Marked - for junking
Posted on February 6, 2007 - Filed Under General |
SO unfortunate that unless two Dagupan City councilors who are my barangaymates – Alex de Venecia and Vlad Mata – and another one, Joey Tamayo, a distant relative, effectively counter the snowballing move in time, they could find themselves being junked in the May polls by, now hear this, the city’s tricycle operators and drivers sector.
My favorite loquacious trike driver claims the three have been tagged “enemies” by the trikemen largely because of their actions or inactions on matters affecting their livelihood. It seems, from my friend-driver’s account, the operators and drivers recently held a powwow and agreed to conduct a creeping campaign among their kind “to make them (the 3 aldermen) feel the wrath of those whose lives they have made miserable.”
“Pina-irap da kami, natan asabi lay panaon ya sikamimet so mamairap ed sikara, (They made life difficult for us, now the time has come for us to return the favor),” Fighting words, certainly, but words uttered with firm conviction. Time to torment the tormentors, that kind of thing. * * * *
The councilors’ ‘crime’ that affected their “livelihood” of course, is their having authored/initiated passage of laws, rules and ordinances that made them suffer much – payment of fines, redesigning /retooling of their trike units at great cost and the traffic restrictions that have kept them off-balance and prevents them from earning more in their daily grind.
We’re pretty sure the councilors, De Venecia, most of all, knew the political price they have to pay by authoring or supporting legislative initiatives that directly or indirectly impede or make costly the trikemen’s daily source of livelihood. No amount of explanation or justification we guess, will work with the marginal workingmen – not the majesty of law, not the sacredness of public welfare, not the importance of systems and procedures. These are nebulous, fancy concepts, hard to comprehend and harder still to obey. To the ordinary workhorse out there in the streets, anything or anyone who keeps them from earning more pesos is, well, “an enemy”, as simple as that. * * * *It is now up to these trikemen’s leaders and “gatekeepers” – if they know and understand the substance of the law, that is – to help remold their members’ minds into seeing things under a clearer light regarding official acts of local leaders.
For such association leaders to be indifferent, or worse, goad their members to “get even” with perceived “devils”is irresponsibility of the first water; in the end, they could produce “snakes” that will only be too ready to bite or swallow them too at the first onset of dissatisfaction. Except if they show blatant corruption or clear dishonesty in service, elected officials should still be given the benefit of the doubt as to their true motivations in passing laws that affect everyone.
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