Overacting on notebooks issue
EXCESS, like politicking, can be a problem. That is one lesson that can be learned from the way the Provincial Government handled, or should we say mishandled, the controversial school supplies issue in relation to the anti-“epal” campaign of the Aquino administration.
To recall, one of Acting Gov. Agnes Magpale's major decisions when she took over Capitol following the suspension of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia was to stop the distribution of about P22 million worth of notebooks and other school supplies. The notebooks had the photos of the governor and other Provincial Government officials on the cover.
Magpale used the notebooks as another example of Garcia's use of government resources for self-promotion, and made too much fuss about a Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) memorandum prohibiting the inclusion of names, initials or images of government officials on billboards and signs on government projects and properties.
As a result of the non-distribution of the notebooks and other school supplies, the said materials ended up being stockpiled in a Capitol warehouse and the Cebu International Convention Center. A few of the notebooks got damaged in the process.
For one reason or another (or probably because of the May 13 elections), the acting governor brought the anti-“epal” diktat of Malacañang to the extreme, even talking about taking out the cover of the notebooks prior to their distribution. Lately, she admitted thinking about “covering” the notebooks' covers over with acrylic paint.
With the elections over and another school year about to open, Magpale, or whoever is advising her, seems to have finally seen the light. (Or were they merely jettisoning the pretense?)
The reality is it was much ado about nothing, and that the “worry” that they would be held liable for distributing the notebooks was a mirage. The bigger problem was wastage. In the end, the Province decided to donate the notebooks and school supplies to the Department of Education for distribution to the intended beneficiaries.
As we Cebuanos would say, “Naa ra man diay na.”
The notebooks and other school supplies issue is an example of how being overacting on certain policies (“Daang Matuwid”?) instead of merely being practical can also be a bane to governance.