This is very interesting and worth sharing especially from a Town Head....who else from our Kaydians and other officials are pisssed off WITH...and start Tweeting...Gone are the days of Silence...Facebook moves Internationally...... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Demy Paul Caballero-Narag 10 hours ago . To my FB friends : Just thinking out loud. Read on if you have time and pardon me for my language. Thank you. ================================================ It’s official : Summer is here again, according to PAGASA. As a kid, I always looked forward to the summer months with great excitement. Biking, camping out on the beach, sneaking out for night swimming, eating-out with friends. Those were some of the little pleasures that summer months would bring to a young kid that’s me several years ago. Fast forward to present times. For six years now, the thought of summer somewhat makes me mad and worse, makes my blood pressure rise a bit. No, it’s not because of the muggy feeling and prickly heat that the summer heat brings. It’s the thought that this summer, like in the past years, more and more people from the mainland are coming to our beautiful islands. I am not referring to the tourists and the balikbayans because we welcome them with warm hearts, as always, and we thank them for boosting our local economy using their personal money. Rather, I am pissed-off with the many government officials and their alalays (note: staff) who will be coming in to conduct seminars, workshops and trainings --- when all they want is to tour the islands --- all at government’s expense! There are always exceptions, but believe me, most of these officials come in summer for a pleasure trip, and to justify their travel on official business, almost always compel local government units to join their schemes that are tantamount to corruption. Last week, the local counterpart of a high profile official informed me that his boss is coming next month and requested my office to hang a “welcome streamer” big enough for the entourage to see on their way from the airport. Susmaryosep! Sila kaya ang ibitin ko. Magpagawa kayo ng sarili ninyong streamer! Magbabakasyon lang kayo gamit ang pera ng bayan, gusto niyo pa magpaka-VIP. Kapal! (Simula pa lang ito...umiinit na ang ulo ko!) I remember one summer, the head of a government agency came over with a whole battalion of his hakot personnel, including a commissioned photographer. They wore the same t-shirts and caps for effects, para maganda sa picture. The boss and his wife, kids and personal staff were billeted in the most expensive hotels here. To justify their official travel, this group requested for an audience with local officials one afternoon. As usual, they talked of things we already knew. Afterwards, they spent the rest of the week island-hopping. Now, don’t tell me their island-hopping was charged against their personal funds. Sino niloko nila? When I was a new mayor, a person-in-command of a controversial department came in summer with his whole bunch of staff for a conference with, again, local government unit personnel. Since Basco was the host municipality, I was asked to deliver a send-off remarks, but I walked out in a jiffy when I saw on the back drop that the conference was for three days, when in fact it was only half-a-day. Still in one summer past, a group of officials and personnel came to conduct various “trainings.” It was apparent that the group came for a leisure trip, not for their training program. Since there was no prior coordination, they ended up giving the trainings for the wrong people. One of them, quipped, “kahit sino na basta marami ang pupunta para maganda sa picture.” Picture lang naman pala ang habol ng mga bulok! Now, it’s summer time again, and I will gamble with anyone on this : Officials of this and that agency and their alalays and families will be coming again for you-know-what activities --- all at government’s expense. There will be seminars to talk about things we already know, trainings na walang kuwenta at paulit-ulit, conferences na walang kabuluhan. And what do they expect me to say in my welcome remarks as the host municipality? “We are so grateful that you came for this very important activity?” Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. Maghanap kayo ng taong lolokohin niyo! The other sad part is, the local counterparts of some of these officials will be going crazy just so these officials will be treated like kings and queens, spending for their meals and sending them off with pabaon (payi, tatus, etc.). It’s not unusual to hear their bankrupt counterparts say afterwards, “haaay salamat at nakaalis na rin sila!” Sometimes, I don’t agree with Ivatan hospitality. We think this mentality and schemes are all new? Not at all. When I was in grade school, our teacher announced that the regional director of a government agency was coming, along with other key officials. Obviously to please these visitors, each one of us was required to contribute three pieces of garlic. The biggest ones, we were reminded. Not only that, some of us were also required to bring to school potted ornamental plants, which our teacher assured would be returned “when the visitors have left.” The plants, still in pots, were then “re-planted” all around the school campus. We even took one morning off from class to paint the school building with white lime (amed). And worse, we were asked to come to school in shoes on the big day to impress the visitors. (At least three of my classmates got absent on that day because they had no shoes to wear). As expected, the officials were all so impressed. Seeing well-painted school buildings and classrooms with ornamental plants all over the campus, matched with all smiling pupils in shoes, they never had the inkling that we needed some help. Truly, pretence never pays. Now, going back to my main point. This early, I have this to say : Sir, madam, if you are coming over this summer for some serious programs (or better yet, with funds) that will truly benefit my constituents, you will be warmly welcomed. Truly, it doesn’t take a wise man to know if you have travelled purposely to help us and your pagtu-turista is only incidental to your official business. I am not being too stern to say that you do not deserve to take pleasure after or in-between your official business. By all means, take some time to appreciate our sceneries and our culture. Just don’t make this your main agendum and don’t come up with worthless programs in your attempt to rationalize your official business. Otherwise, you won’t see me in your activity or any of the municipal employees you “require” to attend for your photo sessions. And by the way, if you really are concerned about us, why do you come only in summer? Bisitahin niyo kaya kami pagkatapos ng bagyo at kami ay matutuwa pa. And why don’t you seem to care about our many unfunded local programs instead of cooking up your own programs that you impose upon us? This explains partly why it’s a big deal for me whether to attend a conference or a convention in the mainland, for I refuse to be a partaker in making some persons richer by people’s money. We are not oblivious to the fact that some corrupt people in government make money out of organizing events (seminars, conventions and the like) in connivance with transport utilities, hotels and resorts. The national government encourages austerity measures and yet government agencies hold assemblies in high-end hotels in popular tourist destinations. I am not surprised why a tourism brochure goes with an invitation for a conference from a government agency. And a sluggish government official, na wala nang maisip gawin sa kanyang opisina kaya’t nababagot na, ay gustong mag-turista na lamang. Why don’t we hold these meetings in the conference halls of state-run universities? Baka makalibre pa tayo. It’s a shame that at one given time, while millions of Filipinos are lodged in poverty, thousands of government officials are having a good time. Ang kakapal ng apog! To some, all of these may sound so trivial. But to me, corruption, even how small and in whatever form it is, is still corruption. Aren’t we supposed to be so concerned about how much time and money the Filipino is losing because of all these useless schemes? Just thinking out loud
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 23:28:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015