Ben Contreras / PROPAGANDA will only be effective when it is backed with concrete positive results. No amount of awards can erase the fact that the problem still exists. Press releases are often mere deodorants. Certainly, there are government agencies that handle streetkids, people with mental and psychological problems that roam our streets naked, homeless families, mendicants and “rugby” boys and girls. How responsive are they? The answer can be gleaned from what we see every day in many parts of the city. Recently, a male in his thirties roamed around naked. Has he got relatives here? If he has none, has he been reported to the concerned agency that handles such cases? At an intersection in Kauswagan (near Savemore), we see children and adults approaching cars with what look like solicitation papers. Some approach you merely to beg for money or carry a small cloth to wipe your windshield even when it’s raining. It’s ridiculous. Nothing is being done about it, and it gives you the impression that it’s being allowed. Garbage -- whatever happened to that propaganda about the cleanliness drive? Limpyo na ba ang atong siyudad? Is our city clean already? The answer is very evident. I guess we cannot expect a clean city from a dirty city government. Cleanliness is something to be practiced and observed. We do not allow people to litter our surroundings just because we have people to clean them up. The money paid to sweepers can be saved and put to better use if we implement our anti-littering ordinance seriously. Is that difficult to do, to teach and to implement? Look at our roads and highways, after concreting, excess materials, usable or not, are left unpicked. After a certain period of time, grass and bushes grow. Murag tawo nga wala mamalbas. These excess materials narrow our streets, clearly traffic obstructions. I remember Councilor Eric Salcedo telling me during the 2016 campaign period that if Rufus Rodriguez won, he will clean up Cogon market. Salcedo won. Kinahanglan pa diay si Rufus para imong hinluan ang Cogon market? Or, is he now dancing with the music? That reminds me of the 435 (or more) “job orders” at the city hospital. After more than two weeks, none of our city councilors, except Leon Gan, had the balls to question it. It gives people the impression nga nakabahin pud sila. The silence is deafening. What gives, ladies and gentlemen of the city council? And to think you love to be called “honorable.” Karma can be sweet or horrible, depending on what you have done to your fellowman. *** The name sounds familiar to me and I’ve heard of it decades ago. So when we were invited by Phividec CEO and administrator Franklin Quijano to join him in his visit to the place, I thought, why not. Philippine Iron Construction and Marine Works Inc. is not just for dry-docking and repairs, it also produces ships. I was so embarrassed to tell our host that I wanted to see the first ever PICMW-made ship that I read about weeks ago. I was corrected. “It was our 64th,” our host told me. Anyway, after our lunch, we drove around the compound and had a good view of their works. Had Hanjin not abandoned their ship-building project, I wonder what kind of competition it would have posed PICMW.