Braganza and critics' freak show

Seasoned Board Member Alfie Bince

At left is Mayor Nani Braganza's Arch-critic Ruben Morante

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Is seasoned Pangasinan Board Member Alfie Bince suffers political senility?
He sponsored an ordinance in the past that there should be a law that bans motorcycle travel during wee hours up to 4 am.
He said this measure could deter assassins who ride on the two-wheeled bike.
But the Philippine Constitution enunciates the non-impairment of the Right to Travel with the exceptions that Bince’s justifications could not meet – as the killings could be blamed primordially on the police’s incompetence.
The Constitution is superior than any ordinance passed by the lousy rubber stamp August Body the veteran provincial dad serves.
Now Bince and machine gun-mouth BM Ranjit Shahani (estranged cousin of Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza) want to ‘grill’, “grandstand”, or “feast”, on Braganza’s act of using his city funds to bankroll the construction of the Pangasinan State University-Alaminos City.
But Braganza’s lawyer who was quick as a Texan drawer shoots down to smithereens the duo’s scheme.
He said Section 61 (a) of the Local Government Code provides that a complaint against any elective official of a province, a highly urbanized city, an independent component city or component city shall be filed before the Office of the President (OP).
Alaminos is a component city since 2001. It means it’s the OP not the Sangguanian Panlalawigan that has a jurisdiction over whatever grievances filed against the city and her officials.
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Mr. Ruben Morante is now the no. 1 arch critic of Braganza.
But is Morante, owner of PASS College in that western Pangasinan ‘s city, a credible critic?
Morante has been bitching and bellyaching to all and sundry that the PSU’s operations was illegal.
But Nani and his supporters said the Board of Regents (BoR) has already resolved the creation of the college in Alaminos.
“Hindi totoo iyan that BOR has given their okay. There were conditions to be met,” Morante hissed in a radio interview in Dagupan City recently.
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I will not delve on this “he says, I say” exchanges between Braganza et al and Morante.
What I saw here is the mayor constructed this college’s edifices and funded computers so more than a thousand marginalized students could acquire education.
What I saw here is these poor students, with P5000 scholarship every semester from the city, can be accommodated by PSU-Alaminos.
Without PSU, these students could not avail of tertiary education with the said amount.
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Morante is not different from those hypocrites owners of educational institutions in Pangasinan who opposed Braganza’s endeavor.
Their motherhood statements in favor of their schools were all bullshits.
They don’t want a PSU in Alaminos because it gnawed at their market share.
That’s plain and simple greed.
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Thus I doff my hat to Dagupan Mayor Benjie S. Lim who plans to put up a city college in his city.
Alaminos got a Memorandum of Agreement with PSU to share a percentage of the net income from the latter every semester.
Urdaneta City has been reaping tens of millions of pesos of the fruits of her investment in University of Urdaneta.
Mayor Gregorio Amadeo “Bobom” Perez IV told me last week that his city earns P25 million last year alone as net profit that helps Urdaneta soar to “greatness”.
Susmariosep, P25 million is very big amount in Pangasinan for a city to use for its social services especially to the poor.
Mayor Lim should act on this endeavor the soonest. Urdaneta has already eclipsed the Bangus City in revenues in the past years.
Remember, once- lousy city San Carlos City has already her Binalatongan College.
A public college that inculcates what quality education could be a wake-up call for colleges and universities in Dagupan and San Carlos.
Most of them have already been warned by the Commission on Higher Education for closure.
Why? Their graduates in nursing, accountancy and other courses that require government sanctioned board examination could hardly pass even the minimum 14.5 percent passing rate every year for takers.
Stop the diploma mill education!
(You can read my selected intriguing but thought-provoking columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com).