Something is wrong somewhere

Mandauehanons including those living abroad are irked, nay, angry over the prevailing animosity between Mayor Jonas Cortes and the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) opposition. Some are also frustrated with the laxity of cleansing reforms by the City Hall leadership.

Likewise, very glaring is the imbalance of media reportage favoring the opposition by slanting the treatment of news items. A reporter's bias often favors the opposition by highlighting the news subhead or caption and followed by its bold topic presentation; whereas, the administration side is lost in the obscurity of trailing paragraphs.

Incredibly, the administration does not punctually engage in tit-for-tat to set things right over the media coverage imbalance, as if silence is the best defense. Its supporters are in askance why, despite documented evidence of irregularities of the past administration to have been brought to court, the legal department takes no interest in cleaning the slate.

What is very ironical is that the mayor is often at the receiving end of trivial suits by SP critics who profess cooperation with the executive, but have always been fault-finding obstructionists. For instance, the SP repeatedly called the Mayor and his advisers as incompetent, and even twitted hizzoner to read the law. But the latter and his close-in advisers didn't counter such canard; and so, this column picked up the cudgels to set the record straight.

One pointed out the incompetence of the SP, such as, setting down so-called standards for the executive to follow even in purely executive prerogatives; or on the 15-day period within which the SP failed to act on two department head appointments; or the illegal SP amendment to the cockfighting law; or the illegal and premature renaming of the Mandaue Sports and Cultural Complex; or the illegal and ultra vires amendment of the composition of the Board of Trustees of the Mandaue City College, as reconstituted by Mayor Jonas Cortes.

Important issues affecting Mandaue City that come out in news reports and columnists' write-ups are not accorded due importance, and no further circulation to apprise the Mandauehanons. The administration lacks an effective public relations to counter disinformation and legal office to prosecute cases, and lack of guts and political will to do right, say, on corruption in tax collection in business and realty taxes and even short-changing of community tax certificates; illegal cash advances; lack of personnel discipline even on attendance and punctuality; assessment complaints and other previous illegal transactions, as well as, in matters of promotions still controlled by department heads with doubtful loyalty; gas "guzzling" unchecked; the over-payments of the previous SP's salaries; and budgetary and fiscal management gone awry..

There are also the excessive "midnight" purchases of prohibited supplemental materials and workbooks - not textbooks - originated by then Mayor Thadeo Ouano and carried over by OIC Mayor Amadeo Seno Jr. involving more than P18.2 M of the Special Education Fund (SEF), and only a measly P1 M for needed repairs of school buildings.

Lately, Rep. Nerissa Ruiz asked Mayor Jonas Cortes for the SEF "rundown of last year's expenses". Incidentally, out of the P18.2 M, more than P15 M were in seven vouchers whose 7 checks were posthaste released on June 27, 28, and 29, or eve of Mayor Jonas' taking office on June 30 noon. These "midnight" scams on the SEF are answerable by the previous two mayors, the City Treasurer and the City Supt. who, if the present administration had the political will to run after corruption, ought to have been charged before the Ombudsman. And yet, Mayor Cortes is being asked to explain how the 2007 SEF was spent. "Pagka dakung balista ug perdigana!", says a street philosopher.

There are many shenanigans that ought to have been pursued but which until now are left unattended to… Borrowing that Shakespearean loud musing, there must be something rotten in Denmark in prioritizing public issues, or on whom the lady goddess of justice could exact a public accounting, if not vengeance..

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