A time of reckoning

Nora Soriño .

ILIGAN City — How did you fare as mayor? As vice mayor, or councilor? What did you do about your  campaign against corruption when you  were still candidate?

These are questions asked of the incumbent officials. But these are articulated mostly by wannabes through their supporters who are casting moist eyes on the positions of the incumbents. So, in the process of asking such questions, the opposition gets into the offensive mode.

Like why did a biscuit costing P7 each now costs P185 per?

And why does a sack of rice cost P3,000 per transaction now?

And why certify that the meals and snacks were served during a SP regular session when per statement of someone who was there during the session, only a platito of peanuts was served at their table and there were four of them who partook of the peanuts?

And why attach as attendees some people who were not around in one barangay assembly for the vouchers and other documents? 

And why do they lose as much as P1 million in some cock derby in one sitting?

Why the fish pens in a town of Lanao Norte which are said to be owned by some city officials here?

And why do some documents say, “Requested by me, Approved by me?” Meaning the one who requests is the one who approves?

Loaded allegations, these.The “attackers” in the process, too, reminded Vice Mayor Jemar Vera Cruz, a priest who went “on leave,” of his vow: “Wagtangon ang korapsyon!”

But they say that the best defense is a good offense. So Mayor Celso Regencia, Vera Cruz and other officials just don’t answer directly the allegations. Instead, they go on their own offense. Like, “Did Busico cut off his fingers when I was able to come out of prison?”

The statement comes from the mayor, directed against lawyer Alfredo Busico who is running for another term at the Sangguniang Panlungsod. I can’t say if it was the “fingers” or the “hands” that the lawyer said as quoted by the mayor. And the latter recently said if he comes across Busico, he will do the cutting himself!

Recently, I heard Busico say that he could have won last time, “but I was hit by the 15-0.”

To recall, the 15-0 was the battlecry of Regencia, et al, in the last elections because of the “wagtangon and korapsyon” mantra. And, of course, they being the underdog resulting from the mayor’s imprisonment as he was tagged as the mastermind of the ambush on then Rep. Vicente Belmonte Jr.’s convoy near the Laguindingan airport on Dec. 11, 2014.

It was a case of “ambush me,” the incumbent officials and supporters say which stuck in the people’s mind, too, and which portrayed the mayor as the underdog. Plus, corruption allegations against the incumbents then who were mostly “yellowhans” then and it helped too that Vera Cruz had been a priest. (Can he still go back to being a priest? That’s another story though.)

The 15-0 was then realized. Well, almost!

Maybe, it’s because there is no more check and balance that these allegations come out. Someone in the media said, “No more check, only balance now.”

But I doubt if even the balance remains, if the allegations are true. For practically, all the SP members now had ran under the mayor’s ticket and won.

Those are perceptions only. But many times, perceptions  are the reality, too.

Unsolicited advice: The incumbents must do something about such allegations. Otherwise, their fate in these elections will suffer. Or maybe, they’re bound to experience some further sufferings in their careers.

In other words, methinks that in these times of reckoning as in election time, the incumbents should really answer those allegations!

 And the opposition, should  be careful for they might be faced with the same allegations should they win.

As they say in basketball: “Cool lang, we are still ahead by one shot!”