(Photo grabbed from iOrbit News)
CLARK FREEPORT – It’s a sin of omission if she ignores the plea of the people.
So, said Barangay Dolores Barangay chair Vilma Caluag as she announced her intent to run for mayor of the City of San Fernando during the “Talk Widus” media forum organized by the Pampanga Press Club in cooperation with Widus Hotel and Casino here last Wednesday.
“…(N)ung gulutan kepu ini, nung balu kung atin kung akarapat, nung balu kung atin kung agawa, enaku pu mitakas keng sin of omission anya makanyan ku naman pung meka pag libutad keni (…Should I will turn my back on this, even if I know that I can make things happen, even if I know I can do something, I cannot escape from the sin of omission that is why I am now placing myself in the midst of these),” Caluag said.
“…(A)nya aku pu maniwala ku king divine intervention paniwalan ku pu bista man eku sikat at Dolores daku mu kakilala, paniwalan ku ing masanting ku paintungulan, masanting ku intensyun keng siyudad San Fernandu paniwalan ku pu i-guide naku ning Apung Guinu (… That is why I believe in divine intervention even if I may not be popular and they know me only in Dolores, and because I believe my plans and intentions are pure for the City of San Fernando, I will have guidance from Almighty God),” she declared.
Caluag said divine intervention is now actually happening after three term mayors Atty. Oscar “Oca” S. Rodriguez and Dr. Rey B. Aquino vowed to support her candidacy even if the two former mayors, at one point in time, were not exactly cordial to one another.
Little support
“Akakit ku ampo reng dakal a Fernandinos na dakal a kakulangan at ating pamangailangan anya pu mepilitan kung linibutad (I can see and so do a lot of Fernandinos that there is a big need and a great demand that is why I am forced to step into the middle),” said Caluag, also president of the Association of Barangay Captains and ex-officio member of the city council.
She said village chiefs are now hesitant to seek the help of Mayor Edwin “EdSa” Santiago or even go to city hall for help because they end up getting embarrassed.
“Atin lumwal hospital kareng karelang kabaryu munta la munisipyu nung maka 10 times mu mibalik-balik la kasi P100,000 ing bill da and the mayor will only give P2,000 and you can get it only after a month. Ayni pu ing karelang sasaingsing (When there is a constituent that is ready to check out of the hospital, they go to city hall to seek the help of the mayor because the hospital bill is P100,000, but they end up going to city hall 10 times and then the mayor will only give them P2,000 and they have to wait for a month to get it. This is their lamentation),” she said.
“Anya ngeni eno pupunta munisipyu para manyad saup kasi mepali na la at mipapakarine la at ala lang akakarapat edala asosopan deng karelang kabaryu makarine man pu keng kekatamung gobernadora puru namu pu kaya la pupunta king karitak namu pu diprensya ning IRA (internal revenue allotment) na ning CSF keng Pampanga (They have stopped going to city hall as they have been shamed and given no assistance. It is embarrassing that they have to go to the governor for their needs, given that there is little difference between the IRA of the city and that of Pampanga),” Caluag noted.
“That is why we really need to work together. The village chiefs need to be empowered… they are not being given due recognition especially in medical problems,” she said.
Dolores template
If elected mayor, Caluag said, she will follow the template of Dolores. She said in Dolores there is funeral assistance for her poorest constituents. No one dies without being given proper burial courtesy of the barangay.
Scholarship program
Caluag said in Dolores there are 2,000 elementary and high school scholars aside from the full scholarship programs granted to college students of the St Nicolas College located at the family-owned Melvi Building along JASA Avenue in the barangay.
The student population of St. Nicolas yearly is more than 2,000, she said. The school recently merited an Information and Technology (IT) award from Thailand.
Garbage
Caluag said the garbage problem in CSF is one of her priorities: “Problema ne pu ning siyudad ing basura dakal pung truck, dakal manpower pero nung alang piyugsiyanan nokarin tamu igugse? (Garbage is a city problem. There are trucks, there’s manpower but if there’s no site, where shall we dump our garbage?).”
She said there is equipment that can be bought that is patented by a big company worth P38 million and occupies about 250 square meters. “So, what is P38 million if it is going to hep solve the garbage problem? It will collect solid waste of all hospitals and has return on investment because we will collect fees,” she explained.
Medical needs
Caluag said she observed that indigents, even the middle class borrow money or pawn their properties if they get sick and needed hospitalization.
She said they refused to bring their loved ones to the JBL Regional Hospital located in the barangay because they felt they won’t be attended to properly.
Caluag said she will put up a desk at the hospital manned by proper personnel to look after Fernandinos 24/7.
She said she will institute a program that will partner with the governor, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office that will share in footing the bill of Fernandinos.
“Is this possible? Yes, it is. if we get elected as mayor, we will do this because this is also now being done by the governor,” she said.
Traffic woes
Caluag said she will consult with experts to solve the traffic woes in the city because it is now a problem everywhere not just in the Philippines but even abroad.
Flooding
How do you solve flooding? Through barangay captains, she said. They need to be empowered because they know the flooding problem in their respective barangays and how to solve it. So, the village chiefs should be consulted and empowered to help mitigate or even solve flooding, she added.
No to corruption
“In 2013, when I was elected barangay captain of Dolores, I asked the treasurer how the distribution of the real property tax (RPT) is being done,” she said.
“As a taxpayer, I wanted to know the distribution of the RPT and I learned that 70 percent goes to the special education fund and 50 percent of the remaining 30 percent goes to the barangay and the rest is equally divided by all barangays,” she said.
Caluag said she pays P800,000 RPT for the family-owned Mel-Vi Building, so she alone pays quite a substantial amount but Barangay Dolores’ share from the RPT in 2013 was only P2 million despite several banks, restaurants like Chowking, Jolibee and MacDonald’s, hospitals and 18 subdivisions all located in the barangay.
“Now, the village’s share is up at P3 million after I asked for an accounting,” she said.
Caluag said, if elected mayor, she will be transparent and will publish the previous figures and the present figures so that the people can see for themselves the difference.
‘There will be no room for corruption,” she added.
No programs from city hall
There are plenty of organizations that were formed in CSF like single parent, solo parent, persons with disabilities (PWD), women’s, poorest of the poor but there are no programs from city hall that back them up, she lamented.
There should at least be scholarship programs for the children and livelihood programs for the parents so that they can make a living the city should monitor and empower them to help them succeed, she said.
Caluag, 45, said she will run as an independent candidate with former city councilors Deine Henson, Jack Calimlim and Jay Cuyugan.
There are about 152,000 registered voters in CSF and about 5,000 new voters in 35 barangays.
If she gets elected, Caluag will become the first woman mayor of CSF.
