A politician better than others

For the longest time the Cabanatuan City District Jail (CCDJ) has been grappling with the problem of congestion. Thus the offer of Nueva Ecija’s third district Rep. Ria Vergara to extend financial assistance to 250 (at most) deserving CCDJ inmates who do not have the money to post bail was most welcome.

Vergara made the offer in her visit to the CCDJ during this year’s observance of National Correctional Consciousness Week, after seeing the conditions inside the district jail. This benevolent and altruistic gesture of Vergara, to be sure, will not only decongest the CCDJ; it will also allow deserving beneficiaries to reunite with their families, even if temporarily and, more importantly, prove to society they are not beyond reform. But repeat offenders are excluded from the program.

Notably, in her maiden privilege speech in Congress, Vergara, a Harvard-trained businesswoman-turned-politician, announced that she was filing a bill which will mandate the Government Service Insurance System to grant free insurance coverage and pension to barangay officials. Given the risks barangay officials are exposed to in the performance of their functions, they should be entitled to these benefits, she added.

Also, her husband Jay Vergara, the mayor of Cabanatuan City, has bared a list of the congresswoman’s school building projects for her district, which is composed of the cities of Cabanatuan and Palayan and the municipalities of Bongabon, Gabaldon, Laur, Natividad and Sta. Rosa.

We are eager to see, within the most practicable time, these offers and assurances turn into promises fulfilled.

PRUDENCIO E. MAGPAYO, Cabanatuan City