Province scandalize by galls of Mayor Camacho

              For allowing peryahan, destroying school wall, and alleged P2.8M pay off

                                                          By Mortz C. Ortigoza

BAYAMBANG  –  Many Pangasinenses have been scandalized and outraged by the audacity of  this town mayor for allowing the destruction of the western side concrete wall of the public school here to pave for a peryahan (fair) in consideration of an alleged bribed of P2.8 Million.

Bayambang Mayor Ric Camacho (R) poses for posterity with Senator Ferdinand
Marcos, Jr. at the latter office in the House of Senate.

Former Philippine National Police’s chief Arturo Lomibao could not hide his disgust to what Mayor Ricardo Camacho and Magsaysay Barangay Chair Avelino Junio had done when  they allowed Marietta V. Lo, operation manager of Baratillo and Amusement, to hold a fair inside the legally disputed Bayambang Central School (BCS).

 “This is too much. It is a crime against parents, teachers and school children. If this is indeed the property of the school and the act appears to be patently illegal, then DepEd (Department of Education) should strongly support the case filed in the Ombudsman (by the members of the Parents Teachers Association of BCS),” Lomibao, a resident of Mangaldan town, commented last March 5 at social media’s  FaceBook (FB).

Abono Party-List Chair Rosendo So posted at FB by accusing the powers –that- be here as recipient of the alleged bribe to accommodate the betting games that front as wholesome fair.

The controversial demolished concrete wall of the Bayambang Central
School.

“Iyong peryahan P2.8M (million) a year bigay sa mayor na hindi pumapasok sa municipality,” So, a resident of Rosales town, said in his March 4 comment.

 

BCS Parents Teacher Association’s President Filipinas Alcantara could not hide her disgust at the Social Media by rapping the Camacho Administration when it abetted the destruction of the BCS.

“Naloko na! Iyon ba  (ang) gusto nila ? Sirain na ng tuluyan ang BCS. Masamang tao na lang ang sisira ng kinabukasan ng mga bata”.

News man Brando Cortez, a resident of Tarlac province,  ridiculed the fair of Camacho and Lo by his following rhythmic broadside:  “Perahan iyan, hindi peryahan ha ha ha!”

The acrimony here ensued when Lo destroyed recently a portion of the concrete wall of BCS to accommodate the truck that carried the materials for the building of the fair.

When PTA’s members led by Alcantara protested the  intrusion of Lo  and the damaged her people had done to the wall, Barangay Chair  Junio castigated Alcantara in front of her members for  blocking the  movements of the staff of Baratillo and Amusement to do their job.

The truck of the peryahan that the owner forcibly
intrude at the public school by destroying the concrete wall so the
fair can be built inside the school premises.Peryahan in Pangasinan
 front for gambling thanks but no thanks to the intercessions of the
 powers-that- be.

Alcantara smarted to Junio that  after they have repaired, cleaned, and spruced up through painting many rooms and building of the school that were gutted by fire in 2012 and allowed by the local government here to be pillaged, the fair and the influx of its patrons would messed up the premises again.

So and former Pangasinan Congressman Mark Cojuangco donated last year  P400 thousand and P1 million, respectively, for the immediate repair of the BCS where doors, ceilings, iron grills, black boards, chairs, and other parts of the building were vandalized and robbed with impunity by thieves because the Dep Ed and the Camacho administration did not provide a security.

Some senators and congressmen gave sums and materials too at the BCS.

 Camacho and Junio, according to Alcantara, gave a mayor’s and business permits to hold a fair from March 2 to April 30 this year.

Observers of fairs in Pangasinan however said these amusements cum gambling front usually last for a year as practiced in many towns and cities in the province.

They said fairs are illegal source of income of the mayors and the police.

Many cause oriented groups have been assailing the proliferation of peryahans in the 3 million populated Pangasinan for the illegal activities they offer like the colour games’ drop balls , kara-cross, cards, and others that  duped the public specially school children of their hard earned monies. BCS is a neighbor of Pangasinan State University where thousands of college students are enrolled.

 

Because of the encroachment and damaged done to government property by Lo, Alcantara will be filing an administrative and criminal cases against her, Camacho, Junio, and others at the Ombudsman.

In November 2014, Alcantara criminally sued Camacho and others at the Ombudsman for dragging this town to enter in a grossly disadvantageous contract in swapping the BCS to the building of businessman Willy Chua in the nearby village.

She also administratively charged at the same government body on that date Camacho et al with gross negligence when he “transferred the school with undue haste and without notice or consultation with the DepEd".

Abono Party-list Chair So said the deal is lopsided against the government where  the 2.5 hectares of  Chua’s property has a zonal valuation (ZV) of  P435 per square meter (PSM) or P8.9 million only versus the 3.1 hectares BCS with a ZV of P4,600 PSM  or P142 million according to  the  Bureau of Internal Revenue in Calasiao, Pangasinan.

The BCS is enmeshed with controversy after it was allegedly burned by some enterprising individuals to pave for the construction of a mall, bus terminal, and others. The 2000 students there have been forcibly transferred to Chua’s edifice through a mandamus requested by Camacho at the Regional Trial Court in San Carlos City.

Camacho reasoned that the BCS has been endangered with flooding and malaria brought by the mosquitoes there. Alcantara and the PTA members disagreed on these while they gripped that the property of Chua cost additional fares to the school children.

Lately, photos of the impending dangers brought by crack concrete ceilings and concrete walls, and floor tiles have been circulating at the internet and newspapers because of haphazard and slipshod construction done by Chua to speedily accommodate the school children.