I THANK MR. GREGORIO T. BANACIA, OF Quezon City?s Public Affairs and Information Services Office, for his letter ?QC gov?t doing best to serve all sectors,? (Inquirer, 10/30/09), a rejoinder to my letter ?City richest in income, poor in basic services.? (Inquirer, 10/16/09)

But he missed the main point when he enumerated the list of infrastructure projects under the administration of Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. The main point I raised was?and still is?inadequate basic services for Quezon City residents. May I emphasize that infrastructure is not the real gauge of effective and successful governance. In this regard, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos led the pack because of their ?edifice complex.?

Given the fact that Mayor Belmonte and City Treasurer Victor Endriga have repeatedly claimed and proclaimed that QC is the richest city in the Philippines, I see no reason why the local government cannot afford to meet the basic needs of their constituents.

Just compare QC with Makati whose teachers, schoolchildren, senior citizens, urban poor and other sectors receive numerous forms of help and support from their local government so much so that a number of QC residents have tried to establish residence in Makati in order to qualify for those benefits.

To be specific, Makati pupils and students get free bags, school uniforms, books, notebooks and other classroom paraphernalia. Senior citizens receive gifts on their birthdays, aside from other year-round perks and benefits. The poor and marginalized get free hospitalization and other forms of medical and dental treatment. The list goes on and on.



Since Mr. Banacia made mention of school buildings, may we ask the QC officials to look into questionable construction projects funded by the local government and the school board under the Special Education Fund Act (Republic Act 5447)? Take the concrete fence of North Fairview Elementary School which collapsed due to the absence of or inadequacy of reinforcement steelbars. There are only two toilets for a four-storey SB building in Bago Bantay Elementary School, and the San Antonio Antonio Elementary School has a substandard steel gate. There are many more such projects. How do I know these? I saw some of them; the others were reported to me by teacher-leaders.

Can QC?s officials muster the political will to have these things investigated even as they look into the proliferation of political billboards, posters and streamers made of expensive tarpaulin and tin plates nailed to electric posts and trees. ?Clever? politicians resort to this scheme by masquerading these political gimmicks as greetings and reminders.

By the way, thanks to Ms Frederika Rentoy, chief of QC?s Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department, for e-mailing a reply concerning garbage collection in my beloved city.

?EUSEBIO S, SAN DIEGO

Founder, Kapisanan ng mga Gurong Retirado (KAGURO)

and former president, Quezon City Public School Teachers Association

essandiego@ymail.com