By BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR.

SOME people have no problem earning and eating off illegal sources of income; others just can’t.

The shining example of good old-fashioned honesty shown by an eleven-year-old who picked up a pouch full of money – some P18,000 by news reports – last September 21 along Perez Blvd..here and turned it over to the police without touching a single bill gives us hope.

Not that Givenco Abarquez’s gesture is the only act of honesty we’ve seen or heard about because really, a vanishing few have, in their own ways in the past, felt just as uneasy as him about keeping money not theirs. They either returned this to the owner, taking pains to look for his address, or giving it to radio stations or authorities for the latter to find the rightful owner

Offhand, I can just recall that similar act of honesty displayed by a retired bank employee Marietta E. Bugayong and her husband, Lito, some years back when, on riding a tri-bike (depakit, as the locals call it) to take them home one rainy late afternoon they discovered an envelope stuffed full of money apparently left behind by the last passenger. Without hesitation, Marietta decided to look for the trike’s last rider even as the driver, wily guy that he is, was insisting that he just takes care of returning it so the couple won’t be unduly bothered. The couple insisted on the driver’s taking them to where he dropped his last passenger.

It turned out the money was for the salaries of teachers of the Mangaldan National High School and the extremely worried school official was there by the school gate trying to check out and recognize every passing tri-bike. He was immensely relieved to see the couple alight from the trike and hand over to him the “lost” money.

Now, how many of you out there can stare temptation in the eye and not blink?

Certainly not some media practitioners we know who salivate over their regular jueteng payola and raise hell when it is delayed by even just a few days!

* * * *
Many Pangasinenses are just curious where our five congressmen and one party-list representative in Congress stood in the current “differences” between President Arroyo and House Speaker Jose de Venecia. Were they, or some of them, among those who reportedly got manna from Malacanang for a job well done on the impeachment showdown – widely believed as having been done at the expense of Speaker Joe’s position and, uh, pride?

Probably, yes. And this conjecture only because none of them so far has come out to clarify he was not there.

And if they were, does that in any way mean they won’t be supporting the Speaker, our kabaleyan through and through, when a major confrontation does come?

Somewhere in this week’s issue of the Star is a story about Rep. Victor E. Agbayani’s spelling out some stand”for unity between GMA and JDV” among members of the Northern Alliance, a political aggrupment of Ilocos leaders of which JDV is a member.
Agbayani’s loyalty at least is crystal clear; his family and JDV’s political kinship goes a long, long way back. How about the other congressmen — Celeste, Arenas, Cojuangco, Estrella and Estrella? People can more easily forget a murderer, thief or rapist’s dark record than they would an opportunist or worse, a Quisling. Agree?

* * * *
Things are really looking up and turning up roses for Mayor Amadeo R. Perez, Jr’s beloved Urdaneta City. The Commission on Audit has just pronounced this city at the crossroads of the North as topping all eight cities in the region in terms of total income – a whooping P423.253 million.

And this, after it had to go on an uphill climb to survive a big loan burden and an anemic treasury when the Perez administration took over.

Lest executives of other local government units however think Urdaneta is on a conscious quest for top financial honors, my mayor-compadre says all he and his fellow city officials want is for their city to earn enough to deserve their cityhood.

“It is not our intention to rise at the expense of our fellow LGUs who, I believe are also doing their level best to stay competitive administratively in these modern times,” the ageless Amadito said.
* * * *

Governor Amado Tutaan Espino marked his 100 days in office last week, virtually ending the so-called mandatory “honeymoon” with the Press by an elected official.

With a hundred days in office, he is presumed to have “mastered” enough of the ins and outs of that office he cannot now seek excuse for sloppy administration. In short, he’s believed to now be comfortable at the saddle and can govern minus the hang-ups.

I’m glad he’s not forgotten about his vow to become “the best governor Pangasinan will ever have.”

That’s a vision, if you haven’t recognized it yet.

Whether he attains it on his first term, or on re-election, or sometime later, that vision stays up there as his goal to do good.

The trick is to have his ‘vision’ translated – or better yet, shared – by his underlings. And in order for that to happen, they must first believe in him as a leader.

In the police organization where he comes from, that should not be a problem. In the civilian world where he has thrust himself in, the best we can describe it is : “It’s a tall order”

But we wish Gov. Spines all the best and all the luck. And while we’re at it, might we ask how’s the general-governor doing in the Rural Health Unit Reforms he vowed to pursue a few weeks back?