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What If Rosette Wins Antonio M. Reyes

By Antonio M. Reyes

Most political pundits in the city are wondering what would happen if former Governor Rosette Yñiquez Lerias beats incumbent Mayor Maloney Samaco.

For starters she could be the only political oppositionist at city hall; and with a hostile city council she would have trouble making any significant changes in the city government’s priorities. But even if she was charming enough to convince the “honorables” there to pass an ordinance she authored it would still have to be approved by a provincial board headed by an equally hostile vice governor.

In short she cannot govern effectively or get anything significant done. Yet she could turn this situation to her advantage. For with nothing to do she would have all the time in the world to campaign for the position she really wants – the governorship of Southern Leyte.

Her situation would be similar to Liberal Party Congressman Diosdado Macapagal who was elected Vice president in a Nationalista Party dominated administration headed by President Carlos P. Garcia. For having nothing to do all that Dadong did during his four years in office was to campaign for the presidency which he eventually won. This is the situation Lerias would face if she becomes city mayor.

However if she really wants to project herself as a worthy candidate for governor in 2013, she will have to formulate a program of governance that is better than her opponents. She could start by treating the members of the Fourth Estate a little more decently.

I’ve said it before, but will say it again. The former governor should replace her current advisor with someone who actually likes people and understands that politics is addition and not the other way around.

PNP Must Arrest Mentor’s Killer

Last March 31 at around midnight an intruder entered the house of 63 year old Petra Manlupig Pongase, a teacher at the San Rafael Elementary School, forced open her bedroom door and beat her senseless before strangling her to death. An autopsy later confirmed she had been sexually violated. It was the most brutal crime ever recorded in the city’s history.

Well it’s been 15 days since that bloody incident and the City PNP doesn’t seem to have the slightest clue (yet) as to who the killer, or killers might be. When our reporter Angie Book spoke with SPO3 Rolando Paloma, who heads the investigating team, he said they had a suspect but had released him for lack of evidence.

If this is the kind of law enforcers we have - then we really have something to worry about. For two obvious things stand out in this case. The first is that the victim knew the killer, and that’s why he killed her. And secondly the killer left physical evidences which must have had the killers fingerprints all over it.

When we interviewed a family member of Miss Pongase he said they were planning to ask the National Bureau of Investigation for assistance because of the city PNP teams mishandling of the case.

“If they still have the physical evidences found in the crime scene, and had examined them for fingerprints, all they had to do was round-up the usual suspects and check if their fingerprints matched those on the evidence,” he lamented.

We are alarmed by the nonchalant manner in which our city police force has conducted its investigation of this most heinuous crime.

We are concerned because we have experienced the city PNP’s lack of investigative skills first-hand in its handling of the strafing of the Southern Leyte Times Editorial office in December 2008. It’s been 16 months since that first violent attack on a member of the Fourth Estate in the province and we still haven’t received their findings on the shooting.

If the Department of Local Government cannot upgrade its police force or provide it with a crime laboratory for drug, ballistics and fingerprinting tests - then it should admit its useless and close shop.

The City Council must take the Pongase robbery-murder case seriously and investigate this latest affront to Maasinhons who deserve better law enforcement.