I’VE been to many places during the Christmas break and I noticed one thing – bongga gyod ang mga adornments sa pasko. There seems no limit to the appetite for a very wonderful Christmas decoration in the town, city or provincial plaza.
Take the case of the plaza fronting the provincial capitol in Dumaguete City. Beautiful and colorful lights and decors adorn the whole place, as in very bongga gyod. And the design, simply amazing.
Unlike before, where the decors were drab and boring, this time around, everything was carefully planned, choreographed and implemented. The place was transformed into one favorite hang-out for city and provincial residents who preferred to stay “home” and do away with expensive travels.
Really, it’s now a postcard-perfect setting, the transformation so complete the residents are already anticipating a more bongga decor next year. I won’t be surprised if this will become another tourist spot if this trend continues, just like the former residence of Dr. Absin before, also in Dumaguete.
Now, compare that scenario to the plaza in front of the St. Joseph Cathedral and what do you see?
Well, of course there is a giant belen, there are colorful lights and there are people around. But what do you notice aside from that?
The trees surrounding the premises are decorated individually, courtesy of the different private schools and establishments. Yes, several private establishments “sponsor” their own tree in the plaza for Christmas adornment. Since this has been going on for several years now, it has become routinary to the sponsors and the setting up of decors for the trees is just for “compliance” purposes.
Basta magsiga-siga lang, payts na. There is no congruence, no common theme, no common aim, nagkalandrakas lang, as if, basta ba lang. It is as if the effort is more for the promotion of private business concerns rather than to really make an attractive adornment.
The result, far from what is expected of a tourism-driven province like Bohol.
What is the reason for this, walay budget, walay plano panindoton?
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In fact, the decors in the town of Lila is better, more attractive, more beautiful.
And I doubt if the decors in that supposedly lonely town are privately-sponsored.
And in other towns as well.
If one goes to the different town plazas, one will immediately notice a very conscious effort on the part of the LGUs to beautify and transform the plaza into one very attractive place to spend with family on Christmas break.
Well, I hope this piece will reach the attention of our city/provincial planners and make next year’s Christmas celebration a better, more attractive and more bongga than this year.
I also hope they will do away with privately-sponsored tree adornments in the plaza or if they would insist on that practice, for whatever reasons, to come up with a better and well-coordinated plan.
Amen.
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Now, let’s resume our “political” episode. In our last episode, there was a narration about the exodus of balimbing from being Binay or Roxas loyalists to being PRRD loyalists kunohay.
As I’ve narrated, there was also a parallel race to reach out to “backers” para maka-duol ni PRRD. Of course, there was former CabSec Toloy Evasco who was the campaign manager of PRRD, and there was former SAP and now Senator Bong Go, who many considers as an ArtYap look-alike, though many believe that Bong Go is more good-looking.
Anyway, the ultimate race was to reach out to the portals of Malacanang and make “hunghong” to PRRD either for favors or projects.
One former mayor also discovered another short-cut to the portals via a lady-friend who was also a former resident of the town, who was also very close to PRRD and had spent considerable private times on his bed. And because of that, this former mayor became a regular fixture every time PRRD came to Bohol.
Another mayor used a different tack – by making herself very “delicious and good-looking” to PRRD and she also succeeded.
The point is – there was no limit to finding ways and means to get closer to the portals of power and influence, and Toloy Evasco was just one of them.
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Then this happened – a very unfortunate incident involving a Boholano who got a “rare” and juicy position as an Undersecretary in the Office of the Cabinet Secretary – USec Halmen Valdez.
On April 15, 2017 during a harvest festival in Nueva Ecija, PRRD dismissed Halmen because accordingly, she wanted to pursue a rice importation scheme that was detrimental to the Filipino farmers.
As reported, PRRD dismissed Halmen on the ground that she defied former NFA Administrator Jason Aquino’s decision to suspend rice importation during a harvest season especially because at that time, local farmers posted a high yield of the staple crop. There was also disagreement as to the importation scheme with Aquino going for government to government scheme while Valdez reportedly wanted a scheme to favor private contractors.
Valdez denied the accusation and was quoted as saying that “the President may have received false information about her and said that this also maligned her “tatay” in the cabinet, former CabSec Toloy Evasco.
As we all know, it is the policy of the DA not to import rice during harvest season because this will unduly prejudice our local farmers because they will be competing with the low price of imported rice, notably from Vietnam. Rice importation is allowed only during off-harvest season.
Anyway, it would seem that Halmen Valdez was “The last of the Mohicans” because after that, I never heard of any other appointees from Bohol in the PRRD cabinet.
More when we return, stay tuned!
