Mayor, VM, Dads pocket part of Loans

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Since former Police Four-Star General and Zambales Governor Hermogenes “Jun” Ebdane Jr was indicted on graft and usurpation of authority or official functions for allegedly issuing a mining permit beyond his mandate by the Ombudsman, allow me to give you a glimpse of our conversation in 2010 when I attended his inauguration as the new governor of Zambales on that year.
GOVERNOR: Kamusta si (General) Rey (Velasco)?
ME: Natalo sa mayoralty reelection niya, sir. Pero sabi niya sa akin pang presidente daw ang gastos niyo noong tinalo ninyo si Gov. Amor Deloso (of Zambales, used to be well-entrenched politician).
GOVERNOR: (Affronted). No love lost with me and Rey! Alam mo ba ng dahil sa kanya nag-away kami ni General (Renato) de Villa sa likod ng Malacanang?
ME; Bakit naman sir?
GOVERNOR: E gusto niyang mag Chief PNP (Philippine National Police) si Rey (PMA Class ‘71), e mas senior ako (PMA Class ’70). Minura niya ako “p*tang ina mo habang ako ang Executive Secretary ni presidente (President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo), hindi ka maging Chief PNP!”
ME: Pero naging PNP Chief naman kayo, sir? Sabi nga ni General Rey sa akin, ang masakit sa kanya hindi iyong tinalo siya ni Mayor (Carlito) Zaplan sa pagiging mayor ng Sta. Barbara (Pangasinan) but noong hindi niya nakuha ang pagiging Chief PNP.
GOVERNOR: Nandito pa iyong mga recibo ng binayad ni Rey (deputy chief PNP then) sa mga newspapers at media para sira-an ako. Pero mabait ang Dios, na heart attack si De Villa. Si (General) Ermita ang pumalit na Executive Secretary, boss ko dati, kaya ako ang naging Chief PNP!
(Ebdane,after becoming chief of the powerful police force , became Defense Secretary (where I asked him in our meeting in Zambales on the Israel U.S made Bell Cobra attack helicopters the Philippines would be buying), and the very lucrative Secretary of the Department of Public Works & Highway.
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Warrant of arrest looms to the many former and present Binmaley, Pangasinan’s Councillors dahil sila ay nakasuhan ng criminal case na Usurpation of Authority or Official Function.
Dahil sa kagustuhan nilang ma –railroad ang P50 million loans sa Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), na uutangin ng dating Mayor Lorenzo Cerezo, they elected a Presiding Officer after Vice Mayor Pete Merrera adjourned the session in connection with Councillors Jovito Castro and Edgar Mamenta motion to postpone the deliberation of the loan since it lacked some documents to back it.
Ano ba ang meron sa loans at atat-atat itong mga konsehal na ito to the extent na pag huhulihin na sila ng police o National Bureau of Investigation after their motion for reconsideration to dismiss the criminal case was rejected recently by the Ombudsman?
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Isang mayor ng First Class Town told me how he dealt with the opposition controlled Sangguniang Bayan when he planned to borrow tens of millions of pesos of loans sa government bank for an ambitious project. In an informal meeting with the members of the legislative body inside a strip- tease bar he told them that each of them will have an average of half-a-million pesos after they approved the loan in the next session of the August Chamber.

“Iyan ang kalakaran sa loan, iyong mga lintek na mga konsehales at vice mayor kunwari opo-oposisyon iyan, pero pag pera na ang pinag-usapan kinakain na ang prinsipyo at kinabukasan ng bayan,” he told me.

These corrupt rubber stamp sons of a gun succumbed. They did not give a damn that their action undermined the town’s social programs like education, health care, reproductive health, nutrition, early childcare, social welfare, low cost water supply, sanitation, and others as the taxpayers and the town pay millions of pesos a year amortization to the bank.
“Alam mo Mortz, diyan sa loan, 20 percent ang S.O.P (slang for cut) ng mayor, pero pag siya ang may ari ng construction firm hanggang 50 percent ng pera sa loan diretso sa bulsa niya.,” ani ng alkalde.
And I’m not yet elaborating here what a young City Councillor in Dagupan told me years ago over a bottle of Johnny Walker whiskey he treated us that in case then Mayor Benjie S. Lim asked them to convert in a resolution the hectares of land bought by SM Prime Holdings (SMPH), the Henry Sy owned corporation, from agricultural to commercial they will allegedly receive P3 million each from SMPH as grease money.
(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too attotomortz@yahoo.com)