LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

Change all or change most?
March L. Fianza

Many feel the need for a fresh and new set of elected public officials. This may be blamed on several cases involving the present crop of officials that up to now, remain unsolved. Good that our officials are making moves toward the resolution of these cases, as long as all those involved are treated equally. Apparently, more cases are being pursued against persons who are against the powers that be. And if ever any finger is lifted against an ally, it is selective.

Nationwide, the list of anomalies is longer than one's imagination can allow. Most of the cases involving public officials are violations of the graft and corruption law. But there are also instances where even incorruptible public officials who fight for the right are slapped with suspension orders.

In Baguio , Mayor Braulio Yaranon's suspension is one of the few cases. His suspension is looked upon by his supporters as too much of a “punishment” for doing nothing wrong and for fighting for what is right. Effectively, his suspension launched the clamor to vote for a new set of
councilors that will change all public officials who were fence-sitters during the time when the city was fighting against pay-parking, tree-cutting and construction of a new flyover, squatting, expanded titles, cha-cha, Uniwide scam, etc.

Certainly, Yaranon's suspension is a vote getter for himself and congressional bet Jose "Joemol" Molintas who may yet become the biggest “upset” for one. Together with the duo, my neighbors, again I say "my neighbors" in New Lucban want their new set of councilors to be Rene Cortes, Poppo Cosalan, Jack Carino, Richard Carino, Richard Zarate, Nick Parado, Fred Bagbagen, Erding Balajadia, Nick Aliping and Michael Fianza.

But the set of councilors for the neighborhood in New Lucban is a mix-up of new names and come-backing councilors. Notice that there are two Carinos and two Richards running for the council. And so we advise their voters to write the full names "Jack Carino" or "Richard Carino" to avoid stray votes.

In Benguet, the "change all" attitude of voters is interpreted differently. The "change all" clamor is greatly attributed to the lackadaisical attitude of our officials from the congressman down to the last councilor in respective municipalities. However, the zero-enthusiasm or half-hearted public service our constituents in Benguet are experiencing may not be in the character of all.

Of course, politics is politics and elections are a way for people to renew the mandate of officials or change them. Their reasons for doing so are only known to the voter. Choice is personal, but then it is best to base one's choice on issues. Some voters say the Provincial Capitol must not be treated as a "retirement village." Indeed, many retiring teachers, policemen, appointed officials etc., run for public office in the province only to show half-hearted service once elected.

Not to single out retirees, even the lawyers give lukewarm service as their shadows appear in the session hall only during their session. Most of their time are spent for their private clients or their teaching units in some schools. Others use their provincial seats to launch their future candidacy for mayor in their respective towns.

If such is the case all the time, it will not be long before we will experience a weakening of the executive and legislative branches as institutions in the provincial level. The capitol now merely becomes the Rest & Recreation venue for our scheming politicians. It is therefore the time to change, not all, but most.

For some sectors of Benguet voters, it is not a surprise that their choice of politicians is based on issues because relationship with candidates is indeed their remotest consideration. For some groups that trace their roots to Mountain Province , Kalinga, Ifugao and the lowlands, they ask themselves the question, "Why vote for Dangwa or Cosalan?"

It is not that Dangwa is old and feeble when many saw him go around in his campaigns with the assistance of an "alalay" as that hits the good man personally. Age should not be the issue but it is a factor that affects public service. Our migrant brothers who are now permanent Benguet residents believe that Dangwa needs his long-overdue rest and see stronger representation in the person of come-backing Ronald Cosalan.

They also believe that all people who have chosen Benguet as their home, whether they are migrants or natural-born, should do away with patronage, parochial and clannish politics. They seem to believe in Cosalan's "one people-one Benguet" advocacy.

Our migrant brothers have seen how Benguet grew in the past many decades. They know history as they are part of it. They know of many other contentious issues that need looking into, aside from the scars that they still bear from a losing transportation business enterprise they helped capitalize.

Our migrant brothers are not farmers but they sympathize with the plight of the Benguet vegetable producer. They say our local executives have done their job in fighting vegetable importation that has affected their farmer-constituents. They know that the problem has been there for many years but that there was no dynamic and persuasive act in congress to compel the vegetable importers to stop. They say Benguet needs Cosalan to fight for the farmers.

Now, if our migrant brothers consider the issues more seriously and use these to gauge the capability of gubernatorial candidates Melchor, Tabanda and Fongwan, and congressional bets Dangwa and Cosalan -- why can't we as natural-born I-benguets? marchfianza777@yahoo.com