By Robert B. Roque Jr.
Residents of Project 4 are noticing a new phenomenon — fat flies. They are common there nowadays – that’s according to a message I received that really caught my attention. “Tumataba pala ang mga langaw at bangaw, sir!”
Well, it appears that these flies have been feasting in the neighborhood. Unattended garbage is a common scene in the streets of barangays in the area lately, so it seems. What used to be daily garbage collection has turned into a two- or three-day waiting game, leaving communities to deal with the stench, the health risks, and the infestation.
The Barangay Marilag chairman even dared to suggest that residents should not take out their trash unless the garbage truck is around. Wow, that’s a brilliant solution! So, what are households supposed to do — stock garbage in their homes like it’s part of their décor?
Meanwhile, the assigned garbage truck has reportedly broken down, and despite the issue being raised with the good Congressman Franz Pumaren’s office, no clear resolution has been offered yet.
This dilly-dallying is a blatant failure of leadership. Public health is at stake, yet city and barangay officials seem content to pass the buck.
No wonder many people in the area, especially the young, are falling sick. Shall we wait for an epidemic before real action is taken?
What’s happening to the Percy Lapid case?
It is often said that justice delayed is justice denied, and in the case of Percy Lapid — killed in October 2022 — it seems justice is deliberately being strangled.
Judge Cesar Huliganga’s order for DNA testing on Ricardo Zulueta — supposedly a key actor in Lapid’s murder — remains unheeded by the NBI, and now, we’re asked to take their word that Zulueta conveniently “died” of a heart condition last March? Without verification?
If this wasn’t already outrageous, Gerald Bantag, another alleged mastermind, walks free, flaunting his presence at public events and was, as of late, even seen in an Iglesia Ni Cristo rally. This mocks the very system supposed to hold him accountable.
Firing Line believes the Marcos administration owes accountability — not just to Lapid’s family but to the media industry and the nation, whose greater good and interest Percy stood for.
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SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View via X app (formerly Twitter). Read current and past issues of this column at http://www.thephilbiznews.com
