Some people here has commented that the city executive receives jueteng payola to the tune of a million pesos per month. (This payola can not be verified but it is the loudest whisper and that money also benefits the police chiefs, provincial director some cops in the police provincial headquarters. Hey, years, ago, when the blogger was assigned in La Union, the grapevine was saying that that a regional police director--was it Pedro Cuadra?-- was receiving a million peso a month so he could shut his mouth on the illegal numbers game). And this is the reason the city executive and his wife are running in tandem as Mayor (wife) and Vice-Mayor respectively in the May polls? So husband and wife shall enjoy all the jueteng goodies and other perks that Roger enjoyed when he was the city executive? Shame on them, said a barber who cut my hair several days ago. Some intellectuals are condemning the husband and wife team for their apparent gargantuan greediness.
So whom shall we vote in the polls? asked a relative.
Michael Keon, if he is running for City Mayor, the blogger said. His cousin Imee the governor has reportedly endorsed the city executive in his vice-mayoral bid. A political act that does not sit well with the city's observers and homespun philosophers like the blogger kano kampay idi. Can we speak here of decency and right thinking? How about the adage that blood is thicker than water? Does Imee, who does not speak Ilokano fluently, need endorsement for the Laoag City votes in her reelection bid?
(After what was said here, MK has reportedly joined the MF bandwagon, perhaps for some favors in the future? Adu ti nadismaya, kuna ti lalaki a nalaing nga uminom iti gin, nga agbarbartek iti maysa a tianggi.)
Jueteng is in the heart of our moral construct. It has ruined our perception of what is right or wrong. It has made a few people rich beyond their expectations, wallowing in wealth while more than 50 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. MF lives in comfort in his mansion while the poor and the downtrodden in Laoag, especially those living along the river bank, live in ramshackles, smelly and dirty environment. The city in the fringes smell of dog droppings and human feces, the city streets, even in the market area, are stinking. And that public market is a stinking place but the vendors and seller of bananas, lana (coconut oil) earn an honest living. Has Michael F visited the ground floor? Or the Muslim area and the city's dumping place nearby? And the dirty Padsan river that has become a toilet for many people? No doubt he has visited Singapore, the 6th wealthiest nation in the planet. Did he learn anything about the use of public money--and his jueteng payola is public money--so, if he did, he could make the blogger's city the envy of all Philippine cities?
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