“Rep . Treñas,” anyone?

by Pet Melliza, from the Bee Keeper

NEXT year or before the 2010 elections, the law dividing the lone congressional district of Iloilo City to two might have been passed. With that, each district will have a representative to the Lower House and eight regular members to the city legislature, on top of the liga ng sangguniang kabataan and liga ng barangay presidents who represent their respective sectors at the city council.

If the proponents for re-districting were to have their way, the incumbent lone district Rep. Raul Gonzdalez, Jr. and outgoing Mayor Jerry Treñas will not be clashing to the benefit of city residents because two congressmen means two pork barrels, and two pork barrels means more money to be plowed to Iloilo City to make its people happier and more prosperous.

Cute dream. The redistricting has a single aim: accommodate Trenas who stands to be routed in a collision with the yonger Gonzalez. Jerry Mandering is happening in other parts of the country, too.

More pork, more projects, more progress? That could be true if Treñas can perform as the incumbent does or the latter’s father and predecessor, now justice secretary Raul Gonzalez.

In his three straight terms, nine years in office, Treñas can show a lot of achievements, if achievements they are. His biggest is to condemn Ilonggos to a debt trap his next successor may not yet extricate them from in three years. Treñas’s first act in office is to coddle ABE Builders, the errant contractor at the center wind of the scam known as “Pavia Housing Scandal.” (Pavia mayor, Cadio Gorriceta objects to the use of the name of his town because what is involved is the P135-million from the low-cost housing for city employees lost in the grand thievery involving city, not Pavia, officials.). City taxpayers bleed P17,000 daily paying the interests alone of the loan which did not benefit them, to begin with.

Treñas still has the nerve to litter the city with tarpaulin streamers screaming the slogan “Bangon, Iloilo. Masarangan ta Ini!”. The message means, “Ilonggos Rise, We Can Make It,” but Treñas whose face grins from ear to ear in each of the streamers, gives the impression they are mantras having the power to rebuild lives in the aftermath of the tragedies wrought by typhoon Frank on June 21-22.

Such simplistic response to emergencies shows the mettle of the man who has been mediocre all these eight years.

Treñas made his debut, hours after assuming his first term, by releasing P16 million, to ABE Builders when the contractor had not yet started working. Trenas continued to faithfully pay it like a blind donkey without inspecting if the latter were performing accordingly.

He still continued to raid the city coffers paying the erring contractor even after he learned that the housing units it was erecting were substandard and did not meet specifications.

He still continued paying even after Kgd. Antonio Pesina in 2002 exposed the rat in a privilege speech. Treñas still persisted treating the delinquent contractor with kids gloves and pampering it with prompt payments even though the investigating committee led by now Rep. Gonzalez Jr. came up with a report recommending the rescission of the contract and demanding damages from ABE Builders, and filing charges against those involved.

Treñas still continued to pay the mischievous contractor despite warnings from Atty. Virginia Santiago, Western Visayas director of the Office of the Ombudsman. He blew the chances of Ilonggos to get back at the erring contractor because he let it go instead of squeezing its neck. The city government has the power to bring the contractor to its knees by confiscating its surety and performance bonds, but Treñas let it go. Now, he is regaling us again of his “visions” when he becomes congressman..

He lulls us to sleep with his song of Iloilo City grabbing from Cebu the title “queen city of the south.” It’s under his watch when Iloilo City slid down to the bottom of mid-sized cities in competitiveness. It’s not even in the top seven of the list. It lags behind Cabanatuan, General Santos, Lucena, Olongapo, San Pablo, Tagum and Tarlac, according to the study by the Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project (PCCRP) in 2007.