By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
Last week, I had dinner with a politician at the Prince Plaza and there we met the city mayor. He appeared hale and hearty. He looked like he was raring to hit the campaign trail. He will of course have to go for the lone congressional seat of the city as this is again his third straight term as mayor. In layman’s terms, he is graduating.
Will he retire from politics? Everyone I asked who are close to him answered in different ways but, in so many words, their answers were the same. From his body language, he appears to be in the running. Having been in the city’s political scene for the longest time, he has developed deep political roots. He will be the man to beat even if former congressman Nick Aliping insists on running for the same position and with whom he will split the so called highlander votes.
So Congressman Mark Go’s bid for reelection will not be a walk in the park. Far from it. It will be tough and will be “bloody.”
From the grapevine, JoeMol (Atty. Jose Molintas) will not follow the battleground where Mayor Domogan will be. He might run for mayor which will mean more aspirants. For the people, “the more, the merrier.”
For the incumbents (Congressman Mark Go and Mayor Domogan), this time up to the elections next year will virtually be the last lap in the race to show their effectivity or performance as public servants. It is time to show that they function as well-oiled machines—efficient and effective.
I have heard quite a number of people saying that the city mayor might have gotten bored of his job for he had been there for what appears to be the longest time (Inlakayan nan san). As to the mayor, he appears as energetic and competent as he had always been. But his people must have become bored or complacent. A few weeks ago, we sent his office a written request and it appeared not to have been acted upon. It did not even merit a reply. It was very unlike the mayor. And I am sure it was due to some bureaucratic snag in his office. For friends in the media and other constituents who might have experienced the same situation, I can assure you it was just a snag and not the fault of the mayor.
But as I earlier said, this should be the last lap. It is the time for politicians to whip their people into line. It is time to show efficiency and effectiveness. In short, performance in office which entails balancing of innumerable conflicting interests.
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There is a news item somewhere in this issue to the effect that the Department of Tourism (DOT) will spread out the benefits of Baguio City having been declared a creative city by the UNESCO. Well and good. But the DOT is a government office. That is, it is incompetent and ineffective.
Just one example. Now thousands of tourists go to Sagada everytime they get the chance to such as during long weekends. But along the way in the Halsema Highway and along the Sagada to Banaue route, there are no decent comfort rooms and restaurants. Did the DOT encouraged or aided or attracted investors to put up tourist grade restaurants along those routes? I don’t think so. I would not be surprised if PDu30 will one day announce the firing of DOT-CAR officials for incompetence. Yes, what are USECs or ASSECs Marie Banaag and Cheryl Yangot doing about this problem in their high offices?
If only I could hope that the DOT-CAR can prove me wrong, I would be too happy. But travel along those routes and you will only conclude that the DOT-CAR must have a sick definition of “attracting tourists.” They might think that dirty comfort rooms and very low grade restaurants with no running water—which invariably tourists would like to avoid— are tourist attractions.
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