From Multiply: Enlighten me. (2009)

Enlighten me.

Jan 16, '09 3:29 AM for everyone

I was going through a copy of the Agenda of the January 14, 2009 Cebu City Sangguniang Panglungsod (City Council) session, a session that I had gone to witness for work-related reasons. Anyway, there’s a portion that’s sort of a recap of the resolutions of the SP resolutions that have been approved by the Mayor (or Acting Mayor, in this case):

“RN 08-1333, c.s., by Member Pacaña, granting Cebu beauty titlist (insert beauty queen’s name here) the award of P50,000.00 for her outstanding achievement in winning the title of (insert international beauty title here) to be charged against Acct. No. xxxx-xxx-xxx-xxx (Rewards and Other Claims).”

My questions (not in a significant order). Enlighten me.

1.       Why should the city reward her? I mean, given that yes, she is Cebuana. Yes, we should be proud of her. But did she emphasize on her Cebuana heritage during the pageant? Otherwise, charge it to the national government. Why GIVE AWAY money that could be better spent on local development programs or on textbooks? The Philippines benefited from the win as well as Cebu.

Besides, Cebuanas go out and win titles all the time.

2.       Why should the reward be P50K? Fifty Thousand Pesos. Five Zero Zero Zero Zero. She won all those goodies in the pageant already right? Looking at our loan obligations and how much the city government needs to spend for the improvement of its citizen’s welfare, we can’t afford it. We can’t afford to be giving away fifty frickin thousand pesos.

Now I don’t know what the justification is exactly for the 50K. Maybe she’ll give it to the poor, instead of using it to go shopping or traveling. The summary had no details. Though maybe it’s telling that the 50K is hers to spend as she pleases.

Think of all the school books that 50K can buy.  Think of how many poor children that can feed.

Why 50K? Give her P500. or 1K. 50K is too much, really. And she probably doesn’t need it.

On the off-chance that the 50K was given to her so she can use the funds to promote awareness on the environment or some other worthy cause, then may I ask for a liquidation of expenses at the end of the year please?

3.       Do other achievers get 50K as well? Does the city of General Santos give Manny Pacquiao 50K for every international event he wins? Did the Loboc children’s choir get 50K as well? Is this the SOP for international achievers?

4.       This fourth and last one (for now) isn’t really a question. I do recall a piece on Sunstar Buzz (? Did I get the section name right?) a few days after the pageant. So syempre, everyone was all proud. And this particular beauty queen had visited the city councilors (actually I’m not so sure, basta government officials) and the vice-mayor at that time wasn’t able to attend that event. And she had ‘charmed’ all of them, and the piece mentions that the vice-mayor probably felt bad about not being able to attend. So anyway, I wonder. All that charming, and you get 50K. Do men always think with their d*cks?  

One of the other resolutions passed in that same session that was also approved by the Mayor was:

“RN 08-1224, c.s., by Member Pacaña, charging against the PAGCOR Funds the amount of P25,000.00, intended for the cash prizes for the Pasko sa Oprra 2008, Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City.”

That’s P25K to be shared by a lot of people. That’s only half of the P50K we’re giving away to just one person. 

edit delete reply badinebadz wrote on Jan 16, '09 aynlatonio said haha! why should i? i didnt receive any...i'll do it for 45k though...lol! you'll need to charm enough city councilors to get that. haha. i only saw 2 female city councilors last wednesday though. the odds are against you.

delete reply aynlatonio wrote on Jan 16, '09 haha! why should i? i didnt receive any...i'll do it for 45k though...lol!

edit delete reply badinebadz wrote on Jan 16, '09 aynlatonio said haha! mao na! i agree! stop whining and join a pageant badz! lol!!!! i was gonna say, 'you join first.' but then you might actually do it. haha. shut up ayn. :P defend the 50K. :P

delete reply brattybiatch wrote on Jan 16, '09 yeah, coz charming isn't a natural state of being. haha. see? there's no point giving money to people who already have a lot.

delete reply aynlatonio wrote on Jan 16, '09 haha! mao na! i agree! stop whining and join a pageant badz! lol!!!!

edit delete reply badinebadz wrote on Jan 16, '09 brattybiatch said poverty exists because people don't know which expenses to prioritize. hmmm. btw, i don't see myself as nice. ever. haha. but i can be charming... when i want something. like 50k? haha. do they really give money to achievers? but doesn't that not make sense because, since they're achievers, they have money already? well that's just one reason why poverty exists. haha, we need motivation to be charming. hahaha. actually, you do have a point. what's 1M to someone like manny pacquiao?

edit delete reply badinebadz wrote on Jan 16, '09 princesscharlene said like they dont have that nah.. exactly. i don't get it at all. our country acts like we have all this money to just give away.

delete reply brattybiatch wrote on Jan 16, '09 poverty exists because people don't know which expenses to prioritize. hmmm. btw, i don't see myself as nice. ever. haha. but i can be charming... when i want something. like 50k? haha. do they really give money to achievers? but doesn't that not make sense because, since they're achievers, they have money already?

delete reply princesscharlene wrote on Jan 16, '09 badinebadz said to reward it's achievers (beauty pageant winners, boxers, etc.) with ridiculously huge amounts of cash. like they dont have that nah..

edit delete reply badinebadz wrote on Jan 16, '09 princesscharlene said no coz gi kasab.an kos akong supe when she heard i was planning to ditch work. :(.

edit delete reply badinebadz wrote on Jan 16, '09 okay, so a friend of mine mentioned that it's a practice by the philippine government to reward it's achievers (beauty pageant winners, boxers, etc.) with ridiculously huge amounts of cash. talk about good priority spending. sure, give 50K or 1M away while the rest of the country is in poverty. sick.

delete reply princesscharlene wrote on Jan 16, '09 badinebadz said can't you absent on sinulog? no coz gi kasab.an kos akong supe when she heard i was planning to ditch work.

edit delete reply badinebadz wrote on Jan 16, '09 someone defend the 50K. :P

edit delete reply badinebadz wrote on Jan 16, '09 princesscharlene said oh, stop whining. go join a beauty pageant urself and be rewarded 50k. haha ü hahaha. let's join together. ;P huy cha, why why why? can't you absent on sinulog?

delete reply princesscharlene wrote on Jan 16, '09 oh, stop whining. go join a beauty pageant urself and be rewarded 50k. haha ü

delete reply princesscharlene wrote on Jan 16, '09 oh, stop whining. go join a beauty pageant urself and be rewarded 50k. haha ü

delete reply adrianclee wrote on Jan 16, '09 articles like this deserve to be written on the newspaper. are you interested to write for us at Cebu Goldstar Daily?

edit delete reply badinebadz wrote on Jan 16, '09 brattybiatch said apparently charm gets you the money and the boys. maybe we should shed our cynicism and be charming? haha. don't forget 'nice'. we should be nice also. hahaha. i don't think that i'm just being naive though when i say that charm and good looks only get you so far. ultimately it's brains, creativity and attitude that will bring success. and maybe a bit of luck. there's hope for us 'ordinary' people.

delete reply brattybiatch wrote on Jan 16, '09 maybe they give Monique Lhuillier 50k every time someone wears her dress on the red carpet. haha. i do agree though, why would they give a girl 50k to stand around, answer questions and being pretty when she already won an international tournament? not only is it too much, but it's also promoting some form of prostitution. apparently charm gets you the money and the boys. maybe we should shed our cynicism and be charming? haha.