SQUATTERS, ER, informal settlers – to toe the line of political correctness – have mushroomed in, out, by the slopes, even atop the FVR Megadike system, gravely endangering the integrity of the engineering marvel that saved Pampanga from the lahar rampages.
Last week, officials of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, principal funder of the megadike construction, expressed alarm over this, as well as of the dike’s overall state of disrepair. This finding, so it is held, will not sit well in JICA’s consideration of other projects in the Philippines as recipient of its benevolence.
At high noon of Wednesday, Gov. Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda rushed to the western lateral portion of the FVR Megadike with Bacolor Mayor Jomar Hizon and some members of the sangguniang panlalawigan in tow, to dialog with the dike settlers. Media in attendance, but of course.
Nanay Baby was straightforward in telling them of the illegality of their domiciling at the dike, of its danger to the integrity of the dike, of its high risk to themselves and the community, and thus, their need to relocate.
Yes, they agreed with the governor on all points. The problem though was that they had no place to go.
Enter Mayor Hizon, offering his 15-hectare lot in Barangay Tenejero as resettlement site for the displaced megadike squatters, er informal settlers.
It could be recalled – to use a local editor’s favorite expression – that a major pillar of Hizon’s campaign platform was the relocation of all informal settlers from the FVR Megadike, precisely in a property of his own, to save the cost and trouble of right-of-way requirements.
With the marching order of the governor – to clear the FVR Megadike of squatter shanties – Hizon said he “would waste no time in clearing the resettlement site to immediately effect the transfer of the informal settlers.”
“Nagpapasalamat po kami kay Mayor Jomar dahil sa malasakit niya at pagmamahal sa aming mga mahihirap na maaapektuhan ng clearing at maintenance ng dike. Susunod din po kami kay Governor at nauunawaan po namin siya,” said a grateful Leonida Espirida, whose shack and sari-sari store sat right atop the megadike.
Hizon would not stop at just transferring the informal settlers to his property: He would initiate the titling of the lots to be awarded to the settlers. This he vowed.
Nanay Baby has nothing but praises for the first-time mayor, expressing the wish that all local executives be as pro-active to the needs of the community, as able and willing to share with their constituencies their material possessions.
There’s really nothing novel over Hizon’s noble deed. As a matter of course, that is expected of a Hizon: beneficence and philanthropy being synonymous to the name.
Barely two weeks back, the Hizon matriarch, Doña Lolita, offered to donate P4 million from her personal account for the rehabilitation of the Bacolor municipal hall.
Up for delivery there is one more campaign promise of the younger Hizon in his drive to bring back up the old glory of Villa de Bacolor, once capital not only of Pampanga but of the Philippines, at the time of the British Occupation of Manila in1762.
“Who are we to refuse such donation coming from Mrs. Hizon? Panikwanan tamu pung ibalik ing aldo nang maningning ning balen Baculud at pasalamatan miya naman pu ing pengari ku keng lugud at malasakit a babye na para mibangun ya ing balen ayni (Let us strive to bring back the golden days of Bacolor as we thank my parent for her love and concern to raise our town back to its feet),” So was Mayor Hizon quoted as saying.
The integration of personal wealth and government. A throwback to plutocracy, “the rule by the wealthy,” of political power provided by wealth. The making of an oligarchy, where “power effectively rests with a small segment of society distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, military control, or religious hegemony.” As the dictionary definition of the word says.
The fusion of money and governance. Plutocracy, if not an oligarchy, as local liberals – steeped in so called democratic ideals – sneer of Hizon’s running of the affairs of Bacolor.
The fusion of money and governance though takes a contradictory, in the positive sense, a revisionist stance when the money side is tempered with Christian charity to uplift the quality of life of a given constituency. Plutocracy and oligarchy there subsumed in some sort of Christian-Democracy, in praxis.
That well be the essence of Hizon’s own brand of good governance, in only his 21st day as hizzoner of the lahar-ravaged town of Bacolor.
Last week, officials of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, principal funder of the megadike construction, expressed alarm over this, as well as of the dike’s overall state of disrepair. This finding, so it is held, will not sit well in JICA’s consideration of other projects in the Philippines as recipient of its benevolence.
At high noon of Wednesday, Gov. Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda rushed to the western lateral portion of the FVR Megadike with Bacolor Mayor Jomar Hizon and some members of the sangguniang panlalawigan in tow, to dialog with the dike settlers. Media in attendance, but of course.
Nanay Baby was straightforward in telling them of the illegality of their domiciling at the dike, of its danger to the integrity of the dike, of its high risk to themselves and the community, and thus, their need to relocate.
Yes, they agreed with the governor on all points. The problem though was that they had no place to go.
Enter Mayor Hizon, offering his 15-hectare lot in Barangay Tenejero as resettlement site for the displaced megadike squatters, er informal settlers.
It could be recalled – to use a local editor’s favorite expression – that a major pillar of Hizon’s campaign platform was the relocation of all informal settlers from the FVR Megadike, precisely in a property of his own, to save the cost and trouble of right-of-way requirements.
With the marching order of the governor – to clear the FVR Megadike of squatter shanties – Hizon said he “would waste no time in clearing the resettlement site to immediately effect the transfer of the informal settlers.”
“Nagpapasalamat po kami kay Mayor Jomar dahil sa malasakit niya at pagmamahal sa aming mga mahihirap na maaapektuhan ng clearing at maintenance ng dike. Susunod din po kami kay Governor at nauunawaan po namin siya,” said a grateful Leonida Espirida, whose shack and sari-sari store sat right atop the megadike.
Hizon would not stop at just transferring the informal settlers to his property: He would initiate the titling of the lots to be awarded to the settlers. This he vowed.
Nanay Baby has nothing but praises for the first-time mayor, expressing the wish that all local executives be as pro-active to the needs of the community, as able and willing to share with their constituencies their material possessions.
There’s really nothing novel over Hizon’s noble deed. As a matter of course, that is expected of a Hizon: beneficence and philanthropy being synonymous to the name.
Barely two weeks back, the Hizon matriarch, Doña Lolita, offered to donate P4 million from her personal account for the rehabilitation of the Bacolor municipal hall.
Up for delivery there is one more campaign promise of the younger Hizon in his drive to bring back up the old glory of Villa de Bacolor, once capital not only of Pampanga but of the Philippines, at the time of the British Occupation of Manila in1762.
“Who are we to refuse such donation coming from Mrs. Hizon? Panikwanan tamu pung ibalik ing aldo nang maningning ning balen Baculud at pasalamatan miya naman pu ing pengari ku keng lugud at malasakit a babye na para mibangun ya ing balen ayni (Let us strive to bring back the golden days of Bacolor as we thank my parent for her love and concern to raise our town back to its feet),” So was Mayor Hizon quoted as saying.
The integration of personal wealth and government. A throwback to plutocracy, “the rule by the wealthy,” of political power provided by wealth. The making of an oligarchy, where “power effectively rests with a small segment of society distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, military control, or religious hegemony.” As the dictionary definition of the word says.
The fusion of money and governance. Plutocracy, if not an oligarchy, as local liberals – steeped in so called democratic ideals – sneer of Hizon’s running of the affairs of Bacolor.
The fusion of money and governance though takes a contradictory, in the positive sense, a revisionist stance when the money side is tempered with Christian charity to uplift the quality of life of a given constituency. Plutocracy and oligarchy there subsumed in some sort of Christian-Democracy, in praxis.
That well be the essence of Hizon’s own brand of good governance, in only his 21st day as hizzoner of the lahar-ravaged town of Bacolor.
