27 December 2005
OPINION: Lighted bridges, No-El issue and JDV’s Macbeth
AFTER ALL
Behn Fer. Hortaleza Jr.
WE SPOKE too soon and now we may have to eat crow. But we don’t mind – if it’s for the good of the city we all love, Dagupan.
We are referring to the sudden installation of rows of beautiful lights on both sides of the Magsaysay (okay, De Venecia it is) Bridge along Perez Blvd. Just as soon as The Pangasinan Star hit the streets last week, we noticed as we pass by the bridge on our way home in the evening that the lights were ablaze, rivaling those earlier put up at the Quintos bridge obviously in time for the city fiesta celebration.
In this corner last week, you see, we had lamented -- okay now, deplored -- what we felt was the unfair deal given the Perez bridge which was dimly lit, if at all, while Quintos bridge on A.B. Fernandez Avenue had those rather elegant lamp posts delighting and thrilling motorists and pedestrians passing thru. It now appears that lighting of Perez bridge was part of the overall plan after all.
Our kudos to whoever it was at City Hall who decided that if we can’t have sophisticated fiesta celeb activities this year, at least we should have lights on our bridges for nocturnal attraction. Why, not even the ballyhooed Lantern Parade, which we and Vicar Hotel tenants had eagerly rushed out by the hotel’s balcony for to watch while the city was in full blackout mode didn’t even light up a spark among many Dagupeno parade watchers.
It just seems to many frustrated city dwellers now that about the only area where a whiff of fiesta air can be had are at the malls, hardly at the City Hall and environs and much less even at the Pogo Grande house of the hermano mayor himself, Alex de Venecia. For all the lights bedecking the good councilor-fund-raiser’s newly-rented house (try checking this out passing by Pogo Grande at night), “not a soul stirs” ( to borrow a line from the immortal poem T’was the Night Before Christmas – read neighbor columnist Ging Cardinoza’s piece) there most nights, like Santa had left for the North Pole with all his reindeersin tow.
Young tots doing the caroling rounds and trying the house of HM (Hermano Mayor, not His Majesty) swear they only tire their vocal chords out with nary a Santa peering out from there, at least on most night, to dole out presents..
* * * *
Many people seem to forget – or are deliberately ignoring –the fact that what the Consultative Commission (Con-Com) had come up with and submitted to the President were plain and simple recommendations as borne out from their nationwide consultations with the people. Now, if some of our leaders in and out of politics, think that’s the final thing, it’s their indigestion.
The fact is, the whole package, including the transitory provisions drawn up by the Con-Com one of which calls for a no-election scenario by 2007 and extension of terms of present officials to 2010, will still be deliberated in and by Congress. And you know how interminably long and contentious that would be. The chance of the package being approved en toto is like that of a Mayor BSL giving up on the “original design” of the circumferential diversion road in Lucao and just letting the DPWH extend the construction of the road on through Belen Fernandez’s CSI The City Mall “queendom.”
What keeps many pundits wondering is what our very own Speaker Joe de Venecia’s position on the No-El issue really is when the matter is finally thrown into Congress’lap.
As for El Tabako FVR, he’s minced no word about where he stands, to GMA’s utter discomfort. Can – and will – JDV again come up with a “rainbow compromise?”
Behn Fer. Hortaleza Jr.
WE SPOKE too soon and now we may have to eat crow. But we don’t mind – if it’s for the good of the city we all love, Dagupan.
We are referring to the sudden installation of rows of beautiful lights on both sides of the Magsaysay (okay, De Venecia it is) Bridge along Perez Blvd. Just as soon as The Pangasinan Star hit the streets last week, we noticed as we pass by the bridge on our way home in the evening that the lights were ablaze, rivaling those earlier put up at the Quintos bridge obviously in time for the city fiesta celebration.
In this corner last week, you see, we had lamented -- okay now, deplored -- what we felt was the unfair deal given the Perez bridge which was dimly lit, if at all, while Quintos bridge on A.B. Fernandez Avenue had those rather elegant lamp posts delighting and thrilling motorists and pedestrians passing thru. It now appears that lighting of Perez bridge was part of the overall plan after all.
Our kudos to whoever it was at City Hall who decided that if we can’t have sophisticated fiesta celeb activities this year, at least we should have lights on our bridges for nocturnal attraction. Why, not even the ballyhooed Lantern Parade, which we and Vicar Hotel tenants had eagerly rushed out by the hotel’s balcony for to watch while the city was in full blackout mode didn’t even light up a spark among many Dagupeno parade watchers.
It just seems to many frustrated city dwellers now that about the only area where a whiff of fiesta air can be had are at the malls, hardly at the City Hall and environs and much less even at the Pogo Grande house of the hermano mayor himself, Alex de Venecia. For all the lights bedecking the good councilor-fund-raiser’s newly-rented house (try checking this out passing by Pogo Grande at night), “not a soul stirs” ( to borrow a line from the immortal poem T’was the Night Before Christmas – read neighbor columnist Ging Cardinoza’s piece) there most nights, like Santa had left for the North Pole with all his reindeersin tow.
Young tots doing the caroling rounds and trying the house of HM (Hermano Mayor, not His Majesty) swear they only tire their vocal chords out with nary a Santa peering out from there, at least on most night, to dole out presents..
* * * *
Many people seem to forget – or are deliberately ignoring –the fact that what the Consultative Commission (Con-Com) had come up with and submitted to the President were plain and simple recommendations as borne out from their nationwide consultations with the people. Now, if some of our leaders in and out of politics, think that’s the final thing, it’s their indigestion.
The fact is, the whole package, including the transitory provisions drawn up by the Con-Com one of which calls for a no-election scenario by 2007 and extension of terms of present officials to 2010, will still be deliberated in and by Congress. And you know how interminably long and contentious that would be. The chance of the package being approved en toto is like that of a Mayor BSL giving up on the “original design” of the circumferential diversion road in Lucao and just letting the DPWH extend the construction of the road on through Belen Fernandez’s CSI The City Mall “queendom.”
What keeps many pundits wondering is what our very own Speaker Joe de Venecia’s position on the No-El issue really is when the matter is finally thrown into Congress’lap.
As for El Tabako FVR, he’s minced no word about where he stands, to GMA’s utter discomfort. Can – and will – JDV again come up with a “rainbow compromise?”
