dilg

The Department of the Interior and Local Governments (DILG) has issued Memorandum Circular No. 2025-082. The memo bans personnel of the said agency and all other agencies and offices attached to it, as well as all elected and appointed officials down to the barangays from accessing or participating in any form of on-line gambling.

Indeed there is no doubt the memorandum circular is very well-intentioned. The question is, whether there a mechanism that will be used to monitor compliance by government personnel concerned. In fact we suspect that some of the more popular on-line gambling are operated by certain top elected government officials.

Remember the e-sabong in almost all of the Visayas and Mindanao? Who was the person who run it? Was it not the ousted Negros Oriental Congressman Arnulfo Teves? And what about the case of the now facing criminal charges businessman Charlie “Atong” Ang?

Who could imagine the influence he wields on certain local government officials and even in the Philippine National Police (PNP), an organization directly under the DILG?

How many of Ang’s co-accused in the cases of the missing cockfight aficionados are policemen with one of them reportedly having a star rank.

And Ang’s domain appears to have encroached that of the Negros former Congressman. In Cebu province, one of Ang’s most trusted lieutenants to oversee his e-sabong and even the normal cockfights done inside cockpits is the man who is the model of a brand of feeds for fighting cocks. And he is from the town of Cordova in Cebu Province.

Again, our take on this memorandum circular from the DILG: for as long as there is a no-nonsense monitoring body to check compliance of concerned personnel and failure of the concerned law enforcement agencies to bring the violators to the courts, have them convicted, then the memo will just be another piece of paper or electronic document.

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Circulating in the social media these days is the alleged allocation of the budget of infrastructure projects that are either reported completed but actually not implemented (ghost projects), unfinished,  or finished but the construction is so below the required quality.

According to the post the breakdown of the project budget is as follows: 40 percent goes to the Congressman-sponsor, 30 percent to the project itself, the remaining goes to the contractor and all other persons whose signatures are necessary for the final acceptance of the supposed completed infrastructure.

Assuming that the claim is true, what kind of project is the one turned over to the government? And then we saw another post short of telling that nothing is left of the budget to implement the project. Again the biggest share of the divided pie goes to the sponsor-congressman. In other words it is insinuating that the budget for that particular project has been exhausted but nowhere the project or even a shadow of the same can be seen.

This reminds us of a joke of two close friends in college. While relaxing a few months before graduation, one of the two asked the other, “Brother, what would you want to be after our graduation?” The other answered, I want to become a politician to serve our people.”

Then it was the other guy’s turn to ask the same question. The former said rather uncertainly, “I just want to practice my profession.” Of which his classmate said mockingly, “O you better have some clear ambition for yourself and your future family.”

So, after the two graduated college they went on separate ways. After about ten years, one of the two friends sent his buddy an invitation to visit him to his hometown, which the latter immediately agreed. Upon reaching the address of the former, the invitee was amazed at the size and beauty of the house of the one who invited. Upon entering the compound the host pointed to a 3-car garage with sleek motor vehicles parked inside.

When they entered the house, the invitee was awed by the classy interior including high-end appliances.

The invitee was not able to control himself. He asked his host friend what his work is and how he managed to acquire all the luxuries.

The answer he got was simple and direct. Brod, remember when we had our conversation shortly before our graduation? Did I not tell you I want to become a politician? Now I am the mayor of this town.

The invited classmate pursued his question how he managed to accumulate money to acquire his luxurious belongings. The host invited his friend to join him at the nearby window. He pointed to a bridge not far, to several school buildings and a still unfinished two story market. Then he proudly told his classmate, “Brother, 50 percent…”

The visitor went home feeling so happy for the fate of his friend.

A few years after, it was the turn of the invited classmate to send an invitation to the town mayor to visit him. Naturally, as close friends the invited did not hesitate to make a return visit. And when he arrived at his friend’s house his eyes almost bulge out from its sockets. There he saw a mansion, an Olympic size swimming pool, five high-end SUVs, a private theater inside his friend’s house and luxurious amenities.

Then he asked his friend where he got all the money to afford all those. And like what he once did to his host the visiting former classmate was led to the balcony by his friend. The latter pointed to a hectares upon hectares of empty space. The invited guest, upon seeing nothing, asked his host, “What are you pointing at? I do not see anything that could be called development project>”

The host friend casually said, “One hundred percent, one hundred percent Brother.”  

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