Better an inflated condom than a used one

HEALTH Sec - re tary Francisco Duque 3rd is at the exit threshold at the Department of Health, according to an impeccable source in Malacañang.

The source said President Rodrigo Duterte is just paying Duque a debt of gratitude as the latter had supported the presidential candidacy of the then Davao City mayor.

“Duque gave [Duterte] all-out support even when his ratings were down during the campaign and you should know the President’s deep sense of gratitude,” the little bird said.

What the little bird told me jibes with this columnist’s assessment, based on speculations inside the Palace, that Duque is on his way out.

On Tuesday, for the third time — the first was on April 16 and the second on June 5 — the President backed Duque from critics calling for his resignation.

“The President is just waiting for Duque to hand him a resignation letter,” the Palace source said.

The source added that the appointment of Dr. Leopoldo Vega, chief of the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City, as undersecretary is a writing on the wall for Duque.

Not only is Vega an undersecretary, his specific job is as understudy to the Health secretary; meaning, he’s being prepared for the No. 1 post.

Duque, who’s impervious to calls for his resignation, pretends not to read the writing on the wall.

A leader of a farmers’ group is questioning the alleged overprice of the P1.8-billion fertilizer procured by the Department of Agriculture (DA) for distribution to farmers.

Sources at the Agriculture department told me the farmers’ leader was “sourgraping,” as he lost in the public bidding for the purchase of fertilizer.

The public bidding under Secretary William Dar was “fair and square,” the sources said, adding that in previous administrations, public bids at the DA were mostly rigged.

The farmers’ group leader won in previous rigged bids by dropping the names of Senators Cynthia Villar and Mary Grace Poe.

In a karmic sense, what have the people in Palawan and Puerto Princesa City done to merit the scums of the Philippine National Police (PNP) who were foisted as police chiefs upon the province and city?

The latest abusive PNP officer to be assigned to Puerto Princesa as police director — the new term for police chief — is Col. Mariano Balonglong.

Balonglong allegedly ordered the extensive cutting of mangroves to clear the beachside property that he allegedly land-grabbed in the city.

Residents of Palawan and Puerto Princesa are very protective of the environment.

Eight forest rangers and village guards of Barangay Matahimik who tried to stop the cutting of mangroves were arrested by Balonglong’s men.

One of the forest rangers, Roldan Alvarez, was reportedly made to kneel while being kicked and punched by the police chief himself.

A furious Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu strongly protested the maltreatment of his men with PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa, who immediately ordered Balonglong’s relief.

Balonglong is now being investigated by higher headquarters and may be dismissed from the service.

More than a decade ago, Senior Supt. Elnora Bernardino, Palawan police chief, was also forced on the peaceful residents of the province.

Bernardino went around Palawan and Puerto Princesa with bodyguards who lugged Uzi submachine guns in plain view of the public.

The female police chief was said to have beat up a carpenter of a house she was allegedly erecting on a land-grabbed property in Puerto Princesa because of the delay in finishing the house.

Bernardino also allegedly protected dynamite fishers in the province by providing them with explosives, according to my sources in the province.

She also allegedly tried to set up

the illegal numbers game, in Puerto Princesa but was stopped by then-Mayor Edward Hagedorn.

Bernardino finally met her match in a subordinate, Supt. Feliciano Dimayuga, then- Puerto Princesa police chief, who threatened to shoot her for interfering in the arrest of persons who were caught terrorizing voters in the province and city during an election.

For a long time, Bernardino had a pending criminal case for alleged electioneering in a court in Puerto Princesa even after she was dismissed from the service.

The case was permanently shelved after an influential religious group, where she is a member, reportedly interceded for her.

As a part-time resident of Puerto Princesa, I’m appealing for a stop to assigning the dregs of the PNP to the province and city.

Foreign Secretary Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin Jr. bats for the retention of the old jeepney, vintage of the World War 2 jeep converted into a public vehicle.

Locsin says the modern jeepney, actually a mini-bus, looks like an “inflated condom.”

With all due respect to Teddyboy, better an inflated condom than a used condom, which the old jeepney looks like.

The iconic World War 2-vintage jeepney has seen better days and should now be relegated to the side streets or the provinces, much like the horse- drawn pre- World War 2 that was replaced by the old jeepney.