Perez still tough on Litter Bugs

Urdaneta City Mayor Bobom Perez

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA 

URDANETA CITY, Pangasinan – The thing that makes this burgeoning city a cut from its contemporaries in Region 1 is its uncompromising stance against people caught throwing a litter.
Mayor Amadeo Gregorio E. Perez IV said the ordinance he signed into law that metes a P500 fine upon assumption as the top executive here in 2010 will still be implemented even if he has an opponent in this year election.
Although the fine is hefty to an ordinary violator, the no-nonsense anti-littering drive of Perez has been a pride of the people here whose city has been receiving plaudits from outsiders.
 The mayor said that his by the book passion to rule and order has been tested again after he upbraided vendors from Calasiao town who recklessly put their stalls and block the entrance of the city gym. “I asked them to leave the place where they put their wares. They have been blocking the door of the gym. Where is the order for that?” he posed.
 Perez just nodded his head in agreement that newly installed Lingayen Mayor Edith Hallare wants to emulate the vaunted cleanliness drive of his city.
 A year after this city’s anti-litter campaign gained raves and waves, neighboring town Villasis under Mayor Libradita G. Abrenica replicated it.
 Perez said that even if he has an opponent in this year’s election, his toughness against those who violate the Anti-Littering Ordinance of the city would still have the same intensity.
 Meanwhile, Perez deplored the complaint by a part time professor of this city’s owned Urdaneta City University about his non- receipt of his 13th month pay in December last year.
 The mayor wondered how he can ask for a 13th month pay when recipient for it are those who are employed in the private sector.
 He said that government workers are given Christmas bonus.
The Labor Code of the Philippines requires all private sector employers to pay their rank-and-file employees a 13th month pay regardless of their position, designation, or employment status irrespective of the method by which their wages are paid, provided they have worked for at least one month during a calendar year. “That ignorance can be likened to a city hall employee who did not attend the flag ceremony. He was heard whining to all who care to listen to him that my administration will collect all the Christmas bonuses and sent them as financial assistance to the people in Compostela Valley who were struck by flood there. He said if that employee attended the flag ceremony he would know that his bonus remains intact for him.