A little delicadeza, Dongkoy
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September 27, 2004
WHAT’S the top honcho of the Cagayan de Oro government's biggest contractor doing in China with the Big Boss of city hall?
UKC Builders got breadcrumbs from city hall during the Magtajas administration. After the 1998 elections, it was as if fortune guided UKC boss Dodong Uy's hand. So far, reports an enterprising journalist who checked city hall documents, UKC bagged nearly P1.5 billion in city hall projects under the Emano administration. A whopping P1.5 billion from one local government alone! Not bad for a province-based contractor.
It's not safe to say that UKC is city hall's favorite contractor. The presumption is that UKC, just like any government contractor, won the projects based on the merits of its bids and not because Dodong Uy is the apple of Dongkoy Emano's eyes.
But it's safe to say that Lady Luck is on Uy's side, definitely. The ratio is something like this: of 15 juicy projects of the Emano administration a dozen would likely end up in UKC's bag.
The "world-class" Bulua market-terminal was built by UKC. The Carmen market facelift was also undertaken by UKC. The ongoing Cogon project also went to UKC. And who would ever forget the equally controversial Huluga project? Who's the Berdugo used by Emano to defecate on the site of that ancient village? You guessed it right.
The standards set by the government for public servants are high. Soldiers and cops are barred from beer joints. So are judges. And no public official should be seen in a casino. The sad thing is, it's as if no one wants to live by these standards these days.
In a radio interview last week, Emano brushed aside talk that he and Uy quarreled over something. Proof to this, he said they were recently in China together. If Emano has delicadeza, he wouldn't even think of telling Cagayan de Oro that he and Uy spent two weeks in China together. And please, Mr. Mayor, don't even give us that "trade mission" crap because a columnist's personal written account of the "trade mission" showed that it was anything but a trade mission.
Imagine a contractor who raked in over a billion pesos in public funds spending two weeks in a foreign land with the same mayor who awarded him the projects. What were they doing together? Does that look, smell and sound right?
Public officials are expected to make an effort not only to come clean but to see to it that they are beyond reproach.
Did power make Emano lose his delicadeza, too?
Pastilan.
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