By BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR

IT is only correct that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan led by its presiding officer Marlyn Primicias-Agabas, the vice governor, is moving ever so cautiously on that controversial measure she and her board members passed for the virtual arming of barangay chairmen in these parts.

To date, the resolution has been approved and the money, so we heard, has been approved and appropriated. All that’s left, if our information is correct, is the buying of the goods.

Governor Amado T. Espino who is reported as having made the arms-giving his political campaign promise to village heads on his way to an upset victory over the Agbayanis in the last election, has so far assured the public that the guns for the barangay heads will not be the high-powered types like Armalites or the like.

One or the other official was heard saying that some training at gun-handling and shooting have to be sufficiently done first before any gun is put in the hands of the community leaders.

All told, the provincial officials are now perceived as dragging their feet before actually buying and distributing the guns, careful about unduly ignoring the public concern about the move. As well they should.
* * * *
Since no one is about ready among the honorable sanggunian members to admit that they are planning to turn our barangay officials into those old CAFGU (Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Units) elements or into local versions of the so-called “lost commands” in Mindanao — Pangasinan being the peaceful province that it is — perhaps someone among our provincial legislators can try to “modify” the sanggunian resolution to redirect whatever allocation they have earmarked to some other, well, less controversial pursuits.

At least, until after proper training and education of our village officials is completed and our leaders are firmly convinced that those arms will be used only for defensive purposes and not to intimidate people they don’t share good ‘vibes’ with.

Oh, yes, pala, our favorite Provincial Police Director Isagani Nerez has weighed in too on the issue and said over the weekend in a radio interview that barangay captains are real persons in authority even as he stressed that the policemen are actually only “agents of a person in authority” –- just so you folks out there can tell the difference between the two in legal terms. Thanks, Atty. Nerez.

That should mean, if Layman Me gets the drift, that since agents are and can be armed, it’s quite logical to also arm the very “authorities” themselves.

Guvnor Spines perhaps may indeed have made that his political campaign promise but considering how he’s got a problem with those loose guns that are regularly making people, including public officials, drop dead from severe cases of lead poisoning all around, doesn’t it stand to reason that less guns means less dead bodies and more guns, more dead bodies?.

* * * *

Those legislators asking for the scalp of Undersecretary Antonio ‘Bebot” Villar, Jr., chief of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) for stepping on their toes in the man’s relentless campaign against smuggled goods in Customs and other ports may have to cool their heels further.

Bebot has nothing to lose in this Big Game. The PASG, to be sure, is not his be-all and end-all. He can always return to his native and idyllic Sto. Tomas town and be the “kingmaker” he has always been in the local scene.

He did not ask for the job and once he accepted it, he knew precisely what he was getting into. All he wants to do is to make a good job of it the best way he knows how – and thus far he is succeeding.

Like we said in earlier columns, he and Health Secretary Francisco “Pincoy” Duque, are the only Pangasinenses in the President’s Cabinet thus far who are giving the administration that much-needed boost in terms of performance. The two kabaleyans in their respective offices, any informal survey will show, are a credit to the Arroyo governance, getting results in the public eye where this is needed.

The anti-PASG legislators, we daresay, are glowering and asking for their pound of fleece — but I guess that all they would ever succeed in doing is to ask for the moon and not get it.
* * * *
Arriving in Binalonan in radiant pink last Saturday, President Arroyo showed little sign, if at all, of the national stress her administration is undergoing in light of the Jun Lozada testimonies in the Senate.

Before her admiring townmates, she revealed at least five vision-projects for the development of Pangasinan, perhaps her own way of saying that despite events of the recent weeks in Congress where a favorite son of Pangasinan, Speaker Joe de Venecia was toppled by administration allies from her perch of five congressional terms, this province still ranks high in presidential attention. It has helped obviously, as can be seen in the case of Binalonan’s development surge, that she traces family roots in the province and her own relatives, the Guicos, are in the forefront of the mayors’ league in Pangasinan and throughout the country.

Still, most politicians we talked to since the JdV unseating believe it is political instinct that basically makes GMA ever conscious of “catering” to Pangasinan, not any perceived and real closeness or relationship to any local leader. With such a huge voting population and immense though largely untapped natural resources, any President for that matter (not just GMA) will always think highly of Pangasinan and bestow ‘graces’ accordingly.

Hmm…now, anyone agrees?
* * * *

SAID AND DONE: I heard that the two “versions” of the Pangasinan PNP Press Corps, currently in a tug-of-war for recognition by the provincial and regional PNP leaderships, would soon be in a battle of attrition, with “libel suits” and all being floated in the air by the “aggrieved” party led by broadcaster Violy V. Ferrer. A news report published in a newspaper of the other group supposedly maligning Ferrer’s corps – with allegations of jueteng payolas and all – has raised the latter group’s hackles. Poor Supt. Nerez and General Pol Bataoil, now they’re caught in the middle of a war zone that’s, ironically, of their own making. . . What’s odd is that the libel suit threat is only being dangled, not before the court or any other legal forum, but in the confines of Nerez’es office who is now being made the arbiter. It would be interesting to see what Nerez would do to resolve this, uh, local media version of the NBN-ZTE deal. If it were up to Jun Lozada, he’d probably “moderate their greed.”