Politics and greed display ugly heads

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March Fianza

History repeats itself. That has been said a million times because people see bad things done again and again. Lately, the world heard news about the alleged overpricing of bunkhouses for Yolanda typhoon victims in the Western Visayas, particularly in Tacloban. If you remember the aftermath of the killer earthquake that struck Baguio-Benguet, Dagupan-Pangasinan, Agoo-La Union and Nueva Ecija in 1990; there were also reports of overpricing of construction material in the rehabilitation works spearheaded by the DPWH then.

In both cases, government officials scrambled for answers, some were truthful and spontaneous replies while the rest were planned and impressively premeditated. There are only two sides of the abused proverbial coin – that is, if the overpricing issues were not true, one side would say it is politics. On the other side, if it were true, the only motivation is greed or stealing money illegally from the rehabilitation funds worth billions of pesos. In history, politicians who enjoy engaging bad politics are most often than not, the voracious ones.

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Over the weekend, former NBA player Dennis Rodman said he went to North Korea, not for politics or anything but to play a game of basketball. He and the team of former US National Basketball Association players flew from Beijing to be in last Wednesday's match. Rodman has befriended Kim Jong Un, the young North Korean leader who is an avid basketball fan. He said his aim was to "connect two countries" but for not talking with Kim about the country’s “repressive” system and alleged human rights abuses, Rodman was strongly criticized.

While news personalities in the US attacked his “basketball diplomacy” statement, US State Department officials made it clear that Rodman “does not represent the US.”

However, Rodman was able to have unprecedented access to North Korea's young leader, the last visit of which was last month, shortly after the execution of Chang Song-thaek, the uncle of Kim. On world television, one news anchor said, If Rodman will not talk about the human rights abuses in North Korea, many will say that “it is hard to know what basketball diplomacy can really achieve.”

This is quite disagreeable for me. Give the guy his break. He already said that he is not in North Korea for politics but for a friendly basketball match. And the US State Department has made it clear that Rodman does not represent the US. Therefore, his visit to Kim’s country is a private affair. Nobody has the right to push another person into doing something against his will. By the way, this should return the issue to some news personalities in the US - that before they talk about human rights abuses in other countries, they should first look around their own backyard.

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Sablan, particularly in Barangay Kamog, a residential area where a public school and the SLU subdivision housing is located is where the proposed basuraan for Baguio will be put up or relocated, according to my informant from city hall. Why the proposal is not being exposed to the public as early as now is puzzling and invites questions, if not suspicions. By now, it should be published to the world in order to get the feedback of all concerned that could lead to ironing kinks as early as possible.

Especially so because the area is occupied by an indigenous community that should be consulted for their consent or disapproval. By the way, who knows if Sablan officials and their constituents are already aware of the “secret” proposal? Maybe they already are, if secret meetings between them and the proponents have been held.

While the city struggles to fix its basura problem that is certainly an unresolved health and social problem, another decades issue is clamouring for a solution. Councilor Peter Fianza said, there is need for a re-planning of waterways and canals… or diversion of canals to balance the volume of water going to the city camp lagoon. True, but let me add to his idea – a comprehensive reassessment of canals, sewer and other waterways in the city should go with the reassessment of the performance of those in charge. Like the culverts that they install, I believe there is also need to “replace” them if they have cracks and are not performing well. – ozram.666@gmail.com