Law Makers & Law Breakers

Several weeks ago we published a complaint from a reader who claimed some city elected officials were flouting the law by using license plates with their designation on them. Since we have seen the car plates ourselves we are requesting the officials concerned to please remove them so people will know they are not above the law.

Misinformation is Harmful

If the glowing reports of the various government entities here are accurate; then why are we still wallowing in poverty? A perfect example of this misinformation is the National Irrigation Administration’s (NIA) claim that it has irrigated 90 percent of the agricultural lands in Southern Leyte. Anyone who has agricultural property here will tell you that their main problem is lack of irrigation.

Councilor Charged with Rape

The first councilor of an upland barangay who has been accused of raping a minor has been endorsed by the City Prosecutor’s Office to the Regional Trial Court’s Branch 24 headed by Presiding Judge Bethany Kapili. The complaint affidavit of the alleged victim’s lawyer has charged the accused with 30 counts of rape. We contacted both the City and Provincial DILG offices for comments on the case but were told they were still reviewing the complaint (Whatever that means).

Our Top Tourist Attraction

Maasin’s tourism czar Willy Justimbaste should save city taxpayers money by junking his plan to launch an expensive advertisement campaign highlighting our city’s tourist attractions. There are too few of them and they pale in comparison to those of Bohol or even Cebu.

Most of the visitors who come here are scuba divers and there are no good dive sites in the city. The tourists he could probably target are the Dirty Old Men (DOM) who come here looking for easy women with bad habits. These poor souls may be easy, but they usually end up with all their partner’s money, which they invest wisely. They are our modern day Joan of Arcs who offer their body and soul for God, Country and Southern Leyte.

Garbage Galore

We’ve just received some shocking photos from the Return Green Movement’s Nelson Enojo of a pond in barangay Combado that was filled with garbage thrown there by irresponsible people living nearby. Whatever happened to the garbage receptacles that were given to the city by our congressman? How can we attract tourists here if we use our waterways as garbage dumps?

He also claims that the Combado dumpsite scavengers who earned their living by selling the reusable items they found there are now out of business because the garbage collectors are setting these refuse aside for themselves. Enojo also sent us a photo of the city paper crushing machine which is lying idle and rusting away beside city Hall. It took courage to expose these oversights because Enojo is a city employee. We need more men like him in public service.

Poor Mango Seedlings

He also showed us a photo of the dried-up mango seedlings dying of thirst beside the City’s Office of General Services.

Congressman Roger Mercado spent a lot of time and money for our tree planting program and these seedlings were just left to die of benign neglect. Since City Administrator Feorillo Demeterio probably doesn’t know about this we are reminding him that the OGS employee who was supposed to plant these trees around the city didn’t do his job.

Fatal Motorcycle Accidents

The body count of motorcycle related deaths is awesome. Over the past few months it has caused the death of a town councilor, a barangay captain, an elementary school principal, 2 former PNP officers and 2 engineers. Many of these deaths could have been prevented if the fatalities had worn crash helmets. Isn’t it about time we imposed the crash helmet law in Southern Leyte?

Let’s Legalize Masiao

Since our government cannot provide employment for the millions of our countrymen who want to work but can’t find jobs, why don’t we just allow the gambling syndicates in the country to operate hassle-free. For according to former President Joseph Estrada illegal betting games like Masiao and Jueteng are providing over a million jobs for the otherwise unemployed each year. He says these syndicates provide more job opportunities than our huge government bureaucracy. This makes sense, doesn’t it?

Outstanding Southern Leytenos

The provincial official responsible for selecting Outstanding Southern Leytenos annually should review their implementing guidelines. One such regulation that needs to be analyzed is the requirement that nominees be “natural Born Southern Leytenos.”

A ZOOMLENS reader has noticed that many awardees are no longer even Filipino citizens and have pledged allegiance to the flag of another nation. He wants to know why Filipino citizens from other provinces in the Philippines who have decided to live in Southern Leyte are automatically disqualified from being chosen for the award?

Best Tourism Advertisement

We are glad to hear that our hard working Mayor Maloney Samaco has included tourism development among his 13 Point Agenda for fast tracking the city’s development. We believe however that advertising our tourist spots is not what we need the most - but efficient law enforcement. For no matter how beautiful our city is people won’t come here if they don’t feel safe.

Our police force lacks training in basic crime prevention and investigation techniques. Its vehicles are seldom used to patrol our city streets because they lack fuel and have to escort motorcades for a full tank of gasoline. They also need a crime laboratory for drug and ballistic testing so they won’t have to rely on the Palo crime lab in Tacloban City. Bullets for target practice would also help them considerably.

Our Girl Scouts Need Help

One of the most relevant organizations in the country is the Girls Scouts of the Philippines. But like most voluntary entities it needs funds to achieve its goal of instilling in our young women the values of honesty, prudence, enterprise, punctuality and love of country. Concerned Southern Leytenos here and abroad who want to help sustain the GSP movement in the province may send their donations straight to the GSP Southern Leyte Council’s Savings Account number 6130089863 at the Banko De Oro branch in Maasin City, Southern Leyte.

Death Traps

ZOOMLENS is happy to see so many road maintenance projects in the province. However many don’t have signs warning motorists of the construction work being done. This could cause serious accidents specially during the night when they can barely be seen. We are therefore requesting District Engineer Joselito Veloso to do something about this road hazard.

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