Mayor cites some ‘hard lessons’ for Marikina

Mayor cites some ‘hard lessons’ for Marikina

naawa ako sa taga Marikina lalo na sa Tumana. Madami akong kaibigan doon.

No more excuses and favors
By DJ Yap
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:12:00 10/08/2009

Filed Under: Ondoy, Flood, Disasters (general), Government, Local authorities, House building

MANILA, Philippines—As the struggle goes on to restore normalcy in flood-devastated Marikina City, Mayor Marides Fernando has learned some “hard lessons.”

Lesson No. 1: No more excuses and favors for riverside squatters living in danger zones.

akala ko ba walang squatters sa Marikina? so meron pala! palagi na lang sinasabi ni bayani at asawa nya na walang squatters sa marikina. bakit kung tuwing panahon ng election at kailangan nyo ng boto eh tawag sa mga squatters eh urban poor, resettled poor, etc. Teka sabi ng kaibigan ko sa Tumana Marikina, ang Tumana daw ay dating squatters colony tapos binigyan ng titulo ni bayani fernando noong mayor pa siya. at sa panahon ni marides fernando ginawa pang barangay ang Tumana.

ang mga taga provedent village bakit hindi paalisin kasi nasa danger zone. ang SM Marikina at Riverbanks mall(pamamay ari ng kamag anak ni BF... father-in-law daw) ay nasa danger zone. so dapat i demolish ang riverbanks mall at SM marikina

“This time around we’ll be very strict. I think now people have no reason to resist when we ask them to move out of these hazard areas,” she told the Inquirer on Tuesday.

Lesson No. 2: There should be a minimum height standard for the construction of residential and commercial buildings, depending on how elevated the place is.

This, Fernando said, would help prevent cases of people drowning inside their homes.

Lesson No. 3: Policies against illegal parking will be more firmly observed.
Ask Jojo Binay and Mapsa for help on that hahaha

“Even just one car blocking the road can impede rescue workers from reaching their destination,” she said.

Lesson No. 4: More rubber boats and rescue equipment should be in stock for emergency situations.
ooopppss. Mayor san napunta yung calamity fund.

“The rescuers had to scramble for equipment so we need more of these prepared,” Fernando said.

Losses could reach P10B

The mayor said the city government would more thoroughly reflect on these lessons learned in the coming days in order to deal with catastrophes similar to that brought by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international codename: Ketsana) on Sept. 26.

“All our efforts are still focused on the rescue, relief and rehabilitation of the affected families,” she said.

Of the 300 deaths, 67 were from the Marikina area.

Fernando estimated property losses could reach as high as P10 billion. “Ondoy wrecked barges, footbridges, computer equipment at City Hall, medical equipment in hospitals.”

She said some 2,000 people remained in about 10 evacuation centers. Officials had moved them from schools to barangay halls so classes could resume.

Some 1,000 residing in riverside communities would have to be relocated, possibly in Biñan, Laguna, said the wife of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chair Bayani Fernando, who as a mayor developed the backward town into thriving city. [Biñan is the worst hit among the lakeshore towns in Laguna; see banner story on Page A1-Ed.]

Gargantuan task

Marikina Rep. Del de Guzman said those living at “Riverside A and B” in Barangay Fortune would be better off moving elsewhere.

“I don’t have the power, but I could convince them not to return there,” he said.

Most of the city’s efforts are directed at cleaning muck and debris.

Fernando said workers were using a city property at Barangay Nangka as a temporary dump for garbage, mostly beds, wood scraps, couches and sofa beds, and even appliances like refrigerators damaged beyond repair.

The task is nothing less than gargantuan. “Garbage collected in every four houses is equivalent to one dump truck,” Fernando said. With a report from Leila B. Salaverria

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091008-228950/Mayor-cites-some-hard-lessons-for-Marikina

Marikina calamity fund misuse

Commission on Audit quizzes Marikina on calamity fund use
By Reinir Padua (The Philippine Star) Updated October 09, 2009 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - The Marikina City government spent P10 million of its calamity fund, supposed to be used only in times of disaster, for other purposes last year, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).

State auditors noted that since there was no declaration of a calamity in Marikina last year, expenses worth P10,302,549.53 made by the city government were charged to its calamity fund.

These expenses included salaries and wages worth P47,980; rice subsidy of employees worth P250,000; purchase of ready mix concrete worth P151,525 and thermoplastic lane remarkings worth P9,853,044.53.

Based on Republic Act 8185, the calamity fund must be used “for relief, reconstruction, rehabilitation and other works or services in connection with the calamities which may occur during the budget year, provided that such fund shall be used only in the area, or a portion thereof, of the Local Government Unit affected by a disaster or calamity.”

According to state auditors, documents supporting those transactions charged to the calamity fund in 2008 showed that these were not in any way related to disaster or calamity response.

The COA report said this examination of the expenses “casts doubt on the legality and validity of the said transactions.”

State auditors said that when presented with the audit findings, the Marikina City government, “did not comment on this.”

COA auditors said the city government must replace the P10.30-million worth of calamity fund and strictly follow rules governing its use.

The STAR tried but failed to reach Marikina City Mayor Ma. Lourdes Fernando to get her reaction to the COA report. – With Non Alquitran

tsk tsk tsk... bakit ngayon lang na dyaryo ito.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=512442&publicationSubCategoryId=65

First out of the nutbox

First out of the gate
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=jojoRobles_aug27_2008
Jojo Robles

And the first declared candidate in the 2010 presidential elections is none other than... Bayani Fernando? I don’t know if I should laugh or cry.

Ako naiinis

Finally—and to no one’s surprise—the metropolis’ chief traffic aide, the father of the U-turns and of state-sanctioned bus-jackings, has declared his intentions. Typically, Fernando says he will run for president in the next elections with or without the support of the ruling Lakas-CMD coalition.

All the same, Bayani told an interviewer that he is confident of the endorsement of President Arroyo and other party leaders because he is qualified to be the next “no-nonsense president of this country.” Never mind if his name isn’t even one of those being considered by the coalition for the position.

baka no singing talent president of this country

“I’m the only one of the presidential hopefuls who has declared my intention to run this early,” he declared. As if that would improve his chances of winning.

But Bayani hinted that he already has the money and the organization to run a nationwide campaign. “Even if the party doesn’t pick me, I will continue with the campaign because I have a lot of friends who will help me,” said the MMDA chairman, who likes to be addressed “Secretary Fernando.”

Money: pera ng bayan

organization: MMDA at Marikina City Gov't

But President Fernando? To paraphrase the old joke, I was told when I was young that anyone could become president. With Bayani gunning for the highest office in the land, now I know that to be true.

In a way, we should be grateful that Fernando has announced his candidacy. Being a mere appointed official, he must now resign from his post if he has any shame and sense of propriety—or be fired posthaste by his boss.

Why? Because from here on in, anything Bayani does can and should be interpreted as being done in furtherance of his declared ambition. And he retains an undue advantage over other candidates who do not have taxpayers bankrolling his high profile—including the giant posters of himself that do nothing but add to the billboard forest that blights the city.

Of course, the Omnibus Election Code’s Article IX, Section 66 states that “any person holding a public appointive office or position, including active members of the Armed Forces and officers and employees in government-owned or -controlled corporations, shall be considered ipso facto resigned from his office upon the filing of his certificate of candidacy.” But since Bayani has declared for the presidency this early, he must understand that not all of us taxpayers are among the “friends” he brags about, and some of us will not foot the bill for his overweening ambition.

There is a reason why the law prevents people holding appointive office like Bayani from using their position to further their political plans. And just because he has declared but has not filed his certificate (something he can’t do anyway, because Comelec isn’t accepting any at the moment) doesn’t mean that Bayani can’t launch his campaign using money that he doesn’t own or wasn’t donated to him by his so-called friends.

ano ngayon ang pinagkaiba ni bayani fernando sa iba pang trapo dyan? wala. pareho lang sila

As soon as Bayani steps down, he can campaign all he wants using his own money. But until he does, will the voters please remember that the MMDA chairman is using taxpayer funds and is even getting a salary to get to Malacanang?

Where are those eager-beaver Senate investigators—many of them also undeclared presidential candidates quick to strike down any potential rival in 2010—when you really need them?

* * *

Speaking of Bayani’s friends, we wonder if mall magnate Henry Sy isn’t among those people that the MMDA chairman is counting on to provide major funding for his early-bird campaign to become president. That’s because some people in Bayani’s home turf of Marikina City (where Bayani’s wife Marides Carlos Fernando, or MCF, is mayor) are asking why Sy’s newest mall on the eastern bank of the river on Marcos Highway was provided a free off-and-on ramp complex by the government—which is supposedly short of funds for any major infrastructure project that presumably has higher priority.

hmmm i smell something...

And how true are reports that the contractor for the new SM Marikina mall is none other that Bayani’s own BF Corp.? With Bayani acting as Metro Manila regional development council boss, his wife as the local chief executive providing all the city permits and his construction company building the mall and the taxpayer-funded ramps, you have to wonder if Sy isn’t way up there in the list of Bayani’s most favored.

true nga eh...ito ang link oh...

SM Marikina

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM_City_Marikina

Doesn’t the construction of the ramp complex to favor one mall—probably the only mall in the country to receive such preferential treatment from the people who identify priority infrastructure projects—sound suspicious? Especially since the contractor for the project is none other than the one owned conjugally by the two government officials who have the power (and the chutzpah, really) to “facilitate” its construction?

sounds like the voice of bayani fernando

As for the less moneyed people who seem to want to be counted among the friends of the MMDA chairman, how true are the reports buzzing all over the Internet that vehicles that carry the overly large “BAYANI” banners with the flag on them are routinely waved off by MMDA traffic enforcers when they violate traffic laws? And, like the tarpaulins along Edsa and elsewhere that feature Bayani’s face, is taxpayer money being used for these rolling campaign streamers, as well?

To the people who have asked me if the report that traffic aides give stickered vehicles a free pass is true, I routinely reply that I wouldn’t really know. The last thing I would do to my own car is to plaster the name of Bayani along its entire length—and I drive a very small car.

Bayani, of course, has been known to brush aside any criticism of his official acts—especially about their legal aspects. Which should give anyone who considers his candidacy pause.

I get it bakit hindi manakikinig si BF sa mga critics nya. nabingi na siya sa sarili nyang boses. hahaha

But that’s Bayani all over. Except that now that he’s a declared presidential candidate, he must know that he cannot brush aside all questions about his actions, official or otherwise.

No-nonsense president? We should be thankful that the presidency is one of those positions Bayani can’t get appointed to and abuse.

‘No more floods in Metro Manila next year’--MMDA’s Fernando

Nakita ko itong article ng inquirer.net. Susmiyo last year pa ito. sabi ni BF "no more floods in the metro. sige nga.

By DJ Yap
Inquirer
First Posted 02:50pm (Mla time) 08/10/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- Following this week's heavy rains and flooding, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Bayani Fernando has promised resident of the National Capital Region a flood-free metropolis by next year.

HOY BF! ANONG AUGUST 2008 NA! BINABAHA PA RIN METRO MANILA.

"The public can expect a flood-free Metro Manila when the Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela) Flood Control projects and the new West Manggahan pumping station become operational next year," he said.

In a statement, Fernando said the operation of the West Manggahan pumping station at the boundary of Taytay and Cainta in Rizal would soon be turned over by the Department of Public Works and Highways to the MMDA.

The decision to place the station under the MMDA was attributed to his agency's bigger number of flood control personnel, Fernando said.

Equipped with four huge mechanical pumps, the West Manggahan station can serve, among other towns, Taytay, Cainta, and Pateros, as well as Pasig City and other eastern suburbs, by keeping water flowing to the main tributaries, he added.

Fernando said the Camanava Flood Control projects would also fall under the control of the MMDA once they become operational next year.

The completion of the Spine pumping station is expected next year, along with the Catmon and Bangkulasi pumping stations in Malabon and Navotas, respectively.

Fernando also took pride in what he called the "fast recession" of flash floods caused storm Chedeng.

He attributed this to "relentless flood mitigating measures such as cleaning and clearing of illegal settlers…along waterways and other danger areas in Metro Manila."

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/topstories/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=81743



so ano binagkaiba ni BF sa ibang politiko? wala! pangako ng pangako napapako naman. sinasabi ng mga supporters ni BF na hindi daw politiko idol nila. hoy kung tumakbo ka for public office politiko ka na. kung tatakbo ka for public office politko ka.

No More Floods in the Metro

eh ano ito? sa Marikina ito