THE PEN SPEAKS
Danny O. Sagun

THE coming Bangus festival that will involve the towns in the fourth district is meant to project the image of Dagupan City Mayor Benjie Lim nothing more nothing less, no matter the claim to the contrary of its organizers.

People will not suspect anything if the mayor has remained in good terms with House Speaker Joe de Venecia. But now that Lim has severed ties with the speaker and has even announced his intention to challenge him for supremacy in the fourth district, any move of his from now on like expanding the Bangus festival to neighboring towns would be linked to his political plans.

Why only now that such festival would involve the city’s neighbors? It should have been done last year or the time the festival was conceived.

Meanwhile, it was interesting to note that JDV has been very visible in the past few weeks in the entire district, visiting schools, police stations and distributing particularly Philhealth cards. He is obviously making up for the lost time. He might have been jolted by Lim’s sudden turnaround and possibly considers the mayor as a real threat. He could not just stay at the comfort of his office and let his wards do the campaigning for him as he had used to. The situation is now different. He has to work hard.

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The LTO branch in Lingayen could have been an ideal place for motorists and vehicle owners to register their vehicles and apply for driver’s licenses with pretty, amiable, and approachable Jovy Dion around.

But as is true in almost any office private or government, at least two of Dion’s subordinates are doing a disservice. A chubby lady in a section there nonchalantly told this writer she was already processing the papers of the driver’s license application of my daughter and that of my Junior one day last December. Maybe there was nothing wrong with her seemingly innocent statement except for the fact that she made it while on my way to a canteen nearby and she was already there taking her lunch along with two companions.

It made me wonder since my two kids had just taken the written test and the papers were still with the examiner I suppose. What did she mean? A free lunch? It could be since she appeared arrogant after we ignored her.

The LTO has gone stricter in the registration of vehicles which we understand very well. But the vehicle inspector in that branch was going beyond his authority, even going against his boss.

Jovy had advised us to return a day after for her to confirm the registration of our motorcycle which the dealer had registered it with another branch. The time allotted also allowed my kid to return the motorbike to its original design as he had modified some of its features. The inspector whose face alone would tell anyone he is arrogant, the hard-to-please-type and puts weight around, was not convinced. He was adamant not to sign the inspection form because the side mirror according to his view is small. In a raised voice due to exasperation to his narrow mind, we were forced to point to the other motorcycles parked in the compound which have smaller side mirrors.

The exchange came to a head when he claimed we had detached a small paper from the documents in which he claimed he had written his observations on the first day we brought the bike for inspection, which he did not. We did not budge too. Obviously, he could not bluff us so he signed the form.

Told of it, Jovy said we were not the only person who got miffed of the actions of her vehicle inspector. We also learned later that said employee was only detailed to the Lingayen branch after his assignment in Alaminos and San Carlos LTO offices. In short, he was not welcome there.

We think Jovy had better move fast before her men destroys the good reputation her office has attained during her stint there. In fact, many motorists and vehicle owners we know have preferred going there and we ourself has opted to transact with her office for the license and registration needs of our family and our friends which in a small way has contributed to the marked increase in that branch’s revenue collections.