“Inday Sara could be likened to her father, recalling that Sara punched a court sheriff who was ordered to carry out the court order to demolish buildings and houses as ordered by the court to make way for the building of a business establishment”
The Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections yesterday could well be a dark page in the kind of politics we have in the Philippines.
I cannot recall anymore how many were killed and injured in the violence during prior and during the campaign period of the BSKE, but newspaper headlines were replete with them.
There were also instances of poll violations like vote buying and the participation of the banned political dynasties.
Santa Banana, the Commission on Elections tagged as many as 361 “danger areas” before yesterday’s poll where killings and shootings were frequent.
These indicate the fierce and intense rivalry for positions in the polls.
My gulay, there were also reports that, like in the case of my home province Abra, teachers who were mandated to safeguard the polls, especially the counting of votes, had to be accompanied by soldiers to go to their precincts where voting and counting of voters were done.
In the case of Cotabato City, over 300 members of the PNP had to augment the local police force because of the incidents of killings and other kinds of violations.
Truly, politics in this country is local.
These indicate that Philippine politics is always local since politicians running for Congress, held every three years, truly depend on who are in control of the barangays.
Likewise, candidates for national positions, like the President, Vice President and senators, also have to depend on local politicians.
It may well be proper to ask: Is there money in BSKE that people have to kill for it?
Is it money they are fighting for since the compensations of Barangay officials and youth officials are miniscule?
It must not be money they are fighting for since there is no money in BSKE positions.
From what I know, what they kill for are not their salaries, but what members of Congress and the Senate can give them, and of course from the supporters of a President and local officials they committed to.
Well. that’s what it is in local politics, and what many of them kill and die for.
What is also of much concern is the proliferation of loose guns in the hands of armies and criminal syndicates being used by barangays and youth politicians.
I recall an eaelier study showed the number of loose guns in the Philippines exceeded that of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the police.
Santa Banana, if this is the case, we need gun control more than ever before and an honest-to-goodness campaign against loose firearms.
Like father, like daughter
A politician, whose name I would rather withhold, told me that the waterloo of Vice President Sara Duterte is now what’s happening to her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who just cannot keep his trap shut.
The father went to the extent of threatening the life of ACT party-list Rep. France Castro, who criticized Inday Sara for allegedly misusing her Confidential Funds and the OVP Funds and spending as much as P125 million in 11 – or was it 19? – days.
Castro is a member of the Makabayan Bloc who former President Duterte had accused of being communists.
Castro pushed for the realignment of the CIF or Confidential and Intelligence Funds of Inday Sara which she got in this year’s national budget to be realigned to other government agencies which really needs them.
This grave threat of the former President was done over the television network of his spiritual adviser Pastor Apollo Quiboloy.
For this grave threat to kill her, Rep. Castro has filed a case against the former president in the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City, citing the section of the Revised Penal Code which penalizes those who make grave threats to serve the maximum penalty of six months and/or pay no less than P100,000.
As a former President, Duetrte no longer enjoys immunity from suits.
The politician I cited said if and when Sara Duterte runs for the presidency in 2028, this incident of the elder Duterte, who just could not keep his big mouth shut in an effort to defend his daughter and made that grave threat on the life of Rep. Castro, could well be the comparison between father and daughter.
That politician said Inday Sara could be likened to her father, recalling that Sara punched a court sheriff who was ordered to carry out the court order to demolish buildings and houses as ordered by the court to make way for the building of a business establishment.
Sara, who was then Davao City mayor, tried to stop the demolition and thwacked the sheriff in full view of television and media.
“Like father, like daughter,” that politician said with a smile.
SMC’s CSR expands
Ramon S. Ang, chairman and chief executive officer of the biggest and most diversified conglomerate, is expanding the SMA “Adopt a River Program” throughout Metro Manila, Pampanga, Cavite and Bulacan.
This initiative is possibly the country’s biggest corporate social responsibility effort ever thought of by a private company with its impact not only on the environment but on the lives of communities, Santa Banana.
Spending as much as P3 billion, without a single centavo of taxpayers money, but with assistance of national and local government units, San Miguel has cleaned up the highly polluted Pasig River, including the tributaries and waterways.
As of this date, SMC has gotten rid of all the oil, silt and waste that have made the Pasig River difficult to navigate, with so many factories dumping its wastes and with so many informal settlers having made the Pasig River their toilet bowl.
With the expansion of SMC’s CSR , the initiative would cover the following rivers: River systems in Bulacan including the Meycauayan, Maycapiz-Taliptip and Maila Rivers, the Bambang Creek, Marilao River, Sta. Maria River, Guiguinto River, Pamarawan River, Labangon-Angat River, Malolos Rivere and Hagonoy River;
Pampanga River; Maragondon River and other related tributaries in Cavite; Waterways in Navotas City, including Muzon River, Batasan River and the Navotas River; San Pedro River in Laguna; and the Suan Juan River.
I must commend RSA as chairman and CEO of San Miguel Corporation for this impactful initiative that is not only for the well-being of the environment, but also for the lives and livelihoods of people constantly in danger and affected so dangerously by floods.