Summit fall-out

THEY WERE invited. A number of them even confirmed they would attend. They did not come.
Simple as that. The Clark Freeport locators veritably snubbing the education summit hosted by 1st District Rep. Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin and presided over by Education Secretary Armin Luistro at Hotel Stotsenberg Thursday last week.
He was invited. He was even given a key part in the program, in deference to his stature as top honcho of the site of the event. He did not come.
Simple as that. Atty. Felipe Antonio Remollo, president-CEO of the Clark Development Corp., apparently spurning the summit too.
“Sabotage!” cried someone who looked like an Angeles City official, and – not without malice – labelled Remollo as “anti-Kapampangan,” lambasting the former three-term Dumaguete City mayor for – allegedly now – “barring the Clark locators, under pain of imagined sanctions, from attending the summit.”
“In effect, Remollo stitched the deep pockets of the Clark locators thereby preventing an outpour of financial support to build more classrooms for the youth of the first district.” So the official, in unofficial persona, averred.
Yes, the education summit was primarily intended to present the sorry state of school buildings in the first district and knock at the hearts of prospective donors to adopt a school of their choice, contributing to the construction or repair of school rooms.
“If I had my way, I would have Remollo declared persona non grata to the people of Pampanga,” said the official. “And send the declaration to President Aquino to show that he appointed a misfit at CDC.”
Fall from the summit of hope to the depths of disgrace. Strong words. So it’s been clichéd that hell hath no fury than a woman scorned. Yeah, same thing there with a politico spurned. So it shows now.
Anyways, CDC’s public relations department has issued a statement that said Remollo had sent his “regrets” to Cong Tarzan for his absence at the summit owing to a “loss in the family in Manila.”
In Punto’s banner story yesterday, CDC PR head Angelo “Sonny” Lopez said “Remollo is fully supportive of the education summit of Cong. Lazatin and its objectives of the event as ‘he shares the Congressman’s view that quality education should be given paramount importance.’”
Furthered my compadre: “The CDC Office of the President was even the conduit of the invitations of Rep. Lazatin for the locators inside Clark Freeport Zone and the staff of Mr. Remollo were even responsible in making follow ups on the letters of invitations sent through various firms regarding the education summit,”
And that “Full complement of CDC PRD staff were sent to cover the event in support of its objectives because we are aware of the importance of the education summit led by Cong. Lazatin for the future of our children.”
There, all cleared now. Remollo is with the Cong in spirit, even as in the flesh he had to be with a departed relative. Very reasonable excuse.
Yeah?
Listen now to a Mabalacat official quoted in the Punto banner yesterday: “If indeed (Remollo) was indisposed, then why did he not send a representative? He has a battery of vice presidents at his behest.”
Yeah, no EVP Philip Panlilio, no VP Ernesto Gorospe, not even Remollo’s usual coterie of VP Bernie Angeles and some other managers were present at the summit.
Remollo’s alibi would not stand in the court of public opinion, the public officials’ opinion, that is. Hence, Remollo’s sincerity in dealing with the local leaders of the communities contiguous to the Clark Freeport will ever be suspect. Maliciously suspect.
What can be done to reverse this?
Easy. Remollo can broker a mini education summit at the Metro Clark Advisory Council whereby the officers of the Clark Investors and Locators Association and the heads of the biggest investment companies at the Freeport could hear the state of schools in the first district from Cong Tarzan and the mayors. And hopefully take it from there.
There and then, Remollo can prove himself a Mekeni lover.
It’s hardsell, I know. But it will most certainly work.

All wet

"THERE ARE no floodings. Okay naman. So far so good. Unlike before when the situation is like this ay lubog na ang maraming lugar (some areas are submerged). Nakatulong ng malaki ang preparasyon namin at iyung Sagip Ilog (Our preparations have helped and our Sagip Ilog program)."
So was quoted the Honorable Oscar S. Rodriguez in the Sun-Star Pampanga banner story of June 22, 2011, “Mayor: No massive flooding in city.”
This, so the paper said, after Rodriguez did the rounds of the city in the wake of the rains spawned by tropical depressions “Egay” and “Falcon.”
The preparations, Rodriguez bared, included the clean-up of canals and drainage systems. Still, it was the Sagip-Ilog project, ”whose first phase is 98 percent complete,” that contributed much in flood prevention.
Rodriguez’s rah-rah boys, the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry were quick to follow, as they – again per the Sun-Star Pampanga story “lauded the Department of Public Works and Highways for its flood mitigation projects that were put to test by Tropical Depression Egay.”
Here’s the rest of the hallelujah story – en toto – in Sun-Star Pampanga:
"PamCham vice chairman Rene Romero also said reports that there were no serious flooding incidents in the capital city during the onslaught of Egay could be credited to the P700-million Sagip Ilog Project of the City Government and the massive canalization works done by the DPWH along the stretch of MacArthur Highway in the city.
"Romero said the projects are obviously functioning and have done their part in mitigating the usual flood that visits low-lying barangays and road areas here. He said the long stretch of the MacArthur Highway always had problems in terms of flood water running out of shallow canals.
"Today, he said, flood and drainage water have been properly contained inside the new canals constructed by the DPWH.
"The canalization works were part of the DPWH road widening project along MacArthur Highway that included the removal of old acacia trees that were affected by the road widening.
"Vice Chairman Romero noted that PamCham’s efforts at promoting business and investments in the countryside will not be undermined anymore by the annual threat of the rainy season…”
“No massive flooding in city.”
To repeat, that was bannered by Sun-Star Pampanga on June 22, 2011.
Three days after, June 25, 2011, Falcon made a virtual liar out of Rodriguez and Romero.
Stretches of the Olongapo- Gapan Road or Jose Abad Santos Avenue turned into veritable seas, the floodwaters – in some ironical sense – concentrated in front of the showrooms of Ford, Mitsubishi, and BMW – companies of PamCham chairman emeritus Levy Laus. What’s this? Hataw ng PamCham, latay kay Levy?
An incongruity of the city’s world class image is that wooden pedestrian bridge connecting Car-World to the highway, rendered useless at the height of the flooding.
The OG-MacArthur Highway junction was likewise inundated, knee-deep waters lapping at the entrances of Hyundai and Jollibee.
Lazatin Boulevard was impassable to cars for a long while, notwithstanding its waters drained to St. Jude Village. Yeah, at least two houses were eroded by the creek bounding the west side of the subdivision.
Also impassable to cars was the Sto. Nino end of Lazatin Blvd., but a pissing distance from Heroes Hall.
Floodwaters reportedly reached waist-level in Barangays San Jose, Del Pilar, Sta. Lucia and Sto. Nino – areas covered by the Sagip-Ilog Project. Also inundated was Barangays San Nicolas.
Even that widened and canalized portion of MacArthur Highway hailed as floodless only three days ago by what’s-his-name was also a virtual sea at the height of Falcon. Its flooding arguably compounded by the massacre of the acacia trees whose massive and expansive root systems could have held some of the waters.
“No massive flooding in city.”
Clearly, Rodriguez and his rah-rah boys must be talking of a city other than San Fernando. Given the situation on June 25.
“Streets are flooded contrary to claims of the city…We are not naman expecting overnight miracles as far as flooding in the city is concerned. But bannering it in the papers when the rains are just falling? Ot e dane pa pegobran pamu (Why didn’t they work on it first)?”
So Sun-Star Pampanga quoted Capitol chief of staff Rosve Henson, himself a civil engineer, but never an excited foreteller of events.
So who’s all wet now – literally and figuratively – by speaking out too loud, and too soon?
Which reminds us of King Canute.
To those not familiar with the story, Canute was a king of England, Denmark, Norway and parts of Sweden. He was so great a ruler that his courtiers claimed he could command the tides of the sea to go back.
Legend says that Canute had his throne carried to the seashore and sat on it as the tide came in, commanding the waves to go back to open sea.
Of course, he got all wet.
As Rodriguez and his own courtiers in the PamCham are now all drenched to their bones with the statement of “No massive flooding in city” drowned in the wake of Falcon.
Maybe, Rodriguez and his chorus boys can take heed in the lesson Canute crafted out of his wetness: “Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings. For there is none worthy of the name but God, whom heaven, earth and sea obey".
Or that thrown at city hall by one moron at the Baluyut Bridge: Masyadu kayung ekselente. Whatever he meant.

Totally Thai

THE RECLINING Buddha. The Royal Palace. The floating market.
Those were the top three in my must-see spots the first time I got to Bangkok two years ago. Alas, I did not see any of them. Our tour guide named Otto herding our company of Mayor Boking Morales and his beloved Nina, Mabalacat councilors and their better halves, and five other mediamen to malls, night markets, a jewelry workshop and store, and more malls in the four days we stayed.
To my requests of but a reverential bow before the reclining Buddha, Otto’s reply was always: “No time for that, we go shopping.”
Truth be told, there was more to that trip than Otto’s preferred itinerary.
So I got to see Pattaya and one nearby island – the profusion of Indians bathing in their saris evoked images of the Ganges rather than the sea.
So I got to see an elephant show – the pachyderms playing football and basketball, painting and socializing with tourists.
So I got to savor tom yum goong – simply divine! And street food too!
So I got a panoramic view of Bangkok from the 360-degree revolving roof deck viewing deck on the 84th floor of Baiyoke Sky Hotel, Thailand’s tallest building – the splendour of the city by night, its immensity by day.
Still, I did not get to feel the soul of the place, which, to me, makes the defining essence of travel. I left Bangkok trying to assuage the feeling of emptiness in my heart with five images of the Buddha I bought in a store, two in the reclining position.
The second time I hit Thailand was last year via a day-tour of Phuket, a stop in the three-port-call cruise of Star Virgo, embarking in Singapore.
More than the Thai soul, it was the souls of those who perished in the 2004 tsunami there that impacted my consciousness, warnings all over the place. The heavy rains made that stop all the more dreary. A standing Buddha in resin and two smaller sand-cast images buoyed up my spirits back at the ship.
The past weekend and through Monday and Tuesday (June 18-21), I was back in Bangkok on a “fam” tour with the Alliance of Travel and Tour Agencies of Pampanga.
The itinerary did not look anything of promise, where immersion in local culture is concerned. It was thoroughly hotel hopping – check-in, inspection, overnight, check-out of Siam City Hotel, Amari Watergate, and Centara Grand; lunch, inspection of Sofitel Centara; inspection, dinner at Renaissance. And a lot of “free time for shopping” with a visit to Madame Tussauds at Siam Discovery Mall and dinner show at Siam Niramit serving as breaks.
The hotels are truly impressive – from comfy rooms to excellent facilities as pools, gyms and spas, to food, glorious food! Magnificent even, to guys whose closest brush with hotel luxury is with the Sogo chain.
A short stop at a temple with Bangkok’s tallest standing Buddha did compensate, in a way, for the failure anew to see the reclining Gautama.
Call it serendipity. I got to kiss Britney Spears and flirted with Madonna, interviewed by Oprah, exchanged quotes with Mao, walked with Gandhi, find relativity with Einstein, played with Beethoven and found Picasso with his brushes. This and more, I did all, at Madame Tussauds. Pretty awesome, no?
Still, there was the pining for the Thai soul. And I could not have found it anywhere better than in Siam Niramit, which lived up to its billing as “Journey to the Enchanted Kingdom of Siam.”
With spectacular sets, including rainstorms and a running brook on stage hailed by the Guinness World Record as the highest in the world, magnificent costumes and amazing special effects, Siam Niramit in three acts takes the audience through Thai history, spirituality, and festivities. Yes, that which makes a nation’s soul.
As much a feast for the senses as a food for the soul is the Siam Niramit experience. If only for this, my Bangkok trip this time was all worth it. But then, our travel coordinator, Kosol Boonma, managing director of KBS Travel and Intertrade Co., had still some surprise in store exclusively for us mediamen – Peter Alagos of Businessweek, Noel Tulabut of Sunstar, Ashley Manabat of Observer and three other weeklies, and Joey Pavia of Punto who made his hilarious onstage debut at Siam Nirmait as a bamboo musical player during the intermission.
An hour and a half by van from Bangkok is the one place I have long dreamed of finding – the Damnern Saduak Floating Market. The colors and scents, the food and goods, the rush of people of all races, the boats gliding through the narrow canals bumping one another, the cacophony, nay, the symphony of languages with the singsong Thai a-crescendo enlivening the spirit…
And to soar, some miles later at the Nakon Phatom Chedi, the biggest pagoda in all of Thailand where a relic of the Buddha is known to have been entombed.
The spirit sated, the body takes full nourishment at the Rose Garden Riverside, a 70-acre property along the Ta-Chine River comprising a 4-star hotel with 160 rooms, six antique Thai houses, a spa, restaurants, a botanical garden, a farmers’ weekend market and an 18-hole championship golf course.
Rose Garden’s Thai Village is the venue of the nation’s longest running cultural show – for all of over 40 years.
Here is where sustainable development is put to actual practice.
Arrut Navaraj, managing director says: “Going organic is the only way forward.”
Rose Garden makes its own organic composts and fertilizers used in its gardens and organic farms. The produce, fruits, vegetables and herbs are used in its kitchens, spa and the herbal products it also markets.
The commercial and the cultural, the spiritual and the ecological, my Thai experience this time is total.
Sawasdee.

Cry Freedom!

1898. General Emilio Aguinaldo proclaims Philippine independence from 300 years of Spanish colonialism. From Hong Kong, rushed Admiral George Dewey to Manila Bay and soon followed the American occupation of the archipelago.
1946. Imperial Japan had been driven out of the Philippines. United States High Commissioner Paul V. MacNutt lowers the Stars and Stripes as Manuel Roxas raises the three-starred tricolor of red, white and blue, having taken his oath as President of the Republic of the Philippines. Contemporaneously, the Parity Rights took effect, and with it, the American exploitation of the country’s natural resources, the human kind not exempted.
1972. To save the Republic, Ferdinand E. Marcos declared martial law and instituted his Bagong Lipunan, the New Society that shall take the Philippines to the firmament of development in Asia. There followed the worst human rights violations the nation ever suffered.
1981. Marcos proclaims a New Republic. US Vice President George H.W. Bush toasts the dictator for his “adherence to democracy.”
1986. The aberration that was the EDSA Revolution shoved housewife Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino into the Philippine presidency. A visit to Mother America, complete with a US Congress grand spectacle, topped the agenda of her government. More and stronger strings, nay chains, were attached to ever American pie a la aid that went the country’s way, most especially after the US fighter jets turned the tide in the worst coup attempt to her government.
1991. The end of the US-RP Military Bases Agreement. Clark and Subic got dismantled. More through the devastation of the Mount Pinatubo eruptions than through government intervention. Came soon after the Visiting Forces Agreement.
2001. Yet another EDSA to oust the plunderer. Only to find the Philippine government more drawn to the axis of USA, the Coalition of the Willing unleashing its might in Saddam’s Iraq but one instance of the Filipino’s ever-ready obsequiousness to the whims of America.
1898. 1946. 1986. 1991. 2001. Years when independence from foreign and homegrown oppression and freedom for the Filipino flashed as in a frying pan; when rhetorics tried – and failed – to gloss over the realities of Philippine political enslavement to the United States and socio-economic subservience to the World Bank-International Monetary Fund.
2011. Pray, tell, what independence do we celebrate? Certainly not from the dictates of foreign powers. Not from fear. Not from oppression. Not from want. Not from hunger.
Cry Freedom!
And in crying, we remember Ka Amado V. Hernandez’s Kung Tuyo Na Ang Luha Mo, Aking Bayan:

Lumuha ka, aking Bayan; buong lungkot mong iluha
Ang kawawang kapalaran ng lupain mong kawawa:
Ang bandilang sagisag mo’y lukob ng dayong bandila,
Pati wikang minana mo’y busabos ng ibang wika,
Ganito ring araw noon nang agawan ka ng laya,
Labin-tatlo ng Agosto nang saklutin ang Maynila,

Lumuha ka, habang sila ay palalong nagdiriwang,
Sa libingan ng maliit, ang malaki’y may libangan;
Katulad mo ay si Huli’ng, naaliping bayad-utang,
Katulad mo ay si Sisa’ng, binaliw ng kahirapan;
Walang lakas na magtanggol, walang tapang na lumaban,
Tumataghoy, kung paslangin; tumatangis, kung nakawan!

Iluha mo ang sambuntong kasawiang naglalakop
Na sa iyo’y pampahirap, sa banyaga’y pampabusog:
Ang lahat mong kayamana’y kamal-kamal na naubos,
Ang lahat mong kalayaa’y sabay-sabay na natapos;
Masdan mo ang iyong lupa, dayong hukbo’y nakatanod,
Masdan mo ang iyong dagat, dayong bapor, nasa laot!

Lumuha ka kung sa puso ay nagmaliw na ang layon,
Kung ang araw sa langit mo ay lagi nang dapithapon,
Kung ang alon sa dagat mo ay ayaw nang magdaluyong,
Kung ang bulkan sa dibdib mo ay hindi man umuungol,
Kung wala nang maglalamay sa gabi ng pagbabangon,
Lumuha ka nang lumuha, ang laya mo’y nakaburol.

May araw ding ang luha mo’y masasaid, matutuyo,
May araw ding di na luha sa mata mong namumugto
Ang dadaloy, kundi apoy, at apoy na kulay dugo,
Samantalang ang dugo mo ay aserong kumukulo;
Sisigaw kang buong giting sa liyab ng libong sulo
At ang lumang tanikala’y lalagutin mo ng punglo!

And cry again: Isulong ang pakikibaka…

Doing Davao

DAVAO CITY is spelled with an E, a BIG E, as in ecological immersion, ethnic pride, and extreme adventure.
At least that’s how eight Pampanga mediamen experienced the famed City of Blooms, that weekend of June 3-5.
At the foot of Mount Talomo is Eden Nature Park, an 80-hectare green sprawl that is literally and figuratively a Paradise regained from the greed of loggers, taking all of 30 years for the Ayalas – Davao’s not Makati’s – to reforest with no less than 100,000 pine trees as well as hardwoods like mahogany and narra, and the fruit-bearing variety – mangosteen, lanzones, chico, mabolo, cacao, chesa, and of course that which defines Davao itself, the ambrosiac durian.
At 3,000 feet above sea level and with all those pines, the Benguet species included, Eden Nature Park has that crisp, cool fresh mountain air that has long gone out of Baguio City. It makes the perfect weekend family getaway with cottages, mountain villas and log cabins, and for barkada nights at its campsites.
Flower gardens also abound at the park. A favourite spot for pre-nuptial photo ops, and for weddings but naturally, is the Rainbow Pass, a series of arched trellises that gives a magnificent view of the city and the gulf. For the more conservative, there’s the St. Michael chapel.
At Tinubdan – called the “heartland of indigenous wisdom” – one gets a sampling of ethnic Mindanao: the balay kalimudan, a datu’s house along with some others for the ordinary folk; langub sa kaalam, the cave of wisdom where we supposed the village medicine man and spiritual leader do their communing with the spirits; and at the pocket square of the village, a tana-tanaman or welcome garden. On hand with their gongs and other ethnic musical instruments are school kids to entertain visitors.
Thrill seekers find their spot at Eden Nature Park in the SkyRider zipline, and for the hyper kids, the “Indiana Jones” run. There’s also horseback riding, swimming pools, a football field.
It’s not Congress, folks, but at the Davao Crocodile Park, congressmen invariably
become the centrepiece of chit-chats. There idly rules the very embodiment of the tongressmen and representathieves – Pangil, the oldest and largest at over 10 feet long.
As the freshwater crocodylus mindorensis is a protected species, only the saltwater crocodylus porosus is bred here for meat and hide. As the wallet is too thin for the P8,000 croc-skin belt, we settled for the more affordable spicy croc stew at the Riverwalk Grill, earning us some bragging rights now: I eat congressmen for dinner, yeah!
A veritable zoo, Davao Crocodile Park has a decent number and variety of birds, pythons and some snakes, goats and sheep, and a couple of Bengal tigers.
A short walk from the crocs is the Tribu K Mindanawon cultural village where each of the island’s 13 tribal groups take their turn on a stage set among bamboo groves to present their signature dance, with the singkil just about the only one we can easily identify. After the dances, at an adjacent amphitheatre is a fireshow that is…scorching hot!
Which only whets the appetite for an even greater adventure offered from the crocodile park – Davao Wild Water Adventure.
Exactly 8 a.m. is the pre-departure briefing at the park itself which starts with the signing of a waiver dispensing the company from any responsibility for any injury or, God forbid!, death arising from the river rafting. Then a five minute video of the course: the 13-kilometer Tamugan-Lacson – now there’s a familiar name – run of Upper Davao River consisting of 25 rapids, usually finished from three to five hours, depending on the level of the water and the paddling capacity of the “adventurers.” And finally the do’s and don’t’s – Don’t attempt to swim. Do drift with the current feet front. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Don’t panic.
With that it’s off on board jeepneys loaded with all the gears – fully inflated rafts on the roof racks, helmets, life vests, paddles and packed lunch.
A 45-minute drive is the “put-in area” at the boulder-strewn bank just below the confluence of the Tamugan and Davao rivers.
Final instructions there, proper wearing of life vests and helmets, then a quick course in the water: paddling – easy, hard, back; high-five; saving one gone overboard; drifting, then again, Don’t panic.
Then off in a raft, river guide shouting “Drift” and everybody jumping into the water the raft and near-panicking when coming dangerously close to the first rapids before being taken back.
Swirls of brown water then cresting in continuous roil: easy paddling, then hard when the waves rise, and high-five – paddles raised – at each pass through the rapids.
Easy there, then a surge – the whole raft as though pushed out of the water and slammed sideways at sheer vine cluttered rock wall, so that’s what was called “kissing the wall.” Still, not one went overboard.
Passing by a cave, the waters again turned turbulent, in one swell, in one fell swoop, the left side of the raft was devoid of its four paddlers. Bobbing helmets, then laughing faces needed to be picked out the water, until the team of eight was whole again.
And that was the easy part. Let the imagination run wild with the succeeding rapids sporting monikers as “washing machine” with three cycles at maximum speed; the “rodeo” -- the water’s like a bucking bronco; “double drop” two successive free-falls into swirling water; and the piece de resistance – “drop and suck” – where the raft is maneuvered between two boulders to drop into an eddy at top spin.
Falling overboard twice – at the rodeo and the double drop – only maxxed the exhilaration. In less than three hours, the course was finished. So intense was the adrenaline rush that there was no tiredness at all. And really we wanted more, more, more.
As the seasoned traveller say: Don’t overdo it the first time. Else there’s nothing to look forward to the next time around.
Yes, the wild water adventure is enough reason to return to Davao City. And I’ve got to smell the waling-waling, and bond with the Philippine eagle yet. Plus, a climb up Mount Apo, for another extreme adventure. (Best and most convenient way to go to Davao is via Cebu Pacific)

Davao: Beyond the usual

FOR STARTERS, there’s father and daughter engaged in a game of musical chairs at the city hall of Davao: long-time Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, Vice Mayor “Inday” Sara, trading places.
Nothing of “politics as usual” there. Even in its weirdest praxis hereabouts.
Everything unusual, really extraordinary for a “measly” city vice mayor to beat, no, make that avalanche, in a mayoralty contest the sitting Speaker of the House of Representatives himself. Yeah, until this time, so Davaoenos swear, Prospero Nograles still did not know what hit him.
Father-daughter then, daughter-father now lording over a sprawling metropolis of 2,444 square kilometres with one and a half million people, is everyday politics to their constituents. “Duterte, as usual.” So it is shrugged about. Not in some hopelessly indifferent way, but with certain accomplished pride.
Davao City is everything every city in the country, Angeles and San Fernando included, Quezon and Manila not excluded, should aspire to be.
It is green – its hills and mountains densely (re)forested, and clean – nothing of the usual mounds of uncollected garbage stacks against walls and electric posts that make the very definition of urban centers. As a matter of record, Davao City has indeed been adjudged Cleanest and Greenest City in the country. And it has the cleanest ground water too.
Davao City is a zone of peace and a haven of order. So totally different, nay, alien, to the city I went to in the ‘80s when one of its districts was terrifyingly dubbed “Nicaragdao” after then strife-torn Nicaragua, what with the rightist Alsa Masa waging a virtual uncivil war with the New People’s Army in the city.
No, you don’t get to see combat-ready cops in any street corner or for that matter anywhere else in Davao City. But an Orwellian “Big Brother” is looking at, if not after, you all around the city. His all-seeing eyes in the closed circuit cameras virtually in all principal roads of the city, operating 24/7 from the Public Safety Command Center. It is a P750-million system that has enabled no-contact apprehension of erring motorists, assisted in traffic accidents, and deterred criminal elements. The system is set to be expanded to cover city boundaries to monitor any inroad some terror group may attempt to take.
A lesson in trust that order has brought about: During communion Sunday evening at the Redemptorist church, women’s handbags are left unattended at the pews. Go, try that anywhere else in the country, and suffer.
Sedate – by the standards of Angeles – is the nightlife of Davao City. A prohibition of alcohol exempts no establishment from 2 in the morning onward to dawn.
And Metro Manila is just catching up with Davao City’s nine-year-old smoking ban in all public places. Lest it be forgotten, firecrackers are likewise banned in the city, New Year’s Eve and kung hei fat choi notwithstanding.
Davao City has been hailed as the Most Competitive Metro City in the Philippines based on a competitiveness survey conducted by the Asian Institute of Management. All it takes to validate – and affirm – the result of the AIM survey is a look-and-see around the city: high competition rules where compulsive consumption abounds. Davao has seven really large shopping malls: the old Victoria Plaza and New City Commercial Center, two Gaisanos, a Robinsons, an SM, and the just opened Abreeza, an Ayala Mall. Even as SM is expanding its existing mall, it is building another one, reportedly complete with a convention center and some lodging facilities.
Where one or two is the usual, eight, unarguably, is a most unusual count when it comes to the number of malls obtaining in a single city.
Sans the malls, down to its essentials of clean and green, its peace and order, the quality of its resources, both human and natural, and its infrastructure Davao City had ranked 17th – the highest of all Philippine cities – among the Most Liveable Cities in Asia in a survey conducted by Asiaweek Magazine from 1996 to 2000. Wonder how high it now ranks given its latest amenities.
And then there is Davao City, the perennial tour and travel destination.
Even as Mount Apo, the country’s tallest peak; waling-waling, the queen of orchids; pithecophaga jeffryi ,the Philippine eagle; and durian, the fruit that “smells like hell but tastes like heaven” have remained the top attractions of the city, there are a host of others that are equally enchanting.
And that is where I indulged myself for three days, in things beyond the usual at Davao. But that is better presented in some feature stories with photographs to boot. For more reading pleasure.

The compleat Cong

PERMANENT CHAIR of the comite de silencio in Congress.
That long-time ridicule from his political rivals ironically birthed the sublime in Pampanga 1st District Rep. Carmelo Lazatin.
That by his deeds, Cong Tarzan eloquently speaks is most manifest in his three terms in the House from 1987, his three terms at the Angeles City hall from 1998, and his current second term back at the House. Political longevity not even his close ally, the term-limit-busting Mayor Boking Morales of Mabalacat, could come close to.
That, indeed, “solon” goes beyond mere honorific to assume its essential meaning in Cong Tarzan is affirmed in his elevation to a hall of fame of outstanding congressmen by Congress Magazine and the Global News Network.
No mean feat that in but one term, Cong Tarzan authored and co-authored 187 house bills, seven of which were enacted into law: RA 9513, the Renewable Energy Act; RA 9502, the Cheaper Medicine Act; RA 9497, the Act Crating the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines; RA 9645, Commemoration of the Founding Anniversary of the Iglesia ni Cristo Act; RA 9779, the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009; RA 9729, the Climate Change Act of 2009; and RA 9710, the Magna Carta for Women.
And more of the same, impact bills, a year into his second term.
House Bill 4370, An Act Causing the Construction of Sanitary Landfill in Every Province of the Country, the Lifting of the Ban on Incinerators, Amending RA 9003 and RA 8749.
“The creation of landfills is a long-term solution to the growing waste problem, while incinerators provide immediate and medium-term solutions,” Cong Tarzan said in his explanatory note, stressing that the incinerators should be “at par with those used in Japan…zero emission of harmful gas coming from the burning of garbage.”
House Bill 1444, the Anti-Cybersex Act which seeks to check the widespread incidence of prostitution and pornography in the Philippines that reaches every part of the globe through cyberspace.
“Unless rigid measures are founded against these abuses, society will bear the social costs since proliferation of obscene and pornographic materials and rampant exhibition of lewd shows in our midst have threatened the moral fibers of our society…“Amidst all of these are the youth who are the heaviest users and primary audience of mass media. If left unrepressed, these obscene practices will impose their detrimental effects psychologically, morally and physically. Hence, there is an urgent need to intensify the campaign against cybersex given the numerous studies that point out to higher correlation of exposure to pornography, prostitution and incidence of sex crimes.”
So presented Cong Tarzan the rationale of his bill that also proposed punishment with penalty of not less than P.5 million but not more than P1 million and imprisonment ranging from 20 years to 30 years for the producer, financer, promoter and manager of cybersex operations; and by not more than P250,000 and imprisonment ranging from three to six years on performers and exhibitors of cybersex.
No less than the Most Rev. Pablo Virgilio David, auxiliary bishop of San Fernando, hailed the legislative action: “It’s a welcome move to stop cybersex with the house bill. It’s a global problem. We need consolidated efforts. Any move against cybersex is laudable.”
House Bill 6644, Act Limiting the Amount of Bags Carried by Children in School and Implementing Measures to Protect School Children’s Health from the Adverse Effects of Heavy School Bags.
“Pupils are supposed to listen to their teachers in school, and read their textbooks at home. In the end, having pupils carry heavy load to school will be counterproductive, with many of them physically deformed as adults. Heavy load in school could be one reason why so many now suffer from spinal injuries, including slipped discs.” So Cong Tarzan said citing various studies including those of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) on the ill effects of making school children carry bags more than 15 per cent of their body weight.
As his bill remained pending, Cong Tarzan appealed to school officials throughout the country to abide by it as the school year opens next week.
What can well be the landmark legislation in Cong Tarzan’s second term, arguably in his whole career as representative, is House Bill 2509, Act Converting the Municipality of Mabalacat into a Component City to be Known as Mabalacat City.” Of these, much has been written about. And we shall leave it at that.
Beyond his legislative duties, Cong Tarzan is hands-on in looking after the wefare of his constituents. A random rundown now of recent benefits that came their way: 25 service vehicles worth P7.1 million “to ensure mobility of our leaders who are tasked to serve their people,” and more coming until all 85 barangays in the 1st District have one; and the P29-million Sapang Balen-Bical Road in Mabalacat; increase in the number of Lazatin scholars.
Equally at work in the House and in his district, the quiet achiever goes. So ingrained in his constituents is Cong Tarzan that all it takes for him to win in any election is for them to know that he’s running.

Covering JP II

NO YOU don’t cover John Paul II. He covers you. His presence totally engulfs you.
Morong, Bataan/February 21, 1981 – At the Bataan Refugee Processing Center as early as the break of day, a crowd of thousands have started gathering before the canopied altar where the pilgrim pope is scheduled to celebrate Mass, principally for the Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian refugees.
The wife and I – both information officers of the regional office of the Department of Public Information – along with a few staff conduct interviews among the faithful, both local and foreign. The single question: “What does the Pope mean to you?”
Responses salvaged from fading memory now include:
“Kindness. Why can’t leaders of our country be as kind as he is?”
“Hope. I thought the world has forgotten us. He gives us hope of one day going back to our homeland, unafraid, unpersecuted for our beliefs.”
“Luck. Maybe soon, some other country will take us. The Pope may be our lucky charm.”
“Faith. In the basic goodness of all of us toward our fellowmen.”
“Grace. To bear our sufferings as Christ bore his for our sins.”
Virtues and values that find printed expression in a white streamer at the site:
“Wherever the Pope goes, the best things will be.” Indeed. Indeed.
Then there is a direct plea, “Save the Cambodian People.” The horrific “Killing Fields” of the Khmer Rouge unearthed, going the rounds in the international media.
Past noon, a US Navy helicopter from Subic lands, bringing in its most previous cargo: John Paul II.
A hush – and then deafening applause to the shouts of “Totus Tuus” and “Amo Te.”
An onrush, as a tide, of bodies with outstretched arms – seeking to touch, stemmed by an immovable white wall – of security men in barong.
The tide may have been contained, but it is John Paul II that broke the wall – taking babies to bless and kiss, reaching out, touching heads and hands.
The cries of “Viva il Papa” crescendoing to the highest pitch as the Pontiff ascends the stairs to the canopied altar.
A quietude descending upon the faithful as the strains of the opening hymn signal the pontifical Mass beginning.
The readings I cannot now recall. But his homily is seared into my consciousness -- charity, the greatest of all virtues. Finding so much resonance in the hearts of the Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian refugees:
“Charity makes no excuses because of the other person’s ethnic origin, religious allegiance or political preference, no exception whatsoever; a charity which sees the person as a brother or sister in need and sees only one thing: to be of immediate assistance, to be a neighbour…
The Church is ever mindful that Jesus Christ himself was a refugee, that as a child he had to flee with his parents from his native land in order to escape persecution. In every age, therefore, the Church feels herself called to help refugees. And she will continue to do so, to the full extent that her limited means allow…
…Of all human tragedies of our day, perhaps the greatest is that of the refugees.”
(No, that is not committed to memory. I found it in some periodicals I kept as souvenir of that papal visit.)
So deeply touched, one can almost hear John Paul II’s heart break as he blesses and kisses refugee children in their native costumes bringing him gifts during the Offertory. Among the gifts, a basket of vegetables grown by them.
At the consecration, one feels one’s heart literally lifting up to the Lord, in pure adoration of the bread and wine transubstantiated to the real, mystical body and blood of Christ.
In absolute submission to the Lord’s presence, the camera slung on my shoulder makes an intruding reminder of my “official” purpose: to cover the Pope.
Hastily, I focus and click twice – in the midst of the Lord’s Prayer – in time to capture a dove perching on the stairs at the foot of John Paul II, Cardinal Sin, and First Lady Imelda Marcos.
The peace of Christ be always with you, John Paul II intones, his message embracing the whole congregation, not the least of whom the First Lady and the Cardinal, whose “critical collaboration” with the Marcoses is later to turn into open confrontation. But that is two years in the future yet, after the martyrdom of Benigno Aquino, Jr.
In the meantime, the Mass ends – Go in the peace of Christ. Thanks be to God. Viva il Papa! Viva!
Media frenzy – the clicks of SLRs, the whirrs of television cameras amid all the jostling and pushing. Arms raised, I point and shoot, without the benefit of focus.
On the steps of the US Navy helicopter to ferry him to Subic, John Paul II raises his hands in a final blessing, sweeping the multitude, his eyes on mine – all for a nanosecond but seems an eternity to me, feeling as that thief promised Paradise by the crucified Christ.
Blessed, this sinner, for having been in the presence of the Holy John Paul II that day in Morong in February 1981, a presence that has remained in my being till now.
(May 6, 2011 -- Punto)

Rewriting Marcos

P43,200. THAT’S how much Filipino rights victims of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos received as compensation after a protracted class suit in the United States.
So announced Robert Swift, the counsel for some 6,500 claimants. Another 1,000 represented by Rod Domingo have yet to received their shares.
P43,200. That’s the price for the physical sufferings, including torture, deprivations, distress and emotional trauma of Marcos’ victims.
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines inaugurated last week its updated “Wall of Heroes: The Medal for Valor Awardees" on which was enshrined the name Ferdinand E. Marcos.
“Our official stand on this is that there are orders, giving him the Medal for Valor, so it exists. It’s valid, unless it’s either cancelled or revoked. These are deeds way before he became a political figure." So justified AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta of Marcos’ inclusion.
Much earlier, the House of Representatives made the rehabilitation, nay, the very transformation of Marcos from heel to hero a fait accompli with 216 congressmen signing the resolution to bury Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Leading the signatories to the resolution initiated by Sorsogon Rep. Salvador Escudero, who served as Marcos’ agriculture secretary, is the Imeldific herself, the representative from Ilocos Norte.
Other “notables” who signed are former President and now Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her sons Ang Galing Pinoy Rep. Mikey, and Camarines Sur Rep. Dato;
Marcos’ nephew Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez; and celebrity congresswomn Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado-Revilla, wife of Sen. Ramon Revilla, Jr. and Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez, wife of actor Richard Gomez.
Part of the resolution read: “Allowing the burial of Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani will not only be an acknowledgment of the way he led a life as a Filipino patriot, but it will also be a magnanimous act of reconciliation."
Swift and damning is the retort of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines, to wit: “Did Marcos really ‘serve’ the country? Was he truly until his death a ‘patriot’? While we cannot divine and judge his personal motives, the terrible suffering and damage wrought by Marcos’ 14 years of authoritarian rule is undeniable.”
Finding stage at the celebration of the Araw ng Kagitingan last week, th CEAP said that even as the nation “commemorate the heroism of those who fought fascism during World War II, let us not make a mockery of the service and sacrifice of Filipino war veterans by giving a hero’s burial to someone who is not only a fake war hero but was also responsible for undermining democracy and development during his long tenure as an authoritarian ruler.”
The CEAP reminded the people of that the “elaborate tale of the Maharlika guerilla unit” that Marcos supposedly led during the war was “definitively exposed … as a total fabrication” by American historian Alfred McCoy in a well-researched study 25 years ago.
“Why should we now give the perpetrator of this lie a hero’s burial?” the CEAP asked.
Burying Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani would “desecrate” the People Power Revolution that ousted him in 1986 and made Filipinos famous worldwide for peaceful regime change which in turn was replicated in Eastern Europe and still resonates in the recent upheavals in Tunisia and Egypt.
A fact apparently lost in the short memory of the Filipino people, given the results of a recent survey of the Social Weather Stations which put Filipinos almost equally divided on the issue Marcos’ burial.
"To the survey question, 'In your opinion, is the body of ex-President Marcos worthy to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani or not?,' 50 percent answered Worthy to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, 49 percent answered Not worthy to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, and 1 percent had no answer," the SWS said.
Indeed, what does it matter that – as the CEAP correctly noted: “The recent compensation given to the many victims of martial law, though symbolic in monetary terms, is damning proof that the Marcos regime was guilty of gross human rights violations.”
So it shall then be ruled, Marcos is a hero and therefore is worthy to be buried at the heroes’ cemetery.
So it shall be as Santayana rued: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
As we are a people keen in forgetting, so we are a nation damned.
Marcos, Marcos, Marcos pa rin.
Marcos, Marcos, Marcos pa rin.
(April 15, 2011 - Punto)