"The objective should be to serve the public."
It’s really sickening when you encounter people elected to public office who cannot distinguish public service from power. It is as if that the primary objective of getting into public office is to wield power instead of extending public service. And to make matters worse, when they wield that newfound power emanating from the public office they were elected to, they do it in such a way that makes it look like their power is so absolute. As if they have been bestowed some godly powers.
Take the case of the barangay chairman of Barangay Horseshoe in Quezon City, Francisco Aguilar, whom a Dr. Alfred Buenafe had lodged a complaint against before the Office of the City Prosecutor in the same city, for Grave Coercion and Usurpation of Official Function.
In his complaint, Buenafe alleges that Aguilar, with the aid of other barangay officers, illegally clamped and towed his vehicles, depriving him of a much-needed ride to Batangas where he was set to perform surgeries that day.
In his complaint-affidavit, a copy of which this writer had obtained, Buenafe narrated that he received a notice on February 14 last year from the barangay, “threatening to conduct clamping and towing operations” against his vehicles, which were parked on one side of Hilltop Street in Horseshoe Village Inquiring with his neighbors, Buenafe said he learned it was only him who received such notice, despite the fact that there were other vehicles parked on the same street.
While he, though his counsel, tried to reason with Aguilar on the matter through a letter received by the Office of the Barangay on February 17, his vehicles were nevertheless clamped and towed the next day, February 18. Again, this despite the fact that there were other vehicles parked on the same street. No amount of reasoning could change Aguilar’s decision as shown in a video captured by Buenafe.
As he supposedly had an operation on a patient in Batangas scheduled that day, Buenafe said he decided to accept things as they were and proceeded to the barangay office to pay the fine so he could retrieve his vehicles. However, Buenafe said Aguilar refused to release them unless he signed some sort of promissory note stating he would not park in the said area anymore. Left with no choice, Buenafe said he had to sign the promissory note under duress.
Later, he said he consulted with the president of the Homeowners’ Association regarding the parking practices inside their village, who informed him there was no ordinance that disallows parking on the contested street. In fact, if there was an ordinance regarding parking inside their subdivision, it was one that designated Hilltop Street as a one-sided parking area. In fact, Aguilar unknowingly admitted this when he presented a copy of a barangay ordinance dated February 19, 2020, one day after the incident, prohibiting parking of vehicles on the said street.
Oops! Is Aguilar conscious of our Constitutional protection against the enactment of ex-post facto laws, which seeks to penalize anyone for an act committed even before the law was enacted? Aguilar might be digging his grave deeper.
Interviews with other residents of the village reveal Aguilar’s other offenses as a public servant. A resident presented to this writer a screenshot of Aguilar’s own social media post showing him inside a casino, which is totally off-limits to public officials like him.
Another resident alleges that Aguilar is personally collecting association dues from other homeowners even though he is not an official of the association.
Maybe, aside from the complaint filed by Buenafe against Aguilar, the Department of Interior and Local Government, or even Mayor Joy Belmonte herself, could conduct an investigation into the allegations against his particular barangay chairman. This is not helping her administration in any way.
We tried to get the contact number of Chairman Aguilar to get his side but the residents interviewed by this writer failed to provide us. But in case this article gets his attention, we would be more than willing to accommodate him. He could send his reaction either to his paper’s desk, or directly to this writer. We assure him of equal space.