepneys from Tagoloan and Villanueva towns to drive by Ororama Mega center to drop off and pick up passengers. This would save double-rides for the riding public compared to the restriction of letting them park only at the Eastbound Terminal. From there they have to take another jeepney to Ororama or to the city. This saves fares for thousands of people each month.
Thus, the consideration and exercise of then-Mayor Emano of his discretion on jeepney city routes was made in the greater interests of the greater mass of people. Not political consideration nor undue favor to anyone.
In totality, I am happy to observe that Kag. Nacaya is one young potential politician that has the makings of Barak Obama. Kag. Nacaya is a very good material for mayor of Cagayan de Oro in the future. His sincerity is clear. His honesty intact. His feelings for the poor and the struggling are never suspect.
So when you see great improvements in the regulation of motorelas, don’t ever think of any other motive. He only means well for the drivers and the riding public.
For that I am certain. Kag.Nacaya deserves our praise.
