The article With compass, desire and team that the mayoress of Teguise, Olivia Duque Pérez, has kindly published, deserves a proper response, especially for dedicating several lines to our opposition work, as well as to the 61 days, 8 weeks and a bit - not the almost five that she claims - since she reached the municipal baton last June 17. Here it goes, with due respect and in brackets, the same.
Her letter begins like this. "I hope to become the first mayoress in the history of Teguise with a new style of governance." [And she achieved being the first mayoress, not because she won the elections, but because according to democratic rules the votes of CC, PP and VOX made it possible, in such a way that we started the mandate and mayoralty under the same acronyms that have been occupying it for the last fourteen years, those of the Canarian Coalition. Before as the first political force in the municipality, this time as the second option of the citizens behind the PSOE].
These were my words expressed in the golden minute of one of the electoral debates that I attended as a CC candidate for the Teguise City Council. But, what's more, in my public interventions during the campaign, I expressed two objectives that feed each other: to lead a change that would improve the quality of life of all the residents of the municipality, from my global and experiential vision in the Public Administration -because I know how things are done after twelve years of management tasks- and on the other hand, to do it supported by a team of people dedicated to public service, competent and committed, because as I also said "we have an immense task ahead, but I do it with a renewed team". [An immense task that remains, that's right, in which something will have to do, precisely, with the more than a decade of CC government in this great municipality with loss of leadership, drive and ambition in recent years. Hence, it is time to recover the numerous opportunities that they did not know-could not achieve, whether they are promised infrastructures, pending plans, improvement of public services or the functioning of the City Council itself].
Since I took office I have been clear about the immediacies and urgencies, but also the projections expressed by our neighbors during the campaign and that are the port that I inevitably want to reach, [it is a pity that in all this time, your government has not pointed out the urgencies, projections and port to reach, as they still do not present to the public opinion or the citizens the government program that they intend to develop in the coming years. A question that we have unsuccessfully demanded, because of the transparency, planning and accountability required for good governance. They are still on time]. In my campaign, I told them that the "formula works", but it works regardless of personalism, because the key to knowing how to be where you have to be is provided by the CC Teguise project, with a team of people, integrated in a local committee that confronts ideas, realistic solutions and acts as a bloc. [I will not criticize the defense he makes of the party to which he belongs, as a member and public official of the same is logical, but I do criticize the fact that he ignores, especially in view of the results in Teguise - you know 1186 votes less -, certain self-criticism, and I say this from the consideration I profess to the rest of the formations. A marriage, reinforcement to one's own, together with reflection on the mistakes made that help the process of continuous improvement of any project, whether personal or collective].
It is not a question of being defined in the media as the replacement of the previous mayor, or the heir of a supposed poisoned legacy, but that my neighbors see me as an engine of feasible change. I aspire to be qualified by my own actions. What less freedom of action than that day-to-day work when I have not been in the municipal government for 100 days! [You will understand that the 100 days of grace do not mean immunity to criticism or to the information opinion that the media and the majority party of the Corporation, the PSOE, carry out to judge - with prudence as until now - their first steps at the head of the City Council. The opposite would constitute a blank check that we neither share, nor can any government or ruler ask for].
The new governance formula, proposed for Teguise, not only has the imprint of the acronyms I represent, but also adds another political force: the PP. With them we walk these first steps, always thinking of strengthening the government and stability, adding other supports that allow us to develop a full legislature with guarantees. The elections provided some results in Teguise; the PSOE was the winner, [thank you for remembering and, above all, for accepting that we were the preferred option of the people of Teguise and La Graciosa, increasing support and councilors, compared to the significant decline of your party, but that legitimately maintains the government because of the majority of votes that reached in the constitutive plenary of June. A majority of votes "of councilors", which should not make you forget that, with everything, your government represents less citizen support than that which supports the parties of the current opposition].
The reality is that a government is constituted from the sum. Therefore, I continue to insist on my outstretched hand to all those who want to work for the welfare of Teguise [which is surprising, in view of the zero offers to, at least on issues of maximum municipal relevance, to agree, share and co-decide. As an example, the absence of consultation or information to the majority party on urgent issues, such as the water crisis; or strategic decisions for the future, such as budgets, planning or investments, all opportunities to accredit what he preaches from the present epistle].
It has not been five weeks since I was appointed mayoress, [note the initial note. Since June 17, when the mandate started, almost nine weeks have passed, not five. Exactly 61 days. You will agree on this point, in the same way that you try to slip the mistake, forgivable in any case] facing in the middle of my nascent government a general election that also conditioned the municipal day to day, [general elections that, by the way, ratified the excellent results of the formation I represent, winning again in the municipality, compared to a Canarian Coalition that was not so fortunate] and yet I am bombarded from the opposition with judicial sentences that we will abide by and assume. [It would be missing that they were not abided by, although it would not be bad to make them known, as it was agreed in the previous mandate, with their vote in favor, but they have failed to comply, which forces us to re-demand that they be transferred to all members of the Corporation]. Nothing new under the sun! What's the point of shooting with wet gunpowder? [Well, it seems so, nothing new in view of the fact that, for the umpteenth time, the judicial pronouncements are revealed by the PSOE or the published opinion in the face of the resistance to make them known by the government of Teguise, something I hope will correct].
We will make the whole process transparent in the appropriate spaces and at the appropriate pace. However, what I am not going to allow is that judicial issues -which they know inside out- are used to throw, with a twisted spirit, squid ink on the ant-like work that the entire government team has been doing since I took over the command of the City Council of Teguise. I am sure that all of us who have given proximity and management will understand that these maneuvers -which play to mislead- are unfair. [Not allowing seems relatively simple, it would be enough a Decree of the mayor's office so that regularly is informed of the judicial rulings that affect the Corporation, which I insist was agreed unanimously by plenary agreement, signed from Oswaldo Betancort - to whom you succeeded in the position -, to the last of the councilors of the City Council, and we avoid their references to injustices and qualifications belonging only to their imaginary, besides counterproductive].
In short, what our neighbors have to be clear about is that we are on their side, forming every day a network closer to their needs thanks to active listening, presence in the street, immediate response when the issue allows it, that is, acting aware of our daily obligations and responsibilities, without shirking and without hiding in offices.
The coordination with the Cabildo and the Government of the Canary Islands is being easy, because we are united by the same purpose: the action on the inaction accumulated during years of sectarian and exclusionary politics for municipalities like Teguise that were under the control of the acronyms of the "enemy". [Enemy, sectarian politics, exclusionary, I see that you continue with the electoral strategy of the past elections, looking for "enemies" in the others, and you do it despite the fact that this discourse was not precisely rewarded by the citizens. Four councilors lost and 1,186 votes less for the list you led proves it. Something would have to do with the erratic theory of the enemies to which he continues to refer].
I express again in these lines the pride it is for me to be mayoress of Teguise, because I feel my municipality as my home. I may disappoint you, because there is no magic wand or immediate response time for all existing needs, but it will not be for not having tried or for not having put the best of me to continue moving forward. [Precisely to facilitate your work, always complex, I will insist, as we have done from the socialist group, that you let yourself be helped, that you correct the modus operandi that you starred along with your colleagues in the previous mandate and collect the numerous initiatives that we presented for the good of the municipality. Flee from your systematic rejection for proceeding from the political adversary, not "enemy", and regarding the control that we develop on the decisions of your government, do not get defensive. You know that it is part of the democratic functioning, makes governments better and avoids the arbitrary use of power. Of course, for our part we would be delighted to have tomorrow an opposition that does its job, as we do since four years ago we started a path that has led us to exponentially improve the popular support received by the socialist party in Teguise].
So far, and without brackets, the punctual reply to the article signed "With compass, desire and team". Surely, with only 61 days of mandate there will be more occasions - from this or from your part - to coincide, disagree and debate on what unites us: Teguise and La Graciosa.
