News report: VP Sara mum on rumor of her brother, Mayor Baste’s suspension by Malacanang.
Of course. The supposed planned suspension is merely a rumor. And the rumor could have been concocted by the camp of the Vice President’s father. Unlike the two other top local government officials earlier suspended, Mayor Baste is not facing any charges at the Ombudsman. He has not also been accused of administrative infractions by anyone.
Hence, it would be at the height of fool hardiness if the administration will even think of suspending him. And assuming that the Davao City mayor will suffer the same fate as Davao del Norte governor Edwin Jubahib and Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama, then the administration will only succeed in providing its nemesis, the Duterte group, more effective ammunition to do battle with the Malacanang tenant.
And as we said here in the earlier preceding lines, the rumor could have emanated from the former President’s camp. Possibly, because it could be a strategy that may serve as bait for the administration. And should Malacanang bite the bait then the former chief executive’s camp will take advantage of it to the hilt.
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Another news item: VP Duterte appeals for cooler heads after raid on KOJC compounds. Oh, was it a raid?
We thought the lawmen were serving warrants of arrest on a fugitive person. Anyhow, we have a hard time determining the head and tail in the Vice President’s statement appealing for cooler heads.
In her “Official Statement” that came out in the social media the other day, the wordings were profoundly simple although the direction and depth of its intension were clearly overt. Her statement, if dredged with serious discernment, clearly stokes the enmity between her father’s group and the Marcos, Jr.-led administration.
So, how can the Vice President be effective in her desire to douse the fire in the raging word war with the intervention of some cooler heads if she herself is fanning the burning ember?
But of course we can understand VP Sara. Her situation is like being placed between the proverbial “devil and the deep blue sea.” She has to do a dangerous balancing act.
First and foremost, she has to be extremely careful with her every move if only not to slight her father. At the same time she has also to manifest her worth on the trust and confidence still bestowed on her by the administration whose head, the President, has weathered the pressure to kick her out of his Cabinet.
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Now going back to the proposed ordinance at the Davao City Council authorizing the local government to collect what its author Councilor Pilar C. Braga called Payment for Ecological Services (PES). Has the lady councilor, through the proper committee of the local legislative body scheduled committee hearings to further discuss the planned measure? Or will the City Council just assume that no one from among the affected stakeholders will dare question the wisdom of the author and the Council as a whole?
What surprises us is that every time the Council comes up with proposed ordinance intended to attain certain objective whether for the environment or whatever, it is always premised on the aspect of how the measure can bring more money to the coffers of the city. And sadly, the ultimate sufferers of the impact of the measure are the ordinary man on the street.
Why cannot anyone of the City’s Council members think of proposals – specifically one or two that will address environmental and ecological issues — that can help augment the city’s income without draining the pockets of the ordinary man on the streets?
In fact shortly after the assumption of the New Council an idea was offered to at least two councilors for them to develop into a proposed ordinance, or amendments to existing ones to help institutionalize tree planting projects that will not only create micro forests that will serve as walls to obnoxious odors coming from the growing number of swine farm in the city, but also prevent pests as flies from invading the nearby communities..
A tree planting model was also offered to the councilors to prevent erosion of embankments along mountain roads at the same time the grown up trees will serve as bio-fence and natural bars for vehicles from falling off deep ravines.
So far no one seems to care to develop the idea into an ordinance; not even into projects that the city can implement funded by money derived from sources other than collections from the disadvantaged sectors of city residents.
