Compostela, leaderless for 20 months

Here we go again in this unending or sempiternal and highly egregious political circus that has victimized the anxious Compostela residents in dizzying uncertainty…

 DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo who came to Cebu proudly announced urging the Comelec “to settle the election dispute” between Mayor-elect Joel Quiño and rival Ritchie Wagas before the end of December. Shielding behind the flimsy excuse that he can’t dictate the Comelec, but he didn’t personally confer with Chairman Jose Brillantes, Jr. that would have spelled a lot of difference.

 The leaderless Compostela folk surmise that as long as VP Jojo Binay is the bruited wily figure to have allegedly engineered the fiasco, nothing would end the guessing game as to who really won the May 10, 2010 local elections.

 For another, it appears that DILG-7 Director Pedro Noval had not been candid in his ineffective role as the town’s OIC for long. His replacement could be more honest for admitting inability to govern as OIC by proposing to appoint the Municipal Administrator.

 As OIC which is frankly a figurehead and powerless, if statutorily interpreted en strictissima juris, by what right or authority has OIC replacement DILG-7 Director Ananias Villacorta to appoint an administrator? Assuming arguendo that he can legally do so, can he assure the Compostela electorate that the proposed Administrator would succeed where Noval failed?

 Perhaps it was just happenstance that with a new town chief of police, PNP Police Senior Inspector (PSI) Allan Madrid Rosario – fresh graduate from the Philippine National Police Academy – that the town’s then serious peace and order problem, has been successfully nipped in the bud. With no urgings from the absentee DILG OIC, some criminal elements were captured, and/or killed. Their criminal underlings have now been cowed in fear of the police vigilance and relentless campaign. Thus, PSI Rosario and his police force, including Police Officer Enriquez of Danao City but who has faithfully served for 20 years in Compostela, deserve all the kudos!

 Coming back to the unsettled mayoralty row, the long overdue recanvassing that has been moved to the Comelec Central Office, still remains in limbo. Is this part of the insidious plot to dilly-dally the recanvassing, such that, the three-year term – with 20 months lapsing in sleep – would totally lapse that the final results become moot and academic?

  Despite the rigmarole with no end in sight, there’s a happy development in spite of the leaderless town without any government. One refers to the project of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) irrigating the hinterland barrio of Mulao, Compostela which is 10 kilometers straight as the crow flies from the coastline.

 In this paper’s news item, despite the absence of municipal officials, but only barangay officialdom and the farmer beneficiaries, the Mulao Pump Irrigation Project worth P5M was inaugurated. Only 30% of the total project cost is payable in three years, and NIA also put up a covered barangay court. Governor Gwen Garcia, together with NIA-7 Acting Regional Director Diosdado Rosales, and Mulao Barangay Captain Asterio Tanjay led the ceremonial turn-over…  The 25-hectare fertile plain benefits 70 farmers by the continuous water during the El Niño.

 Intimate chats with Cabadiangan farmers, the NIA’s irrigation project has benefited them in no small measure. Hopefully, Cabadiangan and Mulao will become the abundant breadbasket of agri-products, not only for domestic consumption, but also for market distribution to urban markets.

And yet, it is a grim irony that the town of Compostela which is just 25 kilometers nigh the Provincial Capitol remains a leaderless municipality until now.