“Give credit where credit is due.”
Congressman Eulogio Rodriguez had this phrase as answer to the failure of the chief executives of Virac, Bato and Baras to mention his role in the recent release of the four firetrucks by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
According to Cambridge Dictionary, it is an expression that means that you should praise someone when they deserve it, although you might dislike some things about them.
On the other hand, the Free Dictionary says it is an acknowledgement of someone’s work or contribution to something and has its roots in a passage in the Bible, Romans 13:7.
Verily, the apparent snub of the district congressman by the three mayors in their separate remarks accepting the firetrucks did strike a sympathetic chord among the crowd at Plaza Rizal.
After all, Rodriguez made it abundantly clear in his message that as representative of the Lone District of Catanduanes, it is part of his job to review and monitor all proposed projects, programs and funding proposals of national agencies allocated for the province, including the provision of firetrucks for BFP units in the 11 municipalities.
In going back to his seat at the Plaza Rizal stage, the solon showed his displeasure at the mayors by not shaking their hands as customarily done and instead choosing to do so with TGP Congressman Jose Teves Jr., BFP Regional Director Chief Superintendent Ricardo Perdigon and Reverend Father Jomar Tartacon.
But let us see the situation from the perspective of a Congress insider.
Nothing happens to a proposed bill in the House of Representatives unless majority of the members of the concerned committee or the entire membership itself supports it.
And there is no one else in Catanduanes today who knows it but Cong. Teves, who is probably the most powerful political backscratcher in Congress that the province has ever had since the EDSA Revolution.
In his first term as the first nominee of Talino at Galing ng Pinoy (TGP) partylist, he managed to upstage then Congressman Hector Sanchez by having their common colleagues approve Teves’ bill naming Catanduanes as the Abaca Capital of Catanduanes.
In the 2022 national and local elections, he parlayed his party’s contribution to the Marcos campaign by getting appointed as deputy majority floor leader by the Congress leadership, which is no small feat.
As for Rep. Rodriguez, let us revisit what he has done in representing the island in the House since July 1, 2022.
In September that year, DPWH insiders aver, the congressman’s camp had District Engineer Gil Augustus Balmadrid, a native Catandunganon, replaced by someone from Camarines Sur.
Soon enough, the mainland official’s loyalty to the solon was proven by his request to transfer majority of the CY 2023 funding for the DPWH Catanduanes District Engineering Office, his very own office, to the DPWH regional office.
The official reason given then was ostensibly to fast-track the implementation of the projects, despite the fact that at the time the DPWH regional office was at the bottom of the list as far as accomplishment of projects was concerned.
The result of that funding transfer was painfully predictable: many local contractors were unable to win projects and had to lay off hundreds of workers while local hardware stores and construction suppliers also lost out as the mainland contractors brought in their own materials and workers.
Now, who among the 11 municipal mayors would not be displeased by the suffering among their constituents caused by the DPWH funding controversy?
So let us really give credit where credit is due: Cong. Rodriguez may have scored points in reminding the mayors that he had a role in the firetrucks’ release but he certainly did the province much, much worse by having the DPWH Catanduanes DEO funding moved to the regional office.
And, judging by the fact that 72 percent of the CY 2024 infra funding would be implemented outside the province, the misery that torments local contractors and their workers, as well as those who directly or indirectly depend on construction, will continue for another year.