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As we see it, Capitol?s adherence to its Suroy-Suroy provincial wanderlust defeats government?s true purpose, which is to serve its constituents. Really, what has Gwendolyn Garcia?s Suroy Suroy accomplished so far? For old folk, suroy suroy has a bad connotation: libud suroy (attributed to a drifter, a vagrant, a wanderer, vagabond and what have you), which creates an impression that the one initiating such undertaking is infatuated with her egotistic motive. Or does it suggest that the Capitol is bankrupt of ideas?
Cebu was ?discovered? by a foreign adventurer, and tourists who frequent the island are certainly well informed about Cebu by what they read in history books and write-ups, not by the irrelevant and costly Suroy Suroy. Overburdened taxpayers should be mad at Capitol for wasting their tax money on Suroy Suroy.
Extraneously, Suroy Suroy conceals the true condition of the Cebuanos. Only recently, the National Nutrition Council ranked Gwen?s province second in the number of malnourished kids among the provinces in Central Visayas. Provincial nutritionist Gloria Dacalos blames poverty, exacerbated by large families and unemployment, according to a report.
(Ironically, Cebu province was recently awarded for its ?Sinanduloy sa Kahimsog, Sinanduloy sa Kabusog? program, whatever that means, during the Grand Nutrition Awards at, yes, the controversial Cebu International Convention Center.)
The keyword is ?poverty,? and Gwen?s self-declared progress has yet to trickle down to the poor as fast as her loyalists in the provincial board could appropriate a whopping budget for Capitol?s lavish foundation day celebration, and as quickly as she dangled P1 million from her office?s fund to reward the winners of the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo Festival contest. (The winners won?t probably mind donating their prizes, if they were only educated about the plight of the children.)
Also, checking out the food display at the Capitol compound could have been an annoying experience for visitors, whose senses must have been assaulted by the ubiquitous photos of Governor Gwen and her idol, Gloria Arroyo, competing with the commodities.
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The decision of the Office of the Ombudsman to withdraw the graft case pending at the Sandiganbayan against former Mayor Thadeo Ouano for his alleged involvement in the overpriced streetlamp project for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit is disturbing.
For one, a CDN report yesterday said the Ouano camp had not requested a reinvestigation and an Ouano lawyer said they wanted the case to proceed accordingly, believing the Ombudsman?s position to be very weak. This, in effect, shows the Ombudsman was not swayed by the Ouano camp, as certain sectors allege.
Two, the actual withdrawal indicates that the mayor?s signature on the Program of Works and Estimates (POWE) is not enough to convict Ouano. After all, as I noticed long ago, the POWE for Cebu City had no signature of Mayor Tomas Osmeña but the project still was implemented. This means that a mayor?s signature was not necessary. Somebody else signed the contract and approved the project for implementation.
Three, despite the weak case against him, Ouano suffered much. He was suspended and later lost the post as mayor of Mandaue City because of the lamppost issue.
This turn of events only convinced me more that Ouano and Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza were only used as scapegoats to protect the high and mighty who approved and profited from the project.
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The charge of ?obstructionism? hurled by Mandaue Mayor Jonas Cortes against the City Council majority, headed by Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna, is a dud.
Take for example this supplemental budget that the mayor has a hard time getting approved. The majority seems to have unearthed several legitimate issues that the mayor has to explain to the council and the public. The details saw print recently in local papers. For instance, why ask for P6.15 million for ?donations? during the last quarter of the year when the amount is good enough for the first eight months? More people will ask for your help come Christmas, Mayor Jonas?
The executive branch is also asking for an additional P6 million for office supplies. During the first three quarters of 2008, the mayor only asked P1 million. Has the cost of paper and other supplies increased by 600 percent since? Why does the mayor want to stock up on office supplies? Can his office consume supplies worth P6 million in four months?
Moreover, the mayor is asking an additional P35 million for the salaries of job-order employees, even if the mayor already has P59.4 million for it in the regular budget. Has City Hall recruited additional employees? Are there ghost employees in the payroll?
Meanwhile, the mayor has not used the P27 million for barangay projects. Only 20 percent of the 15 priority projects for the year were carried out. And the budget for these had already been approved by the council.
There are other issues that would sufficiently support my point. I believe the problem is not the ?obstructionist? council majority but the incompetence of the mayor. As I pointed out in a previous column, the mayor should have focused on winning the support of the council majority to get his programs going and not engage them in a fight. After all, the election is still far away.
