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Saturday, October 23, 2004
Sienes: No reason for Librado and del Rosario to quarrel
By Cris G. Sienes
Different Strokes
'TFD was organized and assigned here to beef up security and to help preserve peace and order in the city.'
NO OVERTIME POLICY WILL AFFECT LOW INCOME EARNERS. It is no secret that the rank-and-file, the low-income earners in the government service, receive very low pay. Their take-home pay cannot even take them home sometimes. Somehow the Salary Standardization Law, which was supposed to raise their salaries to sufficient levels, has not done them justice.
The only way for low-income earners in the government service to augment their meager incomes is to do overtime work. The extra earnings they get from doing overtime work have greatly helped them in meeting their basic needs.
Now, however, they will no longer be able to earn extra income from overtime work. The government has scrapped overtime pay due to the fiscal crisis, which has hit the country hard.
With prices of basic commodities and just about everything steadily going up like mad because of the never-ending oil price increases, it remains to be seen whether or not the small people in the government service will be able to make both ends meet. Salary increases are not forthcoming.
The rank-and-file in the government service had nothing to do with the fiscal crisis, which has stunned the country. So why take it on them by depriving them of their only means of augmenting their meager salaries? This is cruelty pure and simple.
THE 4-DAY WORKWEEK. The four-day workweek for city government employees being proposed by some city councilors is timely and topical. Both the city government and the city government employees need breathers from the fiscal crisis, which has brought about untold hardships.
With a four-day workweek, the city government can save on power and water. City government employees, on the other hand, can save on transport fares and food. Too, they will have more time to be with their families at home.
The four-day workweek proposal, however, is not something new. We tried it before at our DSWD field office in the city. The result? It worked smoothly, although a number of employees chose to stick to their regular schedules or observe flex time rather than work 10 hours a day to have an off day.
By all means, let the city government implement the four-day workweek proposal. So long as those in frontline services will be around to serve the public, there should be no problem in the delivery of services.
NO REASON FOR LIBRADO AND DEL ROSARIO TO QUARREL. Councilor Angging Librado and Task Force Davao commander Col. Eduardo del Rosario appear to be at loggerheads. But there is no reason for them to quarrel.
Librado has criticized TFD for doing more than its counter-terrorism functions. In particular, so reports had it, Librado scored TFD for being actively involved in demolitions, the apprehension of habal-habal drivers, providing security to tourists and foreign dignitaries, and other related tasks.
TFD was organized and assigned here to beef up security and to help preserve peace and order in the city. Doing the tasks, which Librado mentioned is in keeping with the task of TFD to provide security to visitors and residents in the city. For how else could it provide security to them?
Librado being a public official, she should even welcome and appreciate the efforts being exerted by TFD in maintaining peace and order in the city and protecting her own constituents and other city residents from terrorists and other criminal elements.
So to reiterate, being both public officials, there is no reason for Librado and del Rosario to quarrel. Both should even work together to help keep the city safe and peaceful.
WE'RE GETTING PROMINENT NEIGHBORS AT COUNTRY HOMES. We're getting prominent neighbors at Country Homes Subdivision in Cabantian. In a lot just at the back of our housing unit adjacent to our little garden, a member of the prominent Sarenas clan in the city is building a two-storey house.
A son of the couple who owns the proposed house, who is also a resident of Country Homes, invited us to the construction site upon knowing that we taught many Sarenas boys at the Ateneo de Davao High School before. Over a clutter of San Miguel pale pilsen and Red Horse bottles, we talked about the Sarenas boys that we taught in high school. We were glad to know that they are doing fine now. But we were greatly saddened to hear that one of them, the former mayor of Pantukan, Compostela Valley Province, has already passed away.
Just across the proposed house, at Cecilia Heights, the son of a very prominent public figure in the city is also building a two-storey house. For now we will not mention his name. Suffice it to say that, as we said earlier, we're getting good neighbors at Country Homes.
The areas where the two proposed modern houses are being built used to be a wilderness, which thieves and burglars used as their escape routes. Now that they're being cleared and developed and will soon be occupied by prominent people, we're feeling safe and secure in our own house.
Point to ponder: "There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and have recovered hope." (George Elliot: Adam Bede)
(October 22, 2004 issue)
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