The “Lucky Me Noodle” politics

The fault-finding hearing for the still stalled 2011 budget by the Sanggunian Panlungsod of Dagupan City  has stumbled something it used against its enemy.

Councilor Chito Samson gained a mileage for himself when he found out that the prices of goodies for the feeding program for thousand of malnourished children were overpriced.

He said that a kilo of sugar was priced by P25 more than the market price of P135. He added that a Milo and milk have their priced doubled.

But the most contentious issue was Samson’s finding of the price of a Lucky Me Noodle. It was priced at P15.23 when the market price is P6.90 -a difference of P8.33.

Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez did not waste time to exploit this seemingly grossly disadvantageous price quotation in behalf of the government to embarrass the Benjie Lim Administration.

She even defended the head of the Nutrition Department Lea Aquino who should be getting the axe on this controversy since it is her office that implements it.

“I only do the request but people at the mayor’s office do the pricing,” Aquino retorted to the members of the August Body who asked her.

The Vice Mayor instantly came to the succour of Aquino by declaring she was clean since she worked with her under the past Fernandez Administration.

How could Aquino be clean when a high official at the Mayor’s office showed me the Request Form that was done personally by Aquino. I was told that Aquino “penned” and signed by herself the pricing of the request for the purchase of those things for the feeding program.

But the unwary public does not know this issue. What they know was the Lim Administration has patently done this anomaly.

Thanks to the Vice Mayor and Samson who on their countless media interviews insinuated that the present dispensation has something to do about it.

According to my mole at the city hall, it seems there is collusion between Aquino and some members of the Bids & Award Committee (BAC) to overprice.

He told me that Aquino et al almost copied the prices of the goodies from Aquino’s previous request form in the former Al Fernandez’s administration.

“Si Taba ang pumirma ng request form!” my angry source emphatically told me.

He said Aquino’s explanation at the SP that she does not have a hand on the pricing was self-serving and deceiving.

He said that Mayor Lim and Administrator Vlad Mata (the head of BAC) should be insulated on this controversy.

“It is the Principle of Completed Staff Work” my source explained.

This principle means that Lim and Mata should not be tasked to do the daunting jobs of meticulously looking to each of the prices of the request passed by Aquino.

“There is already an assumption that subordinates like Aquino has done her job in good faith,” my source explained.

But it seems the head of the Nutrition Department has done otherwise.

According to my source Lim reacted to the insinuations of the members of the SP that he has a hand on it.

“Pinapalabas pa nila na pinag-i-interesan ko pa iyung noodles,” the mayor was heard saying to some media men.

The mayor should reprimand, discipline, or sue Aquino and company in the soonest possible time to whatever “shenanigans” they have done.

By doing it, the Lim administration wins again the sympathy of some Dagupenos who have been deceived by the statements of Aquino and the squid tactics by some leaders at the SP.

By doing it, it is square- one again on the mind games with the SP --where everybody knew the latter is bullying the former-- all in the name of selfish politics, and not the “Noodle Politics”, for Christ sake!