Duterte Tells Nograles "Lapida" Is For Your Burial Ground

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte castigated Speaker Prospero Nograles during the "Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa" television show this morning about the proliferation of construction projects with Nograles' name on them.

"Ang lapida Nograles para sa imong lungon dili para sa proyekto (the burial stone is for your burial ground not for projects)," Duterte said. He said the money spent for the projects is not the money of Nograles but people's money.

Duterte also criticized Nograles for including the name of his son Atty Karlo Nograles in all of the projects posters and billboards. Atty. Karlo Nograles said their names are plastered all over their projects for purposes of transparency.

"If this is the case then I will order my people to put my name on a billboard to be placed at the People's Park---but also to include the name of my driver and several of my friends," Duterte said.

PGMA Visits Davao City's After Dark For The 4th Time

For the record, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has visited Davao City's "After Dark Piano Bar", a videoke-restaurant-bar located in Ecoland, four times already.

This was confirmed by no less than Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte himself who said the President sang a Visayan song (Duterte was not sure but said PGMA sang "Usahay") at the videoke bar the last time she was there. This was previous to her visit to the city last Thursday to attend the 61st birthday of Speaker Prospero Nograles which was held at the Apo View Hotel.

Duterte met with the President but refused to reveal the details of their meeting saying it was hush-hush and was not at all about politics but about community matters.

Weddings For Rich People In Government Belies Econ. Crisis In RP

Is the Philippines really suffering from economic crisis? NO, judging from the lavish weddings that are being celebrated for the sons and daughters of people who hold very influential positions in the government. The recent wedding in Davao City of the daughter of Press Secretary Jesus Dureza is a case in fact.

Of course, you can always say that Dureza already had his millions made even before he became the government's press speaker whenever there is an important proclamation or comment that the government has to make like belying the fact that there is an economic crisis in the country. Imagine the 10 helicopters that brought the guests to Dureza's Seagull Mountain Resort last Saturday including President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and former President Fidel V. Ramos.

Just a year or more ago, Speaker of the House Prospero Norgrales' son Karlo got married not only in style but super en grande as the common folks would call it. That wedding was also attended by "people who matter" both in government and in the business sector. And know what? That was also attended by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Of course, you can always say that Nograles had made it big even before he became Speaker of the House.

In a country where more than half of the 95 million citizens are considered lucky if they have tuyo or salty fish as well as a bowl of rice in their table, this is a big insult. Imagine Dureza's guests all clad in black and gold apparel surrounded by an equally lavish catering service only fitting for the gods and goddesses of Philippine politics and business. On the one hand, imagine what thoughts filled the mind of Jenifer Bedoya before the beheading.. imagine the thoughts that are filling the minds of three Filipino Overseas Filipino Workers (Brothers) Edison and Rolando Gonzales and Eduardo Arcilla who are now in the Jeddah death row...imagine how Mang Pandoy could not even be laid to rest as the family was still waiting for burial money...

Even the authors of the Civil Code deemed the whole thing pukable when it stated in Article 25 that "Thoughtless extravagance in expenses for pleasure or display during a period of acute public want or emergency may be stopped by order of the courts at the instance of any government or private charitable institution..."

Perhaps, they do no even consider the Filipinos to be already living in a period of acute want whereby thoughtless extravagance should be stopped. Those people in Congress should think twice about limiting the expenses for the celebration of public fiestas which are enjoyed by as many Filipinos as possible if such extravagance display of weddings of government officials and their families are tolerated,

Imagine the poor Filipinos working their butts off either in the Philippines or in another country just so they can put three square meals in their family's tables...And then imagine the laughter and the caviar that must have filled the tables of the guests during the Dureza wedding. Please don't puke.

Why Nograles Is A Force To Reckon With In Davao Politics?

Speaker Prospero Nograles has often been criticized for placing his name and his face in every project in Davao City. Lately, particularly before the last elections, I noticed how his son Karlo's face has been posted beside the poster of his father or even alone. A barangay hall in Catalunan Pequeño even had a big poster of Karlo proclaiming that it was a Nograles project or something.

Nograles' penchant for displaying his name and face in every project has become a laughing matter in Davao and it has become an irritant. However, if you look at it another way, suffering from nightmares out of seeing his face and name everywhere is better than suffering from the nightmare of voting for a politician who do not have projects at all. So where did their pork barrels go?

Local politicians and even his constituents even smirk about the eeny-weeny firetrucks of Nograles but after reading Cito Beltran's column saying "if the narrow roads in the country prevent the fire department from responding to fire emergencies then why not get small firetrucks that can go inside these roads?", you will immediately think of Nograles' funny firetrucks.

A lot of basketball courts in the barangays have Nograles' yellow and blue plywood banners. Some barangays boast of gyms courtesy of Nograles. Others complain about his unfinished roads but are nevertheless enjoying its use.

So he uses his projects to advertise himself or maybe to boost his image or satisfy an insecurity. Whatever. If there's one thing that can lead to the downfall of Nograles, it is not his politicking or his posters. It is the people behind him who have started acting like jerks even before he became a Speaker.

It's a given. All politicians are corrupt, they differ only in intensity. Given a choice, would you prefer a politician who provides projects for his district but advertises such a fact or a politician who do not have projects at all?

Be the judge.