WE do not know what is up in the sleeves of the City Information Office of the Davao City Hall. We haven’t heard much of any proactive ways of sharing positive developments in the local government operation.
The apparent “silence” or maybe slowness in implementing any plan of disseminating relevant information from the city government to the public is quite obvious. But it is the least expected from an office now headed by someone coming from the corporate communications sector.
Since the assumption into office of the new administration of Mayor Baste Duterte we only saw and heard once the new CIO interviewed on television. But of course he may still be feeling his way around as we were told that he is not a blue-blooded Davaoeno and was only relocated in the city because of his employment with a unit of a large power conglomerate. That, to us, is forgivable.
Nevertheless we are expecting that soon enough he will be able to communicate from City Hall’s end
the various activities done by the local government unit (LGU) not just from the center of its operation
but even from the district level.
Meaning, he can decentralize the responsibilities of his people so that the various political and
administrative districts will be amply covered and the Davao public is made aware of what is happening
in the entire city.
We are looking forward to this possibility.
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Well, it is now settled. The police authorities have finally identified and made public the names of
the suspects in the killing of a young businesswoman and part time model shortly after Christmas of
2022, one Yvonette Chua Plaza.
The Police Regional Office (PRO) XI did not have any hesitation in naming the alleged mastermind,
Brig. Gen. Jess Durante III, a former Presidential Security Group (PSG) Commander during the
incumbency of former President Rodrigo Duterte and recently the commander of the 1001 st Brigade of
the Philippine Army until his relief because of his alleged role in the Plaza killing.
But thanks or no thanks to our country’s justice system, none of the suspects are detained in jail
despite the murder charges filed against all of them. According to the assistant brigade commander
who is himself also identified as one of the suspects, Brig. Gen. Durante III, himself and the rest of the
soldier respondents are all restricted in their headquarters.
Wow! What a privilege! Their merely being confined in the headquarters can be a source o envy by
any ordinary suspect on a crime especially those facing murder charges, one unbailable crime under the
law.
And will not the public entertain doubts as to the truth of the statement of Army authorities that
while under restriction in the headquarters the suspects will be denied the privileges usually denied on
persons deprived of liberty (PDLs)? Will the suspects be ever bereft of mobile communications gadget,
or prohibited from going to their respective residences when no one is watching at the headquarters?
Well, your assumption may be ours, too.
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We had some visitors at our family’s small refreshment spot last Thursday. They came from the
Department of Education (DepEd) – a school principal, a teacher and two supervisors. The supervisors,
we were informed, were conducting school visits including the national high school in our barangay.
We could not help but opened up a long-standing problem that the school administration in the
public high school in our place has been trying to bring out to the DepEd authorities for solution. We
told the Education people that the Talandang National High School that has been operating for the last
21 years only have “borrowed” teachers as it does not have any single item assigned in it.
The teaching compliment includes 9 teachers and the principal. But we were told that all of them are
lent from other schools.
We find it unusual considering the number of years that the school has been operating. But it is
indeed the actual situation. We recommended to the principal who is also basically new in his
assignment, that he takes it up with the Davao City Division of Schools and possibly arrange for a
meeting with third district congressman Isidro “Sid” Ungab for possible assistance in getting the long
overdue teacher items.
Unfortunately, until now no such meeting happened and the school principal and the teachers are
hoping that the two school visitors can help in relaying the Talandang National High School problem to
the local school authorities who might just have the time to take up the matter with the Congressman.
