Divide-and-rule in vendors' imbroglio

The camp of Datu Saripada Agwak that includes his progeny-successor Rise-Rise and the majority of the Consejo de Jalo de la Ciudad de Yrong-Yrong, are over-simplifying the ruckus at the Iloilo Terminal Market into us-or-them, the "legal" vendors who are residents of Yrong-Yrong versus the "illegal"  ones who reside in the towns.

"Them" are the problems whose economic activiities hurt "us" the legitimate vendors.

That over-simplification which aims to divide-and-rule and weakens the vendors as a sector though it flies from reality and divert public attention from real issue. The core of the problem, the "enemy" is the corporate greed for profits, SM Prime Holdings, a conglomerate of malls nationwide involving a banking system and huge interests in construction and power industry, among others.

SM Prime Holdings is licensed to swing its arms and hit our noses because it has protectors -- whether they are under its payroll or otherwise -- public servants, to be more precise, bureaucrat-capitalists like Datu Saripada Agwak, Rise-Rise, the bulk of the Consejo de Jalo, among others, who abetted and procured its broad daylight robbery, specifically of two prime real estate assets of the people of Yrong-Yrong -- the Centtral Market or Tienda Mayor and the Terminal or Super Market -- which aggregately span close to four hectares.

"Bureaucrat capitalism" is a system of governance where rulers treat public office a license to plunder; bureaucrat capitalists rule to protect their self-interests which translate but not limited to, broad daylight robberies.

That's what happened to the Central and Super markets that these charlatans disguised as public servants have turned over to SM Prime Holdings for a song, yes for a song. Datu Saripada Agwak et al privatized these jewels by way of two pieces of bogus lease contracts disguised as "modernization" and "rehabilitation" of the two public markets.

The displacement of vendors, the fabricated antagonism between "us" and "them" are mere consequences of that. The use of excessive force -- bandits disquised as operatives from the Local Economic Enterprise Office (LEEO) and Anti-Squating and -Illegal Structure Task Force (ASIS-TF), backed by fully armed local police and the elite SWAT -- the use of excessive force which hounded the vendors for successive nights, stealing their merchandizes and arresting some of them, are but outcomes of this basic evil -- bureaucrat capitalism magnified by the thick faces of Datu Saripada Agwak, Rise-Rise and their borloloys in the Consejo de Jalo.

These bureaucrat capitalists have hired media mercenaries and trolls to parrot and spread the yarn that the "problem" -- vendors from the province should return to their towns, or are better left to the care of the Iloilo provincial government. 

One member, Mandri Jalo calls them "illegal" and must return to the province. This is not a diatribe to friends at the western side of Panay, but Mandri Jalo should be reminded that if ever there were a person to be deported back to Antique home of his ancestors, it should be him first.

Another, honorable Rex Jalo, self-proclaimed human rights lawyer, echoes Mandri Jalo's call to deport vendors back to the province of Yrong-Yrong. The least he should have learned is realize that ecenomic life, access to the wherewithals of decent living, is human right.

Do these bureaucrats really see who gets hurt for the highhandedness of Datu Saripada Agwak, et all, in handing over two prime real properties of the people of Yrong-Yrong to the corporate giant?

All of us, consumers, sans difference whether "us" or "them", city based vendors or otherwise. The inflation resulting from privatization of two public markets hurts us consumers.

Or do these apparatchiks have updates on the residence of these "vendors from the province"? They might be surprised to find out that the bulk of the people they so despised, are city residents mostly from the urban poor, and voters at that who have the power to swing Rise-Rise come 2028 back to where she truly belongs, Carlos Bakshop for her to manage and pack and peddle biscucho and chismis.

How much do the sovereign people of Yrong-Yrong get from these broad daylight robberies? None. 

How much lease do they get from SM Prime Holdings squatting on the people's prime real properties? Nada.

How much share do the peoplle get from the rentals paid by tenants of the two erstwhile public markets? Zero.

How much real property tax do the people received from SM Prime Holdings squatting on their premier properties? Zilch. The ownership remains with Yrong-Yrong which can always tax itself and look ridiculous.

The "lease payments and rentals" from SM Prime Holdings will come 50 years from now. Yes, 50 years from now; not in cash but in kind -- the buildings now comprising the Tienda Mayor and Terminal Market. To be repetitive, the "lease payment comprises two half-century old buildings that by then are maintenance nightmares, not P2B construction cost that these bureaucrats tout today.

By then, angry Yrong-Yronganons no longer have the necks of the culprits to grab and throttle. By then Datu Saripada Agwak, Rise-Rise and their burloloys at the Consejo de Jalo who had lent hands in these broad daylight robberies shall have migrated to the Great Beyond - either the Heavenly Bliss in Paradise or the Eternal Damnation in Hell.

Prefarably the latter.