Ask not

“THEY are dreaming.”
That was the instant reaction of some people at the Clark Development Corp. and in the local media to the news report of a P10.5 billion “quest” of nine Tarlac villages from the Bases Conversion Development Authority .
But theirs is a noble dream – every cent of the P10.5 billion has been earmarked for accelerated development of their barangays which fall within the territory of Camp O’Donnell, the culminating point of the infamous Death March that commenced in Mariveles, Bataan, wound up at the train station in San Fernando, Pampanga and proceeded by rail to the Capas concentration camp.
O’Donnell has since been renamed Barangay Cristo Rey, transformed from a US military installation to a resettlement site for the victims of the Mt. Pinatubo eruptions. But – says its chair, Kennedy S. Molina, most emphatically – “is, by all means, still a former military camp of the United States of America, and therefore (along with the other eight contiguous barangays) entitled to undergo accelerated development.”
Theirs is not an empty dream too, founded on the spirit and letter of the law, specifically Section 2 of RA 7227 – as quoted in their joint resolution, thus: “…the policy of the government to accelerate the sound and balanced conversion into alternative productive uses of the Clark and Subic military reservations and their extension camps (John Hay Station, Wallace Air Station, O’Donnell Transmitter Stations, San Miguel Naval Communications and Capas Relay Stations), to raise funds by the sale of portions of Metro Manila military camps, and to apply said funds as provided herein for the development and conversion to productive use of the lands covered under the 1947 Military Bases Agreement between the Philippines and the United States of America, as amended.”
But ain’t the Metro Manila camps – notably Fort Bonifacio – been sold long ago? The proceeds from the sale long gone to God knows where.
So, what dreams come true for the chiefs of Barangays Cristo Rey, Aranguren, Manlapig, Lawy, Sta. Lucia, Patling, Sta. Juliana, Bueno and Maruglo we don’t know, given the financial strait the whole Philippine Republic – not just the BCDA – is damned in.
Whatever, may the BCDA or the government spare the village chiefs’ leader of a paraphrased quote from his namesake: “Ask not what you can get from your government but ask what you can give your government.”
That would be Kennedy’s – Molina’s not JFK’s – worst nightmare.
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SO THE PUBLIC MAY KNOW AND FOR WHATEVER PURPOSE IT MAY SERVE.
I HAVE formally renounced my membership in the Pampanga Press Club which I joined in 1979 during the incumbency of Papa Toy Soto and had served in various capacities, from secretary to director to president in 1990 and chairman in 1991, and back to perennial director. The history of the club and the fables and foibles of its members formed the nucleus of my first book – Of the Press (1999).
In my letter of renunciation to PPC President Lino Sanchez dated May 17, 2006, effective this week the press club can no longer be held in any way responsible and/or accountable for my actions, as a journalist or as a private individual. Equally, I can no longer be held accountable and/or responsible for any act of the press club or any or all of its members.
(Pampanga News, May 18-24, 2006)