IT DOES not pay to refuse the governor's request, this is the hard lesson of Mabalacat City Mayor Marino Morales.
While Boking has won the battle for his city, Nanay Gov has won the war. Morales is finally stepping down from his 25-year Balacat throne. The disqualification case prospered against the now distraught mayor after a confluence of forces prevailed over legal maneuvers of Morales's smart and influential counsel Romeo Macalintal.
Mabalacat residents rejoiced over the Comelec's landmark decision as they generally agreed that the power monopoly by Morales, or by any other perpetrator, is harmful to democracy.
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Morales' rival and second-placer in the poll dispute, Crisostomo Garbo, will be the proclaimed city mayor. Garbo served as Board Member (SP) and doubled as security volunteer to the Gov. He is known as the most loyal BM and comic in the Gov's retinue.
Last time we talked by phone, incoming Mayor Garbo said he will propose a P1 million fund for each of the 27 barangays as seed capital for social amelioration and barangay development.
He wants to put up a Medical Assistance Clinic with MRI and CT-scan facilities. He will organize a Council of Elders in partnership with the academe, religious, business, and professional, workers groups. Garbo is credited with initiating the funding and acquisition of the site extension of the city college in Madapdap with Nanay Baby's assistance.
Cris's good fortune is also the fruit of hard work by a lady vigilante called Fighting Pyra.
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An ancient maxim says, "a right place for everything and every thing in its place." This certainly is not the case of a Rehabilitation Facility at Nepo Mart.
The reformatory for drug-related cases, mostly for alcohol and drug abuse, is located within a tourist center and educational institutions.
How a project of this massive cost and purpose easily passed legal and zoning muster defies credibility.
Liza Macuja, prima donna of ballet, confirmed the successful treatment of her daughter in a Paranaque reformatory. The choice of Nepo Mart, the city's central business district seems to be a business decision. There are larger, better and more appropriate sites for the Angeles project.
Public welcome of the vaunted Bridges of Hope was tepid and inaugural rites were confined to corporate officials. Residents of nearby Villa Teresa subdivision felt threatened by the facility. Horrible experience of drug addict inmates or patients escaping from a similar facilities were talked about.
Screaming patients disturb the neighborhood and violent withdrawal behavior is expected. Henceforth the prestigious central business address is sullied by the location of the Rehab which is also cheek-by-jowl with Proverbsville a high-end kids school.
The reformatory has no space for sports and athletic facilities necessary for total treatment. A scores of meters away is the fun and good time place Nepo Quad. The inmates will be disturbed in their sleep and will
beckon to the memory of alcohol drinks, shabu, marijuana, and wild narcotics that had enslaved them. The siren sounds and RB music nearby will cause them to do the great escape.
I credit the city mayor for his good sense in not attending the opening of the rehab. The Nepo Quad forms part of a Heritage District that is famous for the century-old Catholic church, the Holy Angel University, historic institutions, a renowned shopping center and now a reformatory for drug addicts and alcoholics and drug related problems.
Soon the inmates of the facility will join the early joggers at Nepo Quad in their "dry run."