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The
novena for the Feast of St. Michael has began. So with the
night - nights.
However,
preparations for the celebration this year is not as elaborate
as last year. Perhaps it would be, some three and a half decades
from now. Jagna would be four hundred years old. It is understandable
if Exsam will not put up a big bash this time. He is in his
third and last term and he has nothing to prove anymore.
Perhaps,
he is trying to build up a momentum, which would propel the
progress of Jagna when he steps down a few years from now.
That would be a noble legacy
However, despite going through the motions of celebrating
just to get things over, the fiesta will still attract exspats
as usual. It has been a tradition that expats whether of the
national or foreign category will come home. There would be
no lack of local fiesta goers. Hopefully, after the preparations
furor of last year, the fiesta pageantry this year would still
be a cause for tourist attraction. The SB Committee on Tourism
should see to that.
This
year, there will be flies in the ointment or cockroaches on
the birthday cake.
Teenage
gangs had proliferated. The so-called fraternities are engaging
in nightly rumbles. Feria operators are getting annoyed. Street
fights drive away bettors and their business grind to a halt.
Motorcabs are stoned and drivers are filing charges in the
barangays where those hooligans live.
The
sad part of the story is; to hale those teenage thugs to court
is tricky. The so-called Teenage Law of Sen Kiko Pangilinan
had tied the hands of the authorities. If a barangay tanod
knocks a few heads of those punks to enforce order, the tanod
will be charged will child abuse. If brought to the police,
the misbegotten s. o. b. is handled with velvet gloves. If
the underage delinquent is haled to court, he is set free
under the Pangilinan law.
If
there is that teenage law, there should be also a law, which
imposes the full penalty on the parent or the guardian of
the culprit. If the youthful criminal finds out that his funds
had dried up because its source is in prison, the culprit
would think several times before embarking on a crime career.
Aside from that, the legal minds of the local SB should enact
an ordinance imposing a teenage curfew, where all apprehended
teenagers would be rounded up and detained for safe keeping
until morning. The ordinance would protect those thugs from
themselves. If done nightly, those criminals would see no
future in loitering around after curfew hours.
There
are some Luzon provinces, which do not have problems in teenage
hooliganism. They also do not have problems in drug pushing,
drug addiction and petty thuggery. They are found lying in
rice field or floating in creeks and rivers in mornings. No
distinction is made. Men, women teenagers are qualified to
depart from this world when the peace of the community is
disturbed.
Leftists,
rightists, centrists and vigilantes were blamed for their
untimely demise.
For
a time, funeral parlors were glad until the bodies ran out.
Those people are not aware of the Pangilinan law. Even if
they know of it, the law is more observed in breach than in
observance. Here, vigilantism is unheard of. Yet. However,
if those budding criminals hit some hotheads, they would be
likely candidates fort Holy Name or St. Peter. They should
know that forensic facilities in the local PNP is practically
non-existent. They would end up in the unsolved crime list.
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