Performance

An Email was forwarded to me last week that gives us another voice on the political rivalry in Occidental Negros. I will quote him verbatim but refrain from mentioning his name. He is from the 6th district. The words inside the parenthesis and the quotation marks are mine for purposes of clarification or identification.

“Hello. Your column today (11/20-12) entitled “Get the Engineers” is something that I won’t pass without making some comments.

“The actuation of Alvarez (Genaro) now over Marañon’s (Alfredo) ongoing projects, having been approved by the SP which he (Alvarez) is heading, has reminded me of several traditional politicians in our country who are not confident of themselves to win in the election.

“In the case of Lim-ao, I think he is doing everything dirty even to the point of twisting the truth. The more he will do this, the more he is digging his own political grave.

“I have nothing personal against Alvarez and in the same way I have nothing special for Marañon. I am just a realistic Negrense voter and to me, a much clearer guide to all voters in the province this coming election is by comparison about the past performance of both and how their respective political turf and how their respective political territory is compared to others.

“That being said, let us compare the two quickly. Sagay in the north is for Marañon and Ilog in the south goes to Alvarez. When was the last time you have been to Ilog and Sagay? I have visited both places recently as I traveled oftentimes as part of my work. Ilog is just like a river so exploited and so abused. There’s nothing special in this place. Its Municipal Hall has exhibited a very ordinary picture which anyone can immediately conclude of this place being poorly managed.

“Now let’s move on to Sagay. I will leave the answer to all our readers.

“(I) hope this will be a good guide to everyone who between Alvarez and Marañon deserves to become a provincial father to us. Thank you and may you have more strength to continue with your craft! God bless!”

The letter speaks quite frankly and to the point. Indeed, we must take a good look at the performance of the two candidates. Our letter writer needed no lengthy description of Sagay. I had not been there for almost ten years though friends tell me of the great strides that city has achieved since the Marañons were voted into office, starting with Governor Alfredo Marañon when he became mayor of the town and transformed it into such a progressive town that he nurtured it into one of the most developed cities in the Island of Negros and recognized in several international citations.

I will not compare Ilog and Sagay. Their state speaks for themselves. What Ilog is and what Sagay is need no comment. But what we need to compare is the competence of Marañon and Alvarez as public servants, more specifically as executives because they are vying for the top executive positions in the province.

The achievements of Marañon speak for themselves and they are legion that can stand any scrutiny here and anywhere.

But what about Alvarez, what has he done to deserve the post of governor? What are his credentials to present to the people of this province that he deserves to be elected? He should be better than Marañon. A challenger must always present a better alternative. Short of that is baloney and Alvarez has the duty to present to us his credentials to guide us that he can manage the affairs of the province better than Marañon and that as an executive in public office, he has and can overmatch Marañon.

So far his minions on radio and in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan are engaged in nothing but demolition of Marañon, blocking his projects and in effect,  obstructing the progress of the province and the delivery of such basic needs as classrooms on flimsy and inane justification that can make a trisikad driver a better member of the SP. I shall deal with these “justifications” in due time, but off hand their logic is so poor that I think they should ask someone to help them out.

Alvarez has spent over the last 15 years in elective positions. Instead of lambasting Marañon ad nauseam, how about his minions changing topics and telling us what Alvarez has done for his district during these terms? If he has done something worthwhile, surely they are worthwhile talking about.

Alvarez should stand on his merits; others are saying he has really nothing to show. The only reason for his candidacy is that he was ordered to run to spite Marañon and that serves a higher dictation and money.*

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