By MARCELO ORTIGOZA, JR.
In a baptismal last Sunday (June 14) at the St. Therese Catholic
Church in M’lang , Cotabato Province where I was one of the godfathers I
bumped into former mayor , the Spanish descent, Lugie Cuerpo. We have some
chats about the latest in politics of Pangasinan and North Cotabato.
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| Region 11 National Irrigation Administration's Manager John Celeste (Right) and Ramon Abogacia, regional chief of administration and finance, posed with the author (Center) when he dropped by recently at their office in Bolton St, Davao City. |
I asked
Cuerpo who will be the probable candidate for hizzoner of my town since my
friend Mayor Lito Pinol is on his last term.
“It could be Bobong Pinol (Lito’s younger
brother)”.
He said Lito will be challenging the
province’s 3rd District congressman Ping-Ping Tejada while older brother Manny
Pinol runs for either the governorship or vice governorship.
“It’s 2016 presidential election and
the party in Manila needs somebody to represent the presidential bet in the
boondocks,” said by the former mayor in our vernacular Ilonggo of course and
not in Shakespeare's language which he is known to be not so proficient.
Earlier grapevine said that lawyer
Vice Mayor Russel Abonodo is being groomed by supporters to run for the highest
post of the local government of the town which derived its name from the Maguindanaoan word Tamlang or Bamboo.
So where’s the multi-millionaire former
mayoral candidate Litoy Mercado in the radar screen of the town for 2016?
A source closed to the Mercados (his wife
the beauteous Grace Arana still call me ‘pakas (cousin) as the town folks
already know” whenever we meet) said that Litoy has no plan for the 2016 polls.
“Let’s leave to the prospective candidates
the politics of the town where they could earn their living. The Mercados have been discouraged anymore to run as a lot of folks have been shot, ambushed,
mauled, and suffer physical pain because of partisanship in the last election
where millions of pesos have circulated for the hoi-polloi. The Mercados are
enjoying their businesses and foreign trips abroad”.
I just heard that the Mercados, who owned
hundreds of dump trucks and other equipments in their construction firm, have
been given by the government with “Triple A” license – a prestigious badge among big time private contractors even here in Luzon.
***
When I was at Davao City last June 17, I dropped by at the office
of Regional Director Mariano Alquiza of the Department of Public Works &
Highway –Region 11 in Uyanguren Street of the city.
“Sir, mas maganda at malaki itong office ninyo kaysa sa San
Fernando City (La Union),” I posed to Alquiza who is known for his
meticulousness on details.
“Siempri malaki ito kasi Davao ito,” a
priest, who was a caller like me in his office, quipped.
I asked Alquiza to compare DPWH Region 1,
where he spent more than two years as top honcho, and his present post in
Davao “sino sir ang mas mataas ang appropriation sa budget?” I posed.
He said DPWH regional office in La Union
has a huge budget too because of lots of projects being implemented by the
power-that-be there during his stint.
Alquiza, an Ilocano born Davaoeno, used to
be the regional director of his present post when he was whisked to Region 1 by
then President Gloria M. Arroyo through DPWH Secretary Jun Ebdane at the
expense of DPWH Region 1 Director Fidel Ginez who got the goat of La
Presidenta.
The reason for the sacking of the media
darling Ginez, La Presidenta Gloria hits the roof after being repeatedly jolted by the
rough and tumble pavement of the national highway in Urdaneta City and
Sison town in Pangasinan that was under Ginez’s jurisdiction.
“Na yog-yog ata ang bagong injected na
breast implant ni President,” some media men, who were privy about the livid
phone call made by the president to Ebdane to fire Ginez when the La Gloria
arrived for a dinner at her favorite Matutina Restaurant & Sea Foods in
Dagupan City, told me.
***
“God is good to me,” this was what Region
11 National Irrigation Administration’s Manager John Celeste told me when I
dropped by too at his swanky office in Bolton Street, Dagupan City.
Celeste, as everybody knows, is a
Pangasinense who was the manager of NIA Region 1 based in Urdaneta City,
Pangasinan.
But before the start of the acrimonious
May 2013 local election, politicians who have an ax to grind against his
relatives Congressman Jesus “Boying” Celeste and former Congressman and now
Alaminos City Mayor Arthur Celeste (both in the 1st District, Pangasinan)
unceremoniously ousted him from the helm of the irrigation bureau that oversees
the four provinces.
He said they even created a Project
Management Office deemed as holdover area (euphemism for those condemned in the
floating status) for him and other three regional managers who hailed from
different parts of the country.
Source said he (Celeste) went to
Civil Service Chairman Francisco Pinggoy” Duque III, a province mate, who
empathized with his plight.
“The law says a director who is reshuffled
from his original managerial post should be returned to his post if nothing incriminatory
was found against him one year upon his relief,” my source stressed.
Celeste said even though he was not
returned to his original post in Northern Luzon, his Davao City post is a good
alternative as it is a major post of NIA in the country that controls four huge
provinces like Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental, and Compostela
Valley.
“Buti pa kayo sir, sa tagal ko na sa
Mindanao, itong Davao Oriental at Compostela Valley o ComVal ay hindi ko pa
napupuntahan,” I told Celeste in a mixed Pangasinense and Tagalog.
“Look at all those managers who preceded me,
they came from the Visaya and other parts of Mindanao. Some of them even became
deputy administrator of NIA,” the soft spoken NIA top honcho told me as he
proudly toured me in the different sections of his wide office.
“Kaya pala sir sabi ni (Region 1 NIA
Manager)Vic Vicmudo, Masaya na kayo dito sa Davao”.
I bumped into the new Region 1 NIA
manager, whom I thought was a hunk and the groovy Provincial Irrigation
Management Officer, Engr. Renato Millan when they accompanied two weeks
ago Senator Cynthia Villar, former Congressman Mark Cojuangco, and Abono
Party-list Chairman Rosendo So at the famous Matutina Restaurant and Sea Food
in Urdaneta City.
Since I dropped by at Celeste’s office at 5 Pm and my airline
flight was 9:55 Pm (that was delayed by another hour as it bogged down because
of a flat tire, tee-heh, on the mid air 27,000 feet somewhere in Cebu) he and
Ramon Abogacia, regional chief of administration and finance, and friends of the
Pacolors in M’lang, Cotabato Province, asked me to join them for dinner at
Celeste’s five rooms’ staff house.
“Sir, dahil they sold at P85 ang
kakapiranggot na isang order ng tuna na kinilaw sa food court sa
SM-Ecoland, pagawan niyo ako sa cook niyo ng tuna na kinilaw – kahit iyon
na lang ulam ko, favorite ko kasi iyon”.
Son a gun, the two honchos treated me with
a yummy bowl of tuna mixed with cucumber and others that Abogacia just
bought from the nearby General Santos City and variety of big roasted
lapu-lapu, maya-maya, matambaka, and Whatchamacallit for me to indulge.
“These are all big roasted quality fishes.
Bakit sir wala bang ganito sa inyo sa (aqua rich) Bolinao (Pangasinan)?” I
posed .
Celeste deplored the scarcity of aqua
products in the sea of his home town compared to the fishes in Davao
Gulf.
“Masyadong malakas ang competition with Chinese fishermen and poachers,” he cited.
(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send
comments too attotomortz@yahoo.com).
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