Downtown, they are putting up the lights on the main street, and placing Parols (Christmas stars) on the tree in the Plaza.
the big construction job in the Plaza is a huge ferris wheel: Almost finished, but no seats yet. Presumably they will finish before Christmas.
The Mayor has been cleaning up the town in many ways since he was elected, and even got an award for his work (and being honest).
the improvement in the plaza and the night market mean there is a place for the young folks to gather safely and hang out. If the kids have a place to enjoy themselves, they are less likely to become bored and get into trouble or take drugs.
We also have lots of concerts and contests (beauty contests, music contests) there, and the local motorcycle clubs meet there for their rides on weekends.
here is a film about the Christmas preparations at the downtown Plaza, the Night market (fast food) in front of the Plaza, at City hall and at the city gym.
the main street is being blocked for safety one block at a time as they put up the arches for the lights and decorations, meaning more traffic around our house.
They have also been replacing the tangled electric etc. wires with larger cables etc. so we have rolling brownouts (one hour twice a day) so they can connect the new wires.
Yes, we still have occasional murders. And drugs are still a problem. The local rehab center down the street is empty now: Guess they didn't need it. Most of the drug using people who gave themselves up were paroled to home and had to withdraw on their own, with the help of the extended family. And the hardcore dealers are either dead, keeping their heads down, or have fled.
here the problem is mainly Shabu, i.e. meth. Used to self treat depression and boredom and also to be able to stay awake at work.
But the families destroyed by drug use and the corruption of the police and local politicians are a big problem here.
The Philippines was in danger of becoming a narco terror state before Duterte took over.
and although the "human rights" types lament the dead dealers, they seem to ignore those dead from home invasions or in meth induced rage in arguments with family members.
That, and his war against crooked cops and politicians, is why Duterte still remains popular,
This secret and persistent approach to revealing and eliminating corruption, especially crooked senior police and civilian officials is making Duterte a lot of enemies in the government. It is anti-corruption efforts like this mean that Duterte remains popular. His current approval rating is 78 percent.
here is an example of the links between drugs and murder in our city.
this gang is "protected" by an unnamed mayor who presumably has used their services in the past.
But the leader is still at large, so our Mayor has raised the reward for finding the head of the "guns for hire" group because they are the gang that killed his family members (and our nephew).
more about them here:
Meanwhile, the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group arrested five members of the Peralta Group...
The group is engaged in kidnapping and gun-for-hire activities in Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Tarlac, Metro Manila, and Cagayan Valley.
Albayalde identified their leader as Ricardo Peralta, who is the subject of several warrants of arrest for multiple murder, kidnapping, carnapping and highway robbery.
Peralta is a co-accused of former Gapan Mayor Ernesto Natividad for the murder of Ericson and Ebertson Pascual in a Nueva Ecija cockpit in 2006. Albayalde said Peralta, who is still at large, has been peddling their gun-for-hire services to some politicians.
so if the cops kill these guys, the Catholic do gooders and American and UN human rights folks will mourn.
But no tears for our nephew or the mayor's family or their other victims.
as for the "former mayor" who paid for the murders, well he was buried in a Catholic funeral complete with a Knights of Columbus bodyguard.
Why not? Like Whitey Bulger, he was a "good Catholic".
No comments:
Post a Comment