LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March
L. Fianza
BAGUIO CITY -- Greetings
were many in hoping for a “safe and peaceful” new year. Instead, 2021 was
welcomed by controversial incidents that cannot pass unnoticed because such
occurrences refuse to die as they continue to be shared on the internet.
The latest was the death of a flight attendant during a party in a Makati hotel in the presence of a circle of friends belonging to the LBTGQ group. The poor girl had skin lacerations and bruises on her knees when found dead in the bathtub.
My suspicion that could be confirmed only when someone from the group admits it was that the bruises were caused by prolonged contact of the knees on the floor while a heavy load was on her back.
Whether there was foul play or none in the death of the beautiful 23-year old flight attendant, there is really no greater agony for the LBTGQ people who were in that new year party than bearing an untold story inside them. I think I heard someone say yesterday about “telling the truth, or someone will tell it for you.”
The other incident that should be probed so it will not fade away in the smog above Malacanang is the controversial vaccination of members of the Presidential Security Group around President Duterte.
The PSG mandate to protect the President from all threats, including his health, is understandable. This case however involved the inoculation of PSG men with uncertified vaccines that were donated by an undisclosed source.
If the vaccines were properly authorized before these were first used for the PSG, instead of the medical frontliners as promised, surely we could have heard negative comments.
In contrast, not passing the vaccines through proper procedures would provoke bad comments just the same. Perhaps that was why the PSG leadership, considering their main role of protecting the President, decided to use the unauthorized vaccines.
The use of the vaccines forced the PSG in a “damn if you don’t, damn if you do” situation. Presidential guards who even go to the extent of taking a bullet for their boss chose the latter.
***
The New Year was also greeted by pro-Donald Trump rioters (not protesters) last Wednesday as they stormed into the US Capitol at Washington DC, breaking into the chambers and clashing with armed police, while members of the House and Senate were confirming President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College votes.
Four people died during the chaos that erupted after Trump addressed thousands of protesters near the White House, repeating false claims the election was rigged. A shameful truth in US history.
***
News of corruption in the DPWH does not seem to die. Not yet as President Rodrigo Duterte revealed in his last “Ulat sa Bayan” for 2020 on December 28, the names of lawmakers who have been linked to alleged corruption in the implementation of infrastructure projects.
The members of the House of Representatives whose names the President mentioned were Angelina Helen Tan, Josephine Ramirez Sato, Teddy Baguilat Jr., Alfredo Vargas, Henry Ramil Oaminal, Alicia Sienna Tan, Paul Daza, Eric Yap, and Geraldine Roman, plus 10 DPWH district engineers.
This corroborates Sen. Ping Lacson’s statement that district representatives almost always use their influence in having their favorite DPWH engineers assigned to their districts for a very obvious purpose: to have full control in the implementation of their “pet projects” funded by their insertions in the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Sen. Lacson who is ever watchful over matters related to funds inserted in the GAA disclosed that the DPWH Secretary has full authority to assign personnel under his department, including the district engineers, unless he delegates it to his regional directors or if Malacañang overrides the assignments on very few occasions.
But he asked the question: “Can the DPWH Secretary stand up to the pressure exerted on him by the congressmen?” Of course, the answer is a resounding “NO”. The senator said, no matter how the secretary denies it, nobody is ready to believe him. The link between the politician and the engineers is the root cause of corruption.
President Duterte’s verbatim report that was uploaded by Malacanang on the internet seemed to jibe with Sen. Lacson’s observations as it mentioned about congressmen “exerting influence in choosing his district engineer to be able to control the awarding of projects in the district assigned to him.”
To further quote President Duterte’s report, he made special mention of Congressman Eric Yap, ACT-CIS Partylist and legislative caretaker of Benguet for “alleged rigging of bid through his agent.” Is this why many licensed contractors are complaining?
The President’s report also mentioned the names “District Engineer Ireneo Gallato, Benguet, 1st District, Engineering Office. District Engineer Romelda A. [Bangasan], Benguet, Engineering Office.”
Congressman Yap immediately called for a prescon at his house at Alphaland, a private subdivision in Itogon, Benguet that was not easily accessible as it can be reached by private vehicles and upon permission at the gate entrance.
Cong. Yap denied President Duterte’s allegations in his report. Although in fairness, he was telling the truth when he said he had not directly participated in any bidding and that all the bidding of DPWH projects in Benguet was finished when he took over as caretaker congressman in January 2020 after the untimely death of Cong. Nestor Fongwan.
The Duterte report further stated: “Intervened in the investigation against Ricard — si Ricardo, lumabas na naman ang pangalan. She’s a — babae ‘to — she’s already a millionaire — Ricardo, by calling up Commissioner Greco and requesting him to drop the case against District Engineer Ricardo.”
The report went further to say: “Alam mo, by just mere calling that simple call can you — can send you to jail. Ano ‘yan eh punishable by Republic Act 3019 Anti-Graft Law.”
It is publicly known that officials not only congressmen have favorite contractors who return them the favor for funding a project, Sen. Lacson said, further stating that “Almost anything that has to do with politics in this country breeds corruption.”
“Politics becomes evil when self-aggrandizement and greed come into play – whether it is in aid of re-election or enrichment of an elected official while in power, the result is the same. Worse, these people do not know when to stop once they have started,” the senator said.
The latest was the death of a flight attendant during a party in a Makati hotel in the presence of a circle of friends belonging to the LBTGQ group. The poor girl had skin lacerations and bruises on her knees when found dead in the bathtub.
My suspicion that could be confirmed only when someone from the group admits it was that the bruises were caused by prolonged contact of the knees on the floor while a heavy load was on her back.
Whether there was foul play or none in the death of the beautiful 23-year old flight attendant, there is really no greater agony for the LBTGQ people who were in that new year party than bearing an untold story inside them. I think I heard someone say yesterday about “telling the truth, or someone will tell it for you.”
The other incident that should be probed so it will not fade away in the smog above Malacanang is the controversial vaccination of members of the Presidential Security Group around President Duterte.
The PSG mandate to protect the President from all threats, including his health, is understandable. This case however involved the inoculation of PSG men with uncertified vaccines that were donated by an undisclosed source.
If the vaccines were properly authorized before these were first used for the PSG, instead of the medical frontliners as promised, surely we could have heard negative comments.
In contrast, not passing the vaccines through proper procedures would provoke bad comments just the same. Perhaps that was why the PSG leadership, considering their main role of protecting the President, decided to use the unauthorized vaccines.
The use of the vaccines forced the PSG in a “damn if you don’t, damn if you do” situation. Presidential guards who even go to the extent of taking a bullet for their boss chose the latter.
***
The New Year was also greeted by pro-Donald Trump rioters (not protesters) last Wednesday as they stormed into the US Capitol at Washington DC, breaking into the chambers and clashing with armed police, while members of the House and Senate were confirming President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College votes.
Four people died during the chaos that erupted after Trump addressed thousands of protesters near the White House, repeating false claims the election was rigged. A shameful truth in US history.
***
News of corruption in the DPWH does not seem to die. Not yet as President Rodrigo Duterte revealed in his last “Ulat sa Bayan” for 2020 on December 28, the names of lawmakers who have been linked to alleged corruption in the implementation of infrastructure projects.
The members of the House of Representatives whose names the President mentioned were Angelina Helen Tan, Josephine Ramirez Sato, Teddy Baguilat Jr., Alfredo Vargas, Henry Ramil Oaminal, Alicia Sienna Tan, Paul Daza, Eric Yap, and Geraldine Roman, plus 10 DPWH district engineers.
This corroborates Sen. Ping Lacson’s statement that district representatives almost always use their influence in having their favorite DPWH engineers assigned to their districts for a very obvious purpose: to have full control in the implementation of their “pet projects” funded by their insertions in the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Sen. Lacson who is ever watchful over matters related to funds inserted in the GAA disclosed that the DPWH Secretary has full authority to assign personnel under his department, including the district engineers, unless he delegates it to his regional directors or if Malacañang overrides the assignments on very few occasions.
But he asked the question: “Can the DPWH Secretary stand up to the pressure exerted on him by the congressmen?” Of course, the answer is a resounding “NO”. The senator said, no matter how the secretary denies it, nobody is ready to believe him. The link between the politician and the engineers is the root cause of corruption.
President Duterte’s verbatim report that was uploaded by Malacanang on the internet seemed to jibe with Sen. Lacson’s observations as it mentioned about congressmen “exerting influence in choosing his district engineer to be able to control the awarding of projects in the district assigned to him.”
To further quote President Duterte’s report, he made special mention of Congressman Eric Yap, ACT-CIS Partylist and legislative caretaker of Benguet for “alleged rigging of bid through his agent.” Is this why many licensed contractors are complaining?
The President’s report also mentioned the names “District Engineer Ireneo Gallato, Benguet, 1st District, Engineering Office. District Engineer Romelda A. [Bangasan], Benguet, Engineering Office.”
Congressman Yap immediately called for a prescon at his house at Alphaland, a private subdivision in Itogon, Benguet that was not easily accessible as it can be reached by private vehicles and upon permission at the gate entrance.
Cong. Yap denied President Duterte’s allegations in his report. Although in fairness, he was telling the truth when he said he had not directly participated in any bidding and that all the bidding of DPWH projects in Benguet was finished when he took over as caretaker congressman in January 2020 after the untimely death of Cong. Nestor Fongwan.
The Duterte report further stated: “Intervened in the investigation against Ricard — si Ricardo, lumabas na naman ang pangalan. She’s a — babae ‘to — she’s already a millionaire — Ricardo, by calling up Commissioner Greco and requesting him to drop the case against District Engineer Ricardo.”
The report went further to say: “Alam mo, by just mere calling that simple call can you — can send you to jail. Ano ‘yan eh punishable by Republic Act 3019 Anti-Graft Law.”
It is publicly known that officials not only congressmen have favorite contractors who return them the favor for funding a project, Sen. Lacson said, further stating that “Almost anything that has to do with politics in this country breeds corruption.”
“Politics becomes evil when self-aggrandizement and greed come into play – whether it is in aid of re-election or enrichment of an elected official while in power, the result is the same. Worse, these people do not know when to stop once they have started,” the senator said.
No comments:
Post a Comment