Tarlac mayor scored for donating coffins bearing his name
MP battles child labor
TARLAC CITY — A photo that shows a white casket, brush-painted with “Alay ni (offering of) Mayor TJ Rodriquez Jr.” in red orange on the side of the coffin above the middle handle has sent a priest and netizens in uproar.
The photo, which has gone viral in social media, appears to promote Capas, Tarlac Mayor Antonio TJ Rodriguez whose name was painted on the coffin donated by the local government to its constituents.
“Respect the dead. Just help without advertising because that’s when sincerity enters,” Fr. Edwin Gariguez, executive secretary of Caritas Philippines, said in a statement.
Gariquez lambasted the mayor for allegedly making use of the dead in his propaganda, stressing that his action was “in bad taste and unbecoming of a public servant.”
Earlier, netizens also slammed the politician’s move as “epal” (attentiongrabbing), “disrespectful,” and “inappropriate.”
“Dapat pati sa lapida isulat pangalan ni Mayor. Yung malaking sulat (The mayor should have also inscribed his name on the tombstone in big letters),” commented netizen Percy Tabor in jest.
Other netizens like Froilan Duque Pablo and Rosbert Dela Soledad, however, said the issue had been blown out of proportion and the mayor should be thanked for his burial assistance.
BONTOC, Mt. Province — A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a collaborative effort between the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) - Mt. Province Field Office and four villages in two towns in the province for the protection of children against child labor, was signed recently.
“The convergence program against child labor through the barangay-based ‘HELP ME’ strategy which provides focused, convergence and synchronized strategies aims to effectively address child labor in the country,” said DOLE Cordillera Regional Director Henry John S. Jalbuena during the program.
HELP stands for health, education, livelihood, and prevention, protection and prosecution while ME stands for monitoring and evaluation.
Jalbuena said the “campaign for Child Labor Free Barangays, which seeks to make villages Child LaborFree through community interventions support from various stakeholders and government line agencies to protect and eliminate child laborers from hazardous work.” (Zaldy C. Comanda)