Start anti-firecracker campaign early

On this first day of a new year, I wish everybody to be happy and prosperous for the next 364 days.

Among the happiest people this year will be officials of the Quezon City government, especially the councilors. They will have an additional P60 million to play around with. That will come from the garbage fee to be extorted from all QC homeowners beginning this year.

The garbage fee, ranging from P100 to P500, depending on the size of the homeowner’s lot or condominium unit, will have to be paid at the same time as the real estate taxes. Those who don’t pay will be fined 25 percent of the garbage fee plus a 2-percent interest every month, until the fee is fully paid.

Does the QC government need the extra cash? No. QC is the richest city in the Philippines with annual revenues of P13.69 billion.

I am told that the city has a total of P16 billion stashed in the banks.

When the new QC council assumed office, one of the first things it did was to pass an ordinance imposing a “housing tax” on all homeowners. According to the propaganda, the tax will be used to build homes for the city’s squatters. The city has more than enough money to build homes for squatters, but homeowners paid the additional tax anyway thinking that the city government would finally do its duty of protecting their properties so that they can build their own homes on the lots stolen by squatters.

But hundreds of millions of the housing tax has already been collected and the council’s term is already half over but not a single hollow block of the purported housing for squatters has been put in place. What are they doing with all that money?

Now comes the “garbage fee.” Aren’t we already paying taxes to the city government for it to collect garbage? In addition, some barangays already impose a fee for every truckload of garbage collected. Plus the collectors themselves ask the homeowners for some money, especially during this Christmas season. The collectors pass out envelopes that homeowners are supposed to fill with money and to return to them the next time they come to collect garbage. Some garbage trucks have cans on the side in which homeowners, including squatters, are expected to drop coins.

If the QC government is oozing with money why is it imposing more taxes? Ordinarily, citizens are saddled with taxes only when the government is short of funds. But QC is not short of funds. On the contrary, it has plenty of them. So why this greed?

Here is why: I am told—by a former mayor no less—that a percentage of the city’s gross income goes to the councilors as their own pork barrel. The practice was started by his predecessor, and the pork has steadily increased as the city’s income increased. So the bigger the city’s income, the bigger the councilors’ pork. This entices councilors to introduce ordinances imposing more taxes.

At present, each councilor gets at least P40 million in pork every year; it must be more now because the city’s income has risen due to the “housing tax.” It would rise even more because of the garbage fee.

The garbage fee ordinance was sponsored by Councilor Victor Ferrer Jr. of the first district. Remember that name.

But what are the councilors doing with all that pork? QC is relatively well-developed. All its streets are paved. The city is infested with squatters (QC is known as the “squatter capital of the Philippines”), but no councilor has spent a single peso of his pork for squatter housing or to clear privately owned lots and return them to their owners. So where is all that pork going? Multiply P40 million with 22 councilors and you have P880 million of the people’s money going to we don’t know where.

Oh yes, some of it go to those tarpaulins and other signages that periodically pollute the city with messages like “Happy Birthday, Ka Erdie,” “Congratulations, graduates,” “Happy Fiesta,” “Merry Christmas,” “Happy New Year,” etc. They also pay for names of councilors printed with indelible paint on walls, bridges, hollow block fences and waiting sheds.

Oh yes, they also go to the salaries of ghost employees of councilors. At present, two councilors have been sued by former senator Nene Pimentel for having ghost employees.

I pose this question to our officials and our courts: If the pork barrel is unconstitutional for senators and congressmen, why is it being allowed for councilors? Somebody should file a case with the Supreme Court to declare the pork of QC councilors also unconstitutional.

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By the time you read this, the New Year’s Eve revelry will be over and many careless citizens would have lost their fingers or hands, or otherwise injured themselves because of firecrackers. The Department of Health and the police are waging a losing propaganda campaign telling people to refrain from exploding firecrackers. That is like telling the waves to stop at the foot of King Canute.

In the Philippines, New Year’s Eve is not complete without firecrackers. The tradition has been so ingrained in Filipinos that not lighting a firecracker is as hard as not lighting a cigarette.

An indication of the government’s ineffective anti-firecracker campaign is that the number of casualties due to firecrackers has already risen 21 percent—and the New Year madness is still not over as of this writing.

In the first place, the anti-cracker campaign is always late. It is launched during the Christmas season. By that time, the firecrackers, including the mini-bombs that maim and kill, are already made and ready for sale. The campaign should be started early, while the pyrotechnics are still being made. And with a new law imposing stricter regulations on manufacturers.