SCUTTLEBUTT

Senate time wasted

Amid the scandalous head bashing that happened in the Senate over the chamber’s proposed new Taguig building, political rivalry had stuck out like a sore thumb in the sick encounters.

Racently, the public has noticed that intramurals have become the main preoccupation of the chamber.

The public hearings in aid of legislation have turned into lynching affairs which in the recent case was among two prominent members of the august body.

The fireworks display does not help in improving the sordid image of the Senate as an institution.

The energy spent should have been better used for resolving issues that remain unresolved.

Still up in the air is a resolution calling for a “full-blown” investigation of the allegedly irregular deals in connection to the country’s hosting of the SEA Games in 2020.

The probe would have investigated the legality of the agreement for the construction of the sports venue at the NCC complex in Capas and Bamban towns.

The waste of public money was raised as the probe seeks to include the probability that the sports complexes built will become gigantic white elephants.

A Commission on Audit report said the sports facilities included an aquatic center, an athletics stadium and an “athlete’s village” capable of housing 1,000 people.

Suspicions were also raised about the joint venture scheme used to skirt the legal requirement of public bidding and manipulate the grant of the project to a favored contractor. chito lozada

Perfect snake pit

Whispers are swirling around the Presidential Communications Office after a sudden shake-up.

An assistant secretary was “suddenly” tossed to PCO’s attached agency, leaving many insiders scratching their heads.

“This wasn’t a surprise move. The tension between the said Assistant Secretary and a certain Undersecretary has been simmering for months,” a Palace source told Daily Tribune speaking on condition of anonymity.

Speculation points towards this Undersecretary who’s been with President Marcos Jr. since his Senate days. Their long-standing relationship seemingly has not stopped the alleged rivalry.

“There’s been bad blood between them for a while,” another staffer said. “Some people were actively undermining the assistant secretary for months,” the staffer added.

The PCO has remained tight-lipped about the reasons for the shakeup. Was it a genuine performance issue, or just a nasty game of political chess being played out in the office?

Lesson learned the hard way

According to the Department of Transportation (DOTr), 159,914 out of 191,730 or 83.41 percent public utility vehicles (PUVs) have been consolidated.

Consolidation involves jeepney operators forming either transport cooperatives or corporations. So far, 1,749 cooperatives with around 262,870 members and 1,088 corporations have been formed.

It may include UV Express, but a different situation happened to an operator of 32 units of taxi and UV Express which was not granted a consolidation even if the fleet is already under a corporation.

The operators reportedly tried to get to LTFRB chief Teofilo Guadiz the right-hand man. Though not disclosing the amount he gave, the taxi/UV Express service, to date is still pleading with the agency to take and consider his fleet as consolidated.

Unfortunately, the go-between was fired from the job, making the operator to look for another conduit until the consolidation deadline caught up with him.

After all the trouble, the operator ended up empty handed and have to sell his fleet to junk shops.