In a whiff

The anticipation, excitement and anxiety during the election last Monday and the speed with which the results rumbled into the canvassing centers have made people ignore some important developments that augur well for Occidental Negros.

The most critical and most controversial issue that plagued this province since it was established breezed through with a whiff at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan session of May 15.

The whifflers were clearly understandably silent.

Two days after the elections and when the votes indicated a landslide mandate for Governor Alfredo Marañon  Jr., the SP approved the provincial budget on second reading without any opposition. It was a kind of action we all missed

It was phenomenal, considering the heartaches, acrimonies and bitterness that accompanied its journey in the SP since the last quarter of 2012. The unprecedented behavior of the SP members emerged drastically into a mindless partisanship when the Nationalist People’s Coalition unceremoniously decided to junk Marañon in favor of Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez to run for governor.

The Second Reading is the most crucial phase of the legislative mill. When a bill or proposal is submitted, it passes the First Reading where the recommended measure is recorded and numbered for consideration by the legislators, or in the case of local governments, by the Sanggunian. 

Once it completes its journey in the committees where it is first discussed and fine-tuned, it goes to the Second Reading for debate by the whole house. This phase is crucial because it can lead to amendments or filibustered to death. When it passes through the Second Reading, the proposal is as good as approved.

The last phase is the ministerial ceremonial Third Reading and final approval.

The budget for 2013 went through the gauntlet as it was blocked by a series of demands that it had to go back to the committees although it had already hurdled that phase. The opposition to the budget, all allies of Alvarez saw to it that the province will have no new appropriation but to live on its re-enacted budget.

If not for the new items in the 2013 budget that involved the benefits of the employees and new projects, the government could have limped along.

This time the budget passed through with nary a word of opposition even from the most vociferous ones. The impact of the strong feedbacks from the people as shown in the votes for Marañon, must have sobered the opposition that is without a leader for the moment.

The vice governor-elect, Eugenio Jose Lacson extended a hand of cooperation to the governor. This promises to smooth over the governance of the province. The bickering of the past months should be set aside because there are many projects that had hung due to the inaction of the SP.

There is the Cyber Center that must be finished as early as possible because locators cannot wait. The SP must realize that the competition for call centers is very stiff. Thousands of jobs are waiting and if we want to help ease the burden of poverty, time is of the essence.

This is a reality that the majority in the SP failed or refused to admit or knowing it to be so blocked the project to serve their political interests.

The classroom congestion at the Occidental Negros High School could have been avoided had the SP acted on the requirements that would have allowed the continuation of the project, but they did not heed the call of the students, the faculty and the alumni.

The hospital in Sipalay was inaugurated with much hope within the area, but without a budget it could not operate. Have lives been lost because of the SP inaction? I hope not, but we know that a hospital within easy access to the patients and their families will help greatly in easing the pains, anxieties and problems of illness.

The anger and frustration of those who could have been benefited by these projects rallied the people behind Marañon and they spoke with a loud and strong voice of support for him.

There were talks during the elections that people can be mollified with sufficient funding. It now appears that when a solid issue is concerned, people vote intelligently.

However, Bacolod is different. Lots of money bought the elections for some though, by and large, it is not so. The election results in the city show this. The results are good subjects for study.

I hope the new SP members learn from what happened during the last five months.

The opposition media went beyond decency and reason due to the weakness of issues. They were counter-productive.*

back to top