By SAL-N we mean the Statement of Asset, Liabilities and Net Worth public officials and employees are obligated to submit under oath to pertinent government agencies, and one of the guide posts for their code of conduct and ethical standards while in office, and particularly needed before one runs for an elective office.
By SLN we mean Sumalangit Nawa – a Filipino sincere send off in burying our dead, as in … May the doors of heaven open for his/her soul … But those with acerbic wit toss it to whoever lost a good thing or about to, as in ‘Sumalangit Nawa ang cellphone mong nawala’ (May the doors of heaven open for your lost cellphone.) So Pinoy!
Now the track — Thursday November 5th two GV-AM Radio colleagues Misters Gary Bernardo and Alvin Dasal went to Porac Municipal Hall to secure a copy of Municipal Councilor Luidivico Muli’s SAL-N.
Bernardo is still in hot pursuit of the issue of non-action of the town council on the 20 year pollution and health problems common Poraquenos have to deal with caused by operations of about 29 piggeries there.
Any ‘ barbershop smart’ can hazard an explanation why the successions of recycled municipal council officers failed to act on the nagging problem, considering that the country has hardly missed top ratings as the most corrupt country not only in Southeast Asia, or Asia, but of the world these last few years.
Bernardo stumbled upon a partial explanation courtesy of a set of Security Exchange Commission documents that shows Muli being a board director, once a Chief Executive Officer and a 16 percent share holder (P5million worth!) of the FeedWorld Incorporated, alleged to be the biggest supplier of livestock feeds in the town.
A quick fix there, with Muli being the council’s Environment Committee chair! He even had the guts early on to challenge Mr. Ruperto Cruz of the nongovernment organization Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement who has been in the forefront of the struggle against the problem and the council’s non-action – that if he (Cruz) can prove the allegation, he (Muli) “will resign and never again run for any public office!!”
Bernardo and Dasal who came as concerned citizens were refused in their request by the lady in charge (whose identity we will disclose later) hardly minding them while munching on boiled gabi (a native root crop) with generous sprinkling of ground matured coconut meat. They were dismissed to first come up with a request letter from their own office and a lawyer, and a written permission of the SAL-N subject Muli!
This complexion was altered a bit when Bernardo came back the following day with another GV-AM colleague Fred Villareal with a formal letter of request from the station’s management attached with copies of Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act and Republic Act No. 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
The R.A. 3019’s Section one states … a public office is a public trust … thus should in no uncertain term be transparent to its constituents. The R.A. 6713’s Section 8 specifies that SAL-Ns are public documents and can be accessed for the sake of accountability and transparency without any conditions attached save perhaps for a fee for the copies’ reproduction.
The lady who a day earlier gave the Bernardo and Dasal the usual run around this time pushed the set of documents to a second lady to receive them instead after expunging with liquid eraser the receiving signature she made earlier.
The second lady not wanting to have a hand in it too push the papers back to the first, and it could have gone on longer had it not been for an a__ hole! of a male personnel who barked at the two ladies to receive it after giving the GV boys a sneer and look over as if to impress nothing can touch them from their bureaucratic stronghold. With much hesitation the first lady signed the receiving copy again.
Finally, they requested if the GV boys can just come back as they need to consult their lawyer first. Another quick fix there!
Muli they said was then in Australia. Did he file an official leave from the Department of Interior and Local Government for a “much deserved rest” or simply sidestepping the immediate collection of his dare to resign from office once proven that indeed he is the town’s livestock feed ultima proveedor? All good stories to pursue.
Another pitch is if his P5Million FeedWorld share really included in his SAL-N, and why some Poraquenos observed his lifestyle reflect not much of the ownership of the 16 percent share. Is he simply fronting it for somebody else?
Meanwhile, less his SAL-N his political career can go SLN.
Erratum: A miscue on this column’s Mon-Tue, Nov. 22-23 issue, the last line of the second to the last paragraph, the word ‘few’ was inadvertently typed. The line should instead read: … to the detriment of a multitude less privileged. EVM.
By SLN we mean Sumalangit Nawa – a Filipino sincere send off in burying our dead, as in … May the doors of heaven open for his/her soul … But those with acerbic wit toss it to whoever lost a good thing or about to, as in ‘Sumalangit Nawa ang cellphone mong nawala’ (May the doors of heaven open for your lost cellphone.) So Pinoy!
Now the track — Thursday November 5th two GV-AM Radio colleagues Misters Gary Bernardo and Alvin Dasal went to Porac Municipal Hall to secure a copy of Municipal Councilor Luidivico Muli’s SAL-N.
Bernardo is still in hot pursuit of the issue of non-action of the town council on the 20 year pollution and health problems common Poraquenos have to deal with caused by operations of about 29 piggeries there.
Any ‘ barbershop smart’ can hazard an explanation why the successions of recycled municipal council officers failed to act on the nagging problem, considering that the country has hardly missed top ratings as the most corrupt country not only in Southeast Asia, or Asia, but of the world these last few years.
Bernardo stumbled upon a partial explanation courtesy of a set of Security Exchange Commission documents that shows Muli being a board director, once a Chief Executive Officer and a 16 percent share holder (P5million worth!) of the FeedWorld Incorporated, alleged to be the biggest supplier of livestock feeds in the town.
A quick fix there, with Muli being the council’s Environment Committee chair! He even had the guts early on to challenge Mr. Ruperto Cruz of the nongovernment organization Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement who has been in the forefront of the struggle against the problem and the council’s non-action – that if he (Cruz) can prove the allegation, he (Muli) “will resign and never again run for any public office!!”
Bernardo and Dasal who came as concerned citizens were refused in their request by the lady in charge (whose identity we will disclose later) hardly minding them while munching on boiled gabi (a native root crop) with generous sprinkling of ground matured coconut meat. They were dismissed to first come up with a request letter from their own office and a lawyer, and a written permission of the SAL-N subject Muli!
This complexion was altered a bit when Bernardo came back the following day with another GV-AM colleague Fred Villareal with a formal letter of request from the station’s management attached with copies of Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act and Republic Act No. 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
The R.A. 3019’s Section one states … a public office is a public trust … thus should in no uncertain term be transparent to its constituents. The R.A. 6713’s Section 8 specifies that SAL-Ns are public documents and can be accessed for the sake of accountability and transparency without any conditions attached save perhaps for a fee for the copies’ reproduction.
The lady who a day earlier gave the Bernardo and Dasal the usual run around this time pushed the set of documents to a second lady to receive them instead after expunging with liquid eraser the receiving signature she made earlier.
The second lady not wanting to have a hand in it too push the papers back to the first, and it could have gone on longer had it not been for an a__ hole! of a male personnel who barked at the two ladies to receive it after giving the GV boys a sneer and look over as if to impress nothing can touch them from their bureaucratic stronghold. With much hesitation the first lady signed the receiving copy again.
Finally, they requested if the GV boys can just come back as they need to consult their lawyer first. Another quick fix there!
Muli they said was then in Australia. Did he file an official leave from the Department of Interior and Local Government for a “much deserved rest” or simply sidestepping the immediate collection of his dare to resign from office once proven that indeed he is the town’s livestock feed ultima proveedor? All good stories to pursue.
Another pitch is if his P5Million FeedWorld share really included in his SAL-N, and why some Poraquenos observed his lifestyle reflect not much of the ownership of the 16 percent share. Is he simply fronting it for somebody else?
Meanwhile, less his SAL-N his political career can go SLN.
Erratum: A miscue on this column’s Mon-Tue, Nov. 22-23 issue, the last line of the second to the last paragraph, the word ‘few’ was inadvertently typed. The line should instead read: … to the detriment of a multitude less privileged. EVM.
