BY ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
NOWADAYS, going to Cadiz City in northern Negros will surely make you dumbfounded by the mushrooming commercial establishments left and right.
Aside from having the largest solar farm in Southeast Asia, a roll-on-roll-off (roro) port, and the world-class Lakawon beach, Cadiz is now home to three malls, an array of banks, convenience stores, pizza parlors, and hotels among other flourishing businesses and tourism attractions. Truly amazing!
I was really stunned and mesmerized by the side-by-side developments. So I asked Mayor Bading Esclante what really happened and why Cadiz is growing so fast compared to other component cities in the province.
His candid response: “Zero-corruption, no red-tape. I discourage investors to give us anything. Instead, we guide them, we help them.”
He admitted though that instituting the culture of zero-corruption in Cadiz was not so easy. But they started with the tax moratorium for incoming investors.
Next, they strictly implemented the 10-minute policy in renewing business permits.
“Yes, in Cadiz it only takes 10 minutes to renew your business permits, no more, no less,” Mayor Bading said. Then, he quipped, everything goes smoothly.
As a result, the mayor now enjoys the so-called “investors’ confidence” which gradually translates to sustainable revenues.
With this, he underscored that Cadiz, a second-class component city in Negros Occidental, is now raking more than P200 million in local revenues on top of its P1.1-billion annual Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA). Hence, the city’s slogan “Bilis Cadiz” reflecting the city’s incomparable economic progress.
‘DROWNING IN CORRUPTION’
On July 19, the official declaration of gaming mogul Albee Benitez to run for mayor in Bacolod City in the 2022 local and national elections was highlighted by his novel political idiom – “Bacolod is drowning in corruption!” Thus, it necessitated him to succumb to Bacolodnons’ fervent appeal for change.
But such is quite heavy to unload unless he is ready to detonate substantial attachment(s).
Bacolodnons are so excited now. They’re eager t to witness fresh “fireworks” to explode in the sky.But the danger is if Albee will just recycle the issues against Bing, which Ombudsman already ruled in acquitting the incumbent mayor.It’ll definitely erode Albee’s credibility.
Or, he’ll be tagged as a broken record (sirang plaka).
Worse, if he’ll be labeled as the newest “spin doctor” or simply a political “propagandist” that Bacolod never wanted anymore.
On the other hand, the “deafening silence” of Bing is quite alarming. His political arsenal, for sure, is also ready for their “cannons” and “explosives” against Albee.
NO TRACES OF CORRUPTION
In an interview with DNX (Digital News Xchange), housing developer and “Lakawon Datu” Vladimir “Vladi” Gonzales described Albee as a potential leader that could bring ultimate changes for Bacolod.
That’s because Albee, claimed by Vladi, has no traces of corruption when he was still congressman of the 3rd District of Negros Occidental.
So if Albee wins, Valdi said, Bacolod will definitely become a squatter-free city. Albee will make sure kuno that the more than 40,000 squatter families in Bacolod will be given decent homes.
It sounds so good. But wait, it’s not for free though. Each home, Vladi stressed, will cost around P500,000.
To make it viable, beneficiaries, Vladi explained, will be employed as job order (JO) employees at the New Government Center (NGC) through a rotational scheme so they can earn something for their monthly amortization.
Is Vladi serious?
On Facebook (FB), Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) executive, Atty. Jayvee Hinlo, can’t help but expressed his astonishment or, perhaps, disbelief on the matter.
Then he showed his simple computation: 40,000 (squatter families) x P500,000 (price per decent home) = P20,5000,000,000 (twenty billion, five hundred million pesos).
Some netizens started asking: Where will Albee source this huge amount?
Former Provincial Board member Patrick Lacson “rescued” Vladi. He said the public should not worry because the price is just simple.“It is just like P10 per day or an amount of two sticks of cigarettes or one bottle of soft drink.”
Is that so? Well, the sun is still shining in Bacolod. And it’s inappropriate yet to “grill your dream” under the heat of the sun.
No doubt that both Vladi and Patrick are good in public speaking but, perhaps, not so well in Math. I am hoping then that both are not yet “shooting the moon”.
Better for them, too, to simply ask former 3rd District’s housing coordinator-turned-capitol consultant Marie June Castro.
If they think Albee really championed the housing cause when he was still congressman of the 3rd District, then Castro can probably present to them the “facts and figures” as to how many squatters were given decent homes in Silay, Victorias, Talisay, Murcia, and EB Magalona.
My simple prayer then: Moral transparency on the part of Castro.
‘I AM NOT CORRUPT’
Also joining the scrimmage is Abang Lingkod party-list’s Rep. Stephen Paduano, also known as (aka) Carapali Lualhati. He is endorsing Albee against Bing, capitalizing, too, on two words – change and corruption.
Also in an interview with DNX, Carapali said Bacolodnons want an immediate change because they’re “suffocated” now with corruption allegedly in the current administration.
Carapali, a former comrade of the breakaway Revolutionary Proletarian Army – Alex Bongcayao Brigade (RPA-ABB), also tagged Albee as an “incorruptible being”.
Asked on the “weight” of his endorsement, Carapali said it has bearing because everyone knows “I am not corrupt.”
What a “saintly” pronouncement that could make someone either to kneel down and say “Amen” or simply just raise an eyebrow.
Carapali, on record, was one among the 70 solons who “killed” the ABS-CBN franchise last year.
The “killing” resulted to ABS-CBN’s closure of provincial broadcast centers and termination of thousands of its employees and reporters.
Worse, ABS-CBN management sold its broadcast complex in Bacolod to a shipping magnate to covert it into a logistical bodega.
Also, ABS-CBN already totally dismantled its Bacolod broadcast tower, signaling its “forever goodbye” to the “City of Smiles”.
In case it’ll be given a franchise sooner, it would operate in Iloilo City only. Bacolod will just be one its satellite broadcast areas in Western Visayas. So sad!
Pitiable, of course, that ABS-CBN was gone too soon in Bacolod!
Well, whatever blah, blah, blah, one thing for sure, I am a believer of this political philosophy of an unknown author that politicians and diapers are almost the same so we should change them often, both for the same reason.
But if Russian President Vladimir Putin is to be believed, “Those who fight corruption should be clean themselves.”/PN
