The truth about Cadio

For several days now, the political landscape in Iloilo, particularly in the 2nd district of Iloilo, has been dominated by the bitter attacks of Pavia mayor Arcadio Gorriceta against TESDA secretary Augusto Syjuco and Congw. Judy Syjuco on the issue of the "dakal-dakal" road.

It appears that Gorriceta was particularly incensed by the rebuttal made by Judy Syjuco, made thru a lengthy audio recording broadcast over local radio stations, on her side of the story about the P10.5-million budget for the rehabilitation of a 4-km. road in Pavia that became known as the "dakal-dakal" road.

In her radio address, Congw. Syjuco explained that the purpose of the P10.5-million budget was the "rehabilitation" of the road stretch, actually a provincial road, that was badly damaged as a result of Typhoon Frank. That was the amount available at the moment, and the DPWH intended to make the road passable again by spreading item 201 (dakal-dakal) over the entire road, compact the material with a "pison" and cut the canals along the road.

There's another amount, P28 million, that is being sought from the DPWH for the ultimate concreting of the project to the desired quality to make the road an alternative avenue linking the city to Sta. Barbara and the airport. The DPWH work program to fill the road with "dakal-dakal" was a remedial measure to bring the road to passable condition.

But it appears that Gorriceta panicked upon learning that it was the DPWH that was going to undertake the project, and not the municipality, as he had negotiated with DOJ sec. Raul Gonzales. He knew that the project was ultimately going to get a bigger budget for the concreting work, and he wanted to implement it for obvious reasons. If the money was going to be coursed through Pavia, he was going to have his choice of contractor. In fact, he had started discussions with his preferred contractor and agreed on the terms, if you know what I mean.

This was the reason Gorriceta was incensed when the DPWH started mobilizing for the first phase of the project. Gorriceta knew that P10.5 million is not enough for the cementing of the road section, but he viewed it on the long-term and saw the P28 million dangling at the end. So he raised hell and made the misleading claim that what was intended to be a cemented road was now just going to be "dakal-dakal". He was like a spoiled brat who lost his lollipop.

Was Gorriceta really motivated by the project's outcome? Did he really want to have the project undertaken by the LGU to efficiently undertake the project? Did he really want the government to save money?

Think again. Gorriceta is not that kind of person.

About 10 years ago, a scandal broke out in the top levels of the Panay Sugar Planters Federation when it was discovered that nearly P1 million intended as downpayment for the importation of farm tractors was missing from the coffers of the organization. It was discovered that one member had withdrawn the money, obviously for his personal use, when everybody else in the organization that it had been spent to help sugar planters improve their sugar production.

The board of directors of the Panay Fed was aghast. Not only were its struggling members deprived of the help in buying farm tractors, but the amount was used by one of its leaders for personal purposes. This triggered a bitter and acrimonious board room battle. But there was no way this director who dipped his fingers into the cookie jar could deny the mischief. There were handwritten receipts. Ultimately, he agreed to return the money.

That director who misused the federation's funds was a man named Arcadio Gorriceta.

That was a decade ago. Fast forward to present day Pavia, where Gorriceta is now the municipal mayor. Not just a municipal mayor, but he portrays himself as a "super mayor".

Unseen to the public eye is a grand larceny and theft on a grand scale. Gorriceta accuses Syjuco of being a thief. Perhaps he is right. But is he the good guy?

This massive theft involves the diversion of the soil excavated from the floodway that will open a new passageway for the heavy volume of water that flows through the Tigum and Aganan rivers that converge in Pavia. Every day, for more than six months now, there are hundreds of truck loads hauling the dug soil from the floodway project, supposedly for stockpiling in the designated areas approved for the project.

But the "super-mayor" saw an opportunity to enrich himself at the expense of the ordinary taxpayer. How? He pressured the project management office and the contractor, Hanjin, to haul the excavated soil to wide areas of land owned by the Gorriceta family in Pavia, Iloilo. By filling the properties with the excavated soil, super mayor Gorriceta raised the elevation of their lands by about two feet above the road level. This is all for free!

Ask any trucker or contractor and you will learn that filling material costs about P80 per cubic meter. It is estimated that by the time the illegal dumping of the excavated soil to the Gorriceta properties is over, more than 200,000 cubic meters of soil will have been poured there. Simple arithmetic tells you that super mayor Gorriceta will have acquired P16 million worth of filling materials for free! Not only did he get free filling materials: the value of their lands shot up! He also didn't have to spend a centavo for the hauling. Hanjin did it for free.

It's a double-windfall for Arcadio Gorriceta. It's a "winner-take-all" feat that he was able to score by making full use of his position as "super-mayor". And he was able to accomplish these at the expense of the Filipino taxpayer, and exposing the neighboring properties in Pavia to risk of flooding. At the very least, this involves an issue of conflict of interest. At the far end of the spectrum is a serious offense of unlawfully enriching himself at the expense of the public.

Why is this so?

First, it is usual practice in government projects like the floodway construction to dispose of the excavated soil as "waste material" to be sold to interested buyers, usually real estate companies needing huge volumes of soil as landfill. As mentioned, the going rate is P80 per cubic meter. That's why the project identified a stockpile area duly approved by the DENR. The stockpile area is carefully chosen so as to avoid "impacting" on the surrounding properties in terms of exposing these to flooding. This is done to make it easier for buyers to get the soil.

What super mayor Gorriceta did was to force Hanjin and the project management office of the DPWH to divert the excavated soil to the family's two big properties in Pavia without paying a single centavo for it. As a result, the national government, and in turn, the taxpayers, were deprived of untold millions of pesos of excavated soil that could still have been sold to help defray the cost of building the floodway. This is highway robbery! It's a repeat of the sugar planters federation story a decade ago!

Gorriceta's properties will more than triple in value as well. With a ground elevation higher than the existing road network, Gorriceta can market the family's properties at a premium price! Where can one find a better bargain? Free filling material at the expense of the ordinary taxpayer while enhancing the value of their properties. This man is no different from Senate President Manny Villar who doesn't hesitate to use his clout to pour public money into roads that lead to his subdivisions.

But maybe all these can be forgiven. After all, Arcadio Gorriceta is a "super mayor" and he must be entitled to getting more benefits for the "super performance" that he has accomplished. Never mind that it's at at the expense of his fellow Pavianhons.

What is repulsive about this whole affair is that "super mayor" Arcadio Gorriceta is exposing the entire municipality to the danger of worst flooding than was seen last June 21, 2008. With the Gorriceta property now two feet above the rest of the municipality, the neighbors will find that in the event of heavy rains, water will not be able to flow out to the usual tributaries and rivers. The Gorriceta will become a dam in the middle of the town! Pavia will now face more danger of flooding than ever.

This is just to present one side of Arcadio Gorriceta that he has camouflaged from the public. There are always two sides of a coin, and this is the flip side. This is the true side of super mayor Gorriceta.

Lunar surface driving in Iloilo City

The state of Iloilo City's roads is badly deteriorated. Just take a look at this short video on the road condition of Lopez Jaena St, Jaro, Iloilo City coming from the direction of Central Philippine University going to Jaro Plaza:




What is the city government doing about this road?

My own take on Bombo vs. Aksyon

In his blog, Point of View, Mr. Boy Mejorada presents a very insightful analysis about the often noisy war over the airlanes between local radio stations. I would like to add my own views on the subject, being an avid radio listener, not only for news, but for interviews and commentaries.

I agree that bombo remains number one because of the sheer immensity of the resources being thrown by its management into the rating game. I have known most of the personalities at Bombo and I am quite familiar with the "dirty tricks" employed by the network to capture the "listeners" during surveys. That's not to say that the other stations are not employing similar strategies and tactics. But what bombo is doing is comparable to carpet bombing in the war against Iraq. The enemy is simply overwhelmed by superiority of resources, i.e., money.

However, this Florete media organization is not responding to the challenge as effectively as it should. Instead of spending money on surveys, it should be utilizing resources to attract, and develop, new talent. That translates to offering better pay for talented young graduates, or even pirating veterans from rival stations. This is apparent in the quality of the broadcasters in the bombo organization. It has a shallow bench. Even its management team is composed of neophytes who don't really have a good grasp of the playing field.

The good talents have no incentive to stay long in the bombo organization. As correctly pointed out by Mr. Mejorada, they seize the chance to build a name with the Bombo station, and then run for political office. There is also the internal strife afflicting the station. Factions thrive in the organization which is managed by people with no managerial expertise. It is a ship leaking all over the place, and the rats are racing to jump into the sea.

With this trend, it won't be too long before Aksyon Radyo can actually overtake Bombo for the supremacy in listenership. The broadcasters at Aksyon Radyo are filled with a burning desire to topple the giant. History is replete with classic examples of how underdogs succeed in defeating the defending champion.