A PUBLIC school student who gets free notebooks and schoolbags from Cebu Province and sees the faces of Gov. Gwen Garcia and Vice Gov. Greg Sanchez on them isn't likely to protest the way a beggar curses the presence of a fly in his free bowl of soup.
Student beneficiaries won't mind advertising in the freebies. The photos won't hurt physical health or stunt mental growth.
To be sure, the youngsters prefer faces of Anne Curtis or Sam Milby to Gwen's and Greg's. Yet they know that this quality of mercy hasn't dropped from heaven but has flowed from Capitol coffers.
For this year, the Province appropriated P32 million for school supplies of prep, grade, and high school students. Without saying it's a case of overspending or overpricing, Greg says P10 million will be enough.
Another issue is trivial to most of us but not to the vice governor. Unlike in previous years, his photo won't appear on notebooks and bags this year. Only the close-up of political rival Gwen will.
That's calamitous to Greg who just ended the 2010 race but may have started his campaign for governor in 2013. He must starve for the publicity.
Credits
Now, there's no law requiring equal credits to public officials who undertake community projects. And the law against public spending for private purpose is so limp that one can swap coffins and cash gifts for votes and get away with it.
Greg can whine but he can't compel Gwen to print his photo on those school supplies. Maybe he just has to be content with
displaying his face on bottles of Lacto Pafi and fertilizer that his company peddles.
(paseares@yahoo.com)