Gov as NASA

“PINEDA TO spread satellites of state universities, colleges.” So screamed the banner story of Headline Gitnang Luzon, issue of June 28-30.

Wow! State universities and colleges hereabouts are far, far superior to their counterparts in all the world by having their own satellites! Beating even the Americans in their own game!

Wow, WOW! Governor Lilia G. Pineda is her own National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launching these satellites! Eat your heart out PNoy, whose closest thing to launch is a kuwitis.

Yeah, the Gov does one better – she launches satellites – even over the mythical Helen of Troy – she launched only ships, albeit a thousand, that precipitated the Trojan War.

Really one for the books! Fictive, that is.

Defective, rather misleading, was the use of “satellites” in that headline. It’s not actually satellites – as we understand the dictionary meaning of “artificial body placed in orbit around the earth or another planet in order to collect information or for communication” – that is inferred there.

The word is used as a modifier – connotative of, rather, synonymous to “branch” – to an absent noun – “campus” – as in “Pineda to spread satellite campuses of state universities and colleges.”

There indeed are new satellite campuses of the Don Honorio Ventura Technological State University (DHVTSU) that Pineda caused to be established in Sto. Tomas and in Porac. The former at the Bacolor-based DHVTSU’s southeastern orbit, the latter at its northwestern orbit. Orbit here in all its astronomical, geographical, and journalistic meanings. He, he, he.

In the works is yet another DHVTSU satellite campus in Lubao – the land donated by the Pineda family – to serve the second district of the province.

And Pineda is now going outside DHVTSU in putting up satellite campuses, training her sights on the Mabalacat Community College (MCC) that forever-Mayor Boking Morales set up in Barangay Tabun in 2008, the first ever of its kind in Pampanga  

The governor is keen on an MCC satellite campus in Barangay Dapdap to cater to the seekers of higher education in the resettlement centers in Mawaque and Madapdap.

Come to think of it, “satelliting” has become a hallmark of the Pineda administration in its delivery of services to its constituents. The Gov indeed some kind of NASA, as in Nanay’s Advocacy for Speedy Action. The last terms interchangeable with Social Advancement.

So, in education there are the satellite campuses.

In health, the district hospitals which Pineda repaired, reconstructed, rehabilitated and refurbished serving as medical satellites of the Provincial Health Office, the Diosdado Macapagal Memorial Hospital and the JB Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital.  

In peace and order, Philippine National Police and Air Force of the Philippines  Action Centers (PAACs) were constructed by the provincial government in coordination with the PNP and Armed Forces of the Philippines at the provincial boundaries in Barangay Mapalad, Arayat; Barangay San Roque, Magalang; Barangay Dolores, Mabalacat and along Floridablanca-Dinalupihan.

The PAACs make a nexus of dragnets, or, keeping with our theme, satellites, to check the ingress and egress of criminal elements in Pampanga.

In disaster preparedness, the local municipal disaster risk reduction management councils serve as satellite offices of their provincial counterpart, inter-connected by a communications system and rescue and relief support services.

One wag though noted that Pineda satelliting is best instanced in having the son as vice governor, the daughter as Lubao mayor and the daughter in-law as Sta. Rita mayor.

“Truly satellites, in the strictest meaning of the word, are the children, orbiting around the mother, basking in some reflected glory shining from her,” remarked him, ostensibly loudspeaking for the Movement Against Dynasties. That though is a totally different, if not a reversed, take of our satelliting story.

       

The Tarzan template

HIT THE ground running.

So Joseller “Yeng” Guiao promised, and there premised his candidacy for the first congressional district seat.

Right on Day One, Guiao said, he would be first in the primera fila at the House’s Bill and Index Division with his pet bill – the conversion of the Clark Development Corp. into a Clark Development Authority.

A CDA, he says, will unshackle the Clark Freeport from political chains as well as bureaucratic red tape, vesting in it the autonomy to chart its own course as an engine of national development. No, Guiao did not actually say that verbatim, I sort of verbalized his thoughts and feelings on the matter with all the intensity so characteristic of him.

He said a CDA will level the playing field for investing in Clark, providing equitable  incentives to attract more local and foreign investors into the Freeport. This, generating more investments and translating to greater employment opportunities which in turn highlights the need to ensure that the Clark manpower pool matches the skills requirements of every investor locating at the Freeport.

At the recent Regional Development Council-Central Luzon meeting, Guiao so convinced the assembly of governors, city mayors and private sector representatives – primarily businessmen, of the nobility and novelty, of the excellence and efficacy of his CDA advocacy that it was readily adopted as top priority.

No less than the RDC chair, City of San Fernando Mayor Oscar S. Rodriguez, himself an incoming congressman, embraced Guiao’s CDA cause as his own: “Pag naging authority iyon, hindi na mapu-politika ang mga opisyal ng Clark at ang mga empleyado ay magkakaroon ng security of tenure.”

Yeah, hallelujah!

Not that I want to monsoon Guiao’s triumphant CDA parade. but may I just say that he’s copycatting – no second rate and trying hard, most certainly though – his House predecessor, the Honorable Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin?

On June 8, 2011, listed – as introduced by Lazatin – in the House’s Bill and Index Division is House Bill 4843 – “An Act Creating the Metropolitan Clark Freeport Zone and its Governing Body, the Metropolitan Clark Freeport Zone Authority Replacing the Clark Development Corp.”

No CDA there but MCFZA just as telling, no mere name-changing but as game-changing, for the Freeport. Consider some of its salient features:

Section 8. Powers and Functions of the Metropolitan Clark Freeport Zone Authority -- The Metropolitan Clark Freeport Zone Authority shall have the following powers and functions:

            A. To adopt, alter, use a corporate seal; to contract, lease, buy, sell, acquire, own and dispose, movable and immovable as well as personal and real property of whatever nature (including but not limited to shares of stock or participation in private corporations or in limited partnerships, or in joint ventures with limited liability), bonds, precious metals in bullions, ingots, and easily convertible foreign exchange; to sue and be sued in order to carry out its duties, responsibilities, privileges, powers and functions as granted and provided for in this Act; and to exercise the power of eminent domain for public use and public purpose;

            B. Within the limitation provided by law, to raise or borrow adequate and necessary funds from local or foreign sources to finance its projects and programs under this Act, and for that purpose to issue bonds, promissory notes, and other form of securities, and to secure the same by a guarantee, pledge, mortgage, deed of trust, or an assignment of all or part of its property or assets;

            C. To approve, accept, accredit and allow any local or foreign business, enterprise or investment in the Zone subject only to such rules and regulations as Metropolitan Clark Freeport Zone Authority may promulgate from time to time in conformity with the provisions of this Act and the limitations provided in the Constitution;

            D. To authorize or undertake, on its own or through others, and regulate the establishment, operation and maintenance of public utilities, services, and infrastructure in the Zone such as shipping, barging, stevedoring, cargo handling, hauling, warehousing, storage of cargo, port services or concessions, piers, wharves, bulkheads, bulk terminals, mooring areas, storage areas, roads, bridges, terminals, conveyors, water supply and storage, sewerage, drainage, airport operations in coordination with the Civil Aeronautics Board, and such other services or concessions or infrastructure necessary or incidental to the accomplishment of the objectives of this Act: Provided, however, That the private investors in the Zone shall be given priority in the awarding of contracts, franchises, licenses, or permits for the establishment, operation and maintenance of utilities, services and infrastructure in the Zone. With regards to airport operations, the Clark International Airport Corporation will be abolished and its control over the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport will be transferred to the MCFZA…(highlighting here, mine)

            G. To protect, preserve, maintain and develop the virgin forests, beaches, coral and coral reefs within the Zone. The virgin forest within the Zone will be proclaimed as a national park and will be covered by a permanent total log ban… Sec.  9. Board of Trustees. -- The powers of the Metropolitan Clark Freeport Zone Authority shall be vested in and exercised by a Board of Trustees, hereinafter referred to as the Board, which shall be composed of a chairman, eight (8) members and six (6) ex-officio members.

            A. The chairman and eight members of the board shall be appointed by the President of the Republic of the Philippines to serve for a term of two (2) years and confirmed by the Commission on Appointments;

            B. The incumbent mayors of Angeles City, Municipality of Mabalacat, Municipality of Magalang, Municipality of Porac,  Tarlac City and the Municipality of Bamban are the ex-officio voting members;

Sec.  12. Administrative and Chief Executive Officer -- The President of the Philippines shall appoint a full-time professional and competent administrator and chief executive officer for the MCFZ whose compensation shall be determined by its Board of Trustees and shall be in accordance with the revised compensation and position classification system…

Sec.  16: Dissolution of the CDC – Subject to the provisions of the applicable laws and rules and regulations, upon the dissolution of the CDC, all its powers, functions, assets, liabilities, records, appropriations, facilities, equipment, and all other properties shall automatically be transferred to the Metropolitan Clark Freeport Zone Authority.

            The current third level employees of the CDC shall be absorbed by the Metropolitan Clark Freeport Zone Authority, while the officials of the CDC shall only be given preference in the appointment to similar positions in the Metropolitan Clark Freeport Zone Authority.

Unsolicited advice to Guiao: Get some briefing – if not coaching – from Lazatin.

After all, he has virtually become your template. First in your promise to transform the Pampanga Agricultural College into a state university which Lazatin already delivered. And now in converting CDC into an authority which Lazatin had already filed in 2011 yet.  

Feeling lucky

IT’S MORE fun in Metro Clark. So Buenas Angeles! was launched last week.

Buenas Angeles!, what the … does it mean?

Good angels. That’s the direct translation, said the ilustrado Marco Nepomuceno whose very name is synonymous to the city, and whose restaurant – Camalig – makes one definition of the city’s gastronomy. Bueno apetito!

If they meant Angeles the city, they should have made it Buena Angeles to suit noun-modifier agreement, buenas smacking of plurality, he added.    

Gramatica Espanol, notwithstanding, good angels just ain’t in character with the city, monikered for the longest time as the City of Lost Angels. So what gives? 

Malas, all that the HARP Travel Guide to Angeles City and Clark – launched in the same event – had of Buenas Angeles! were that on its cover and in the complimentary closing of the “Editor’s note.”

Nothing, not even a single sentence on why Buenas Angeles! in the 40-page glossy full color brochure put out by the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Pampanga or HARP. (Wouldn’t HRAP be the more appropriate acronym, or for that matter, HARAP? Of course, they are free to call themselves however way they want, as they felt free to steal part of my article on Pampanga’s legacy churches. Anyways…)

So we are left to our own devices to fashion out our own take to the slogan. 

By Buenas, HARP may have meant the connotation of the word in Filipino – buwenas, translating to lucky in English – which in Spanish will translate to suerte which, again in Filipino – suwerte – is interchangeable with buwenas.

Lucky Angeles, then. For having the Clark Freeport where investors and workers try to strike their luck, and the Clark International Airport where travellers are lucky enough not to go through the traffic grind that is Metro Manila to catch delayed flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Lucky Angeles, and Clark too, with the PAGCor’s Casino Filipino in Balibago and a host of poker houses, and the Mimosa, Fontana, Oxford, Widus and Casablanca at the Freeport. Sporting chances and games of luck galore!

No mere name game is Buenas Angeles but a game of chance there.

The adventurous will instantly take to its liking. The thrills, frills and chills as much in the casinos as in the orgasmic delights of Fields Avenue.         

All buenas, rather than mere suerte, there.

But there is more than good luck, even good intention, to turn Buenas Angeles! into something more tangible.

As our banner headline today says: It’s no fun in Clark, Angeles.

What with local and foreign tourists preyed upon like fair game by unscrupulous cops, con men, taxi and tricycle drivers.

What with government agencies themselves taking the fun out of travel to and tour around this place – the Clark Development Corp. allegedly imposing a fee of P10K for pre-nuptial pictorials at the Parade Ground; the Bureau of Immigration playing divinely idiotic gatekeeper at the Clark Airport.

Absolutely, no Buenas Angeles! here.

Definitely, kamalas-malasang malas all there.

Still, we have to give it to HARP. Which, as written in the travel guide, “is composed of 70 members from the hotels and restaurants sector plus members from the different tourism industries as its allied members like travel agencies, transport groups, schools, medical centers and alike (sic).

 With its express vision “To become a one-stop organization for Tourism in Pampanga” and “objective to promote and develop tourism in Angeles City, Metro Clark and the whole of Pampanga.”

Yeah, and to the Department of Tourism too, mindful of what its RD, Ronnie Tiotuico, wrote: “There is no better opportune time than today to establish our position in the travel map as a major destination now that we are on our way  to make it to the big-ticket league.”

 

After the losing

ONE CAMPAIGN promise of incoming Pampanga 1^st District Rep. Joseller “Yeng” Guiao has already been delivered. By outgoing Pampanga 1^st District Rep. Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin.

House Bill No. 4450 – seeking the conversion of the Pampanga Agricultural College (PAC) in Magalang town into a state university – has been signed into law on Monday by President BS Aquino as Republic Act 10605 – with the former PAC now known as the Pampanga State Agricultural University (PSAU).

It was Lazatin that authored the House bill which Congress approved on March 23, 2011. The counterpart bill in the Senate was authored by Senator Edgardo Angara.

As a state university, PSAU will be given academic freedom and institutional autonomy in the pursuit of undergraduate and graduate courses in agriculture – but of course, and also in arts and sciences, teacher education, industrial technology and engineering, information technology, business management and accountancy, tourism, health services and other courses within its areas of specialization and according to its capabilities.

Its state U charter also mandates PSAU to “undertake research, extension services and production activities while providing progressive leadership in its areas of specializations, in support of the development of the Province of Pampanga.”

"Isa itong napakasarap na tagumpay hindi lamang para sa aking mga kababayan sa unang distrito kundi sa ating buong probinsiya dahil tunay na pakikinabangan ito ng ating mga kababayan. Ito rin ay napakagandang programa na maiiwan at maibabahagi ko." So was Lazatin quoted as saying in some press release.

The conversion of PAC into PSAU was a vindication for Lazatin who was suspected by some sectors as having dilly-dallied on, if not altogether hostile to, the bill saying it will impact adversely on schools his family owns or has some connections with.    

“…napakagandang programa na maiiwan at maibabahagi ko." A beautiful, lasting legacy of the 27 years Lazatin dedicated public service there indeed. Made with greater lustre coming as it did in the wake of Lazatin’s loss in what could be his last political battle last May.

Come to think of it, in a span of over a week, two Lazatin bills were signed by the President into laws – this PAC conversion, and Republic Act 10582 – creating six additional branches of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Angeles City. 
It was only last January 29 that Lazatin filed the bill requesting for the creation of the courts, which on that very day was  referred to the Committee on Rules, a Committee Report was made, and then calendared for reading.

And went on a smooth sailing that in five months was enacted into a law. No mean feat for legislative work there. But Lazatin is no Tarzan if not for this.

Lazatin unbeatable as congressman. Among the many things I wrote here last year about the man. Finding ready affirmation if only in these two Lazatin bills becoming laws.

O ba’t kasi enya mu tinagal congressman pasibayu? Why didn’t he just seek re-election?

Yeah, John Greenleaf Whittier is damned right: "Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been’.”

Yeah, the people of the first district have not shaken off their sadness over the loss of their champion.

Now we know

THE CAT’S out of the bag.

Forget Clark International Airport becoming the country’s premier international gateway.

Sangley Point in Cavite – a naval station abandoned by the Americans in 1971 and currently jointly used by the Philippine Air Force (Danilo Atienza Air Base) and the Philippine Navy (Heracleo Alano Naval Base) – is, in all likelihood, going to be it.

A so-called All-Asia Resources and Reclamation Corp. (ARRC) consortium is reported to have submitted to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA)

last Jan. 10 yet letters of intent to undertake the twin projects for Sangley’s re-development into an airport – already named Aquino-Sangley International Airport, and a seaport – already named too as Aguinaldo-Sangley International Seaport.

Fine with the DOTC getting the letter of intent, it has jurisdiction over airports and seaports. But why the PRA? Because it is the clearing house for reclamation projects in the country. There, ARRC’s airport project at Sangley forebodes massive reclamation. Yet another casus belli for the Save Manila Bay coalition, the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas, and their anti-reclamation allies.

Strike two for the militant nationalists among them with the ARRC consortium principally a conglomerate of European firms, reported as “Flugfahen Munich, operator of the Munich airport in Germany; Hamburger Hafen und Logstik, the biggest operator in the Hamburg port, also in Germany; the Italian rail company Ferrovie Circumvesuviana; power firm Isoluc Corsan; Deutsche Bank; COWI, Inros Lackner and GMP Architects; contractors Hochtief and Rizzani de Eccher; and Royal Boskalis Westminster, the lead reclamation contractor.”

“They’re bullish about the Philippines and its development prospects, particularly the development of the country’s newest international gateway, one that will be responsive to the nation’s booming economy and thriving tourism industry.” So was quoted William Tieng, chairman of Solar Group, the lead local partner of ARRC.

It was not as though the Sangley proposal just came out of thin air, Tieng found its rationalization as a “response to the need to develop premier international gateways in the country, as well as Executive Order No. 629, Series of 2007, directing the PRA to convert Sangley Point in Cavite City into an international logistics hub with a modern airport and seaport through an enabling reclamation component.”

And who signed that executive order? Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the President in 2007, that’s who! Got some drift there?

As all letters of intent go, ARRC’s had already timelines for their projects: Construction of Phase 1 of the airport project ASIA is from 2014 to 2018, covering  the “reclamation of 2,500 hectares on the flight line of the Atienza Air Base, development of a 50-million-a-year airport terminal and the first of two runway systems estimated to cost P56.2 billion and P45 billion, respectively.”

Instinctively, Clark comes to mind there: its aviation area of over 2,500 hectares;  its two runways, the newer one designed with the space shuttle in mind. It’s all there but an honest to goodness world class terminal. So why Sangley?  

“The adjacent areas and approaches to the ASIA are largely over water and would allow airport operation on a 24-hour basis,” the ARRC report said.

And gave one up Clark’s you know what: “The availability of space for the expansion of the airport for a third runway is possible while this will not be possible in the Clark International Airport anymore. This makes investment in the development of Sangley a long-term strategic outlook that is driven by logic and not politics … As Sangley becomes integrated into the Greater Metro Manila Area, this will enable the metropolis to retain its bragging rights of being the seat of the premier international airport and capital of the Philippines.”

It is ARRC that is more politics than logic there.

As it is too all politics and not logic that is causing Clark’s unbecoming the Philippines’ premier international gateway.

Geopolitics, albeit on a local context, may also be discerned with the principal players on the side of government in this Sangley project: DOTC  Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and his brother PRA General Manager Peter Anthony Abaya, both blue-blooded Cavitenos.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer story from where got the gist of this piece said that on March 19, ARRC executives briefed top DOTC and PRA officials on the “technical and economic justifications for the development of Sangley Point,” as well as the “global projects and consultancy services track records” of its foreign partners. Both Abayas were there.

Inquirer furthered: On April 5, the company wrote both the DOTC and PRA, committing to “complete the feasibility studies (of the two projects) within six to eight months from the issuance of a PRA board resolution approving the reservation of the right to reclaim in the designated areas (off Cavite City) and a DOTC comfort letter, acknowledging receipt of the unsolicited conceptual proposal of the ARRC.”

On April 25, national media quoted DOTC’s Abaya as saying President Aquino’s Cabinet supported  a “co-development” plan for both Clark International Airport  and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as an intermediate measure to address air travel congestion at NAIA until a new facility is found or established around 2025.

A consuelo de bobo to the advocates of Clark as premier international gateway. So screamed the Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement then.

A fait accompli is more like it.

Cry conspiracy! Shout sabotage!

  

Seeing ghosts

SLEEPY HALLOW becomes MacArthur Highway.

Or so some unnamed Sun-Star Pampanga “sources” would have us believe with the “…seemed (sic) like ghostly images… painted on the decades-old acacia trees along the highway, 'scaring' motorists and commuters.”

“The painted images on the trees not only look like ghosts but are quite scary, too. They are potential hazards and are eyesores. The area has become ugly and it’s dirty. What is the DENR doing about this?” Thus, screamed Sun-Star Pampanga’s banner headline last Friday: “Motorists to DENR: Stop vandalism of trees”.  

Ugly? It is those very spectral forms that stayed the axeman’s hand – okay, the DPWH chainsaws and bulldozers; spared the trees, and preserved the natural beauty of the place.

Dirty? It is those very trees that transform the suffocating oxides of carbon emitted by thousands of passing, gassing vehicles into clean, life-giving oxygen. That is some purification process without any attendant dirty, harmful by-product. 

Vandalism? Save the Trees Coalition’s Cecile Yumul has the perfect take on this. In her facebook account she wrote: “To each his/her own conscience. The white human figures which saved the trees from death when the fight for the lives of these trees started is now referred to by anonymous (?) persons as vandalism. Yet, when the trees were chainsawed to death in a matter of minutes, they never saw anything wrong with it. When an X mark for death is placed on the trees, it is alright and not vandalism? 

One more hirit in the Sun-Star Pampanga banner story: “’We should respect the trees and the right of the people of this city for a clean and orderly environment. Instead of wasting money on paint and vandalizing trees let us just save the money and plant more trees,’ one stall owner, along Telebastagan said on conditions of anonymity.”

So, where was this stall owner in all those times when thousands of trees were being felled? His concern over the money “wasted” on paint smacks of the Iscariot’s lamentation over the cost of the perfume poured by Mary of Bethany on the feet of Jesus.

John 12:4-6 (New King James Version) thus: “But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”  This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.”

Come to think of it, Sun-Star Pampanga’s faceless sources sound like those same people that said the trees were dangerous to motorists and commuters, aye, that called them “killer trees” and therefore should all be cut.

Seared forever in the mind of environmentalists – particularly the STC – are the local government of the City of San Fernando and the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PamCham) as active participants in the wholesale massacre of some 2,000 trees along the MacArthur Highway perpetrated by the DPWH with the acquiescence, if not the instigation of the DENR.       

For the record though, the DENR this time stood by the side of the environment: “…the information office of the DENR said the “ghosts” were the handiwork of environmentalists and sees no harm to the trees with the paintings. They, however, said personnel were already dispatched to clean the area and look into the posters reportedly nailed on the trees as it is prohibited by law.”

The posters were stapled – not nailed – to the trees. The group that posted them in celebration of Independence Day, the Youth for National Development, ever mindful of the least harm they could inflict on the trees.

Sleepy Hallow for the MacArthur Highway.

Could it be that those who had had a hand in the murderous spree of the DPWH and its unconscionable contractors along that road are now being haunted by the silent victims of their heinous crime against the environment?

Seeing the ghosts of the felled trees in those stickman drawings made with    completely harmless water-based paint?

Getting so spooked that they had to hide under the protective blanket of anonymity?

Afraid of ghosts of their own making. Afraid to own up to what they are saying. Afraid to stand up to their own (un)doing. Else, run the risk of being haunted by the living.  

No simple Ichabod Cranes chased by the Headless Horseman there. Three times the cowardice, what we have are yellow-bellied, craven, chickens.

Mataloti.     

Gerrymandering

NOT EXACTLY misappropriated, the word gained currency in post-EDSA 1 Pampanga when Angeles City voters were excluded from voting – and running – for provincial positions.

Gerrymander, Gov. Bren Z. Guiao was promptly branded by his critics. Seen as he was of having effectively shut out the biggest challenges to his hold on the governorship that could come only from the city which not only held the largest  number of voters but which also voted only for its own.

There was no actual re-districting, which ran short of the dictionary definition of gerrymandering – “the division of a geographic area into voting districts as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections” – but just the same was the end result of unfair advantage to Guiao, albeit perceived rather than proven.   

Current headlines in the local papers scream of the “reshaping” of Pampanga with the carving of lone districts for the cities of Angeles and San Fernando which would inevitably throw the rest of the province into some reconfiguration.

It is reported that both congressmen-elect Joseller “Yeng” Guiao of the first district and Oscar Rodriguez of the third have set their heart and mind to the task, along with board members, both incoming and returning, Rosve Henson, Tonton Torres and Cris Garbo.

“Pampanga is indeed ripe for redistricting and reshaping. In fact, it is long overdue and timely because the Constitution mandates redistricting every five years. Kayang-kaya iyan at hindi mahirap because most of the towns in the province are qualified in terms of population and other considered essential demographics. Through redistricting, lalong made-develop ang mga bayan because of additional funds since reshaping would mean more manpower. It is very positive and equitable.” So was Cong Oca quoted as articulating.

No scheming gerrymander but some liberal democrat befitting his world-class mayor legend there. His landslide victory over incumbent Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales proof positive of the absence of any hidden vested interest in his lone district intent.

On the contrary, Rodriguez may be playing with political fire with a lone San Fernando district, being not “native-born” to the city. Why, in his last election as mayor, his margin of victory over the then-ailing now dearly departed Tiger Lagman was but a matter of the Iglesia ni Cristo votes, notwithstanding his being world-class mayor and the very avatar of good governance, bringing to his city honor and acclaim from near and far.

If not for the public good then, it can only be supreme confidence in his political stock – legacy-building too – that caused Rodriguez to set on this lone district quest. Carpe diem, Sir.

Notwithstanding Guiao’s victory over native-born Francis “Blueboy” Nepomuceno, Angeles City will always be a sword of Damocles hanging by the thinnest of threads over the head of any non-Angeleno candidate in the first district.

Cries, albeit muffled, have been raised for a lone city district as far back as the first election of Rep. Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin in 1987.

It was widely, if not wildly, bruited about then that Cong Tarzan, though Angeles-born and -bred would hear none of the city being a district of its own because he held Magalang, his parental hometown, as his trump card.

No matter its having the least number of voters in the first district, Magalang being all his own served as constant tipping point to Cong Tarzan’s victories, as he can but even up or get only slightly higher than his fellow Angeleno rivals in the city and in Mabalacat.

The premium of Magalang to Cong Tarzan’s success is now most highlighted with his defeat in the Angeles City mayorship last May.      

Incoming Cong Yeng’s intent now to separate the city from the rest of the first district may well be seen then as gerrymandering. Coming full circle – it would most certainly seem – with the exclusion of the city voters from Pampanga politics at the time of his father.     

Whatever, Cong Yeng can always be consoled by the thought that benefits accruing to politicians from redistricting are but a collateral to the greater benefits to their constituencies.          

Returning BM Henson said it most succinctly: “The primary goal is equilibrium among the towns of each district, considering population and geo-political boundaries.”

For greater service deliveries to the people.

CebPacked Coron

CEBU PACIFIC flew me safely – and most pleasantly – to Busuanga in Palawan, setting the mood for the best vacation I’ve had in years.

And vacationing a number of times every year I’ve been doing, year after year. No braggadocio there, simply to underscore the fun I’ve had this weekend past.

A commute by van that did not take long – I am completely mindless of time on vacations – to the Coron pier, a boat ride through a calm turquoise sea, passing by mountains looking like loaves of green, and then Balinsasayaw Resort.    

Natural as natural can ever get, the resort is. A large round pavilion with thatched roof and sawali ceiling multi-functioning as reception area, dining hall, videoke bar, lounger and what have you. Cottages – of thatch and sawali again – clinging at the hillside, amid trees and shrubs.  

All green and all serene, the chirping of cicadas, the murmur of the sea, most pleasant music to the ears. It helped too that power at the resort was available only from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.

Balinsasayaw – named after the swiftlet, aye, the very birds whose nests are a delicacy – makes the best jump-off point to island adventure and exploration of Coron’s natural wonders.

Kayangan Lake, accessible through a steep – slippery when we were there because of early morning drizzle – climb apexing at a rock promontory opening to a vista of Coron’s iconic poster – leaf-framed against blue skies jungle-clad islands, inlets and pristine sea. And as steep a descent to the cool, crystal-clear waters of the lake.

Snorkel heaven is Siete Pecados, a group of seven islets established as a marine sanctuary, with its expanse of corals and all sorts of fish to swim with.

Nestled into mountain walls and accessible through jagged limestone cliffs, Barracuda Lake looked like the crater of a volcano. It resembles, albeit on a much smaller scale, Mount Pinatubo’s crater lake.

There is some uncanny feeling diving into the waters of Barracuda Lake. No, I it’s not about heaving encounters with the fish, but with it seeming a bottomless pit.

At the pocket white sand beach of Banul, a feast from the sea was our lunch of crabs, prawns, lobsters, grilled labahita. Doubly made fulfilling with the feast for the eyes of bikini bodies. “Oyni’ng bie!” The double visionary Deng Pangilinan just could not help it.

Failed miserably did I in my first scuba try. Barely had I submerged in four-foot waters, when it seeped through my goggles burning my eyes and nostrils – more excitedly than stupidly, I breathed through the nose. So I let Peter Alagos, Ashley Manabat, Eric Jimenez and Ric Gonzales did all the exploring of the Skeleton Wreck. Contenting myself in a floating contemplation of the heavenly bodies splashing, submerging, surfacing, swirling all around me – all in the briefest of bikinis. Nirvana, attained.

And that was only on our first full day in Coron.

Pitch black, through trails – not roads – we rode seemingly to nowhere, until we stopped where the trail ended. By the bank of a river where waited a catamaran fashioned out of two bancas for hulls joined by a platform where rows of wooden benches were fixed, powered by an outboard motor.

Seemingly far-away lights turned out to be the bar at the end of the pier of El Rio y Mar Resort, where awaited us a sumptuous buffet dinner at the beach, complete with cultural show and a serenading trio.

Room for the night – and the next two days – was a beachfront villa made of red cedar “imported from Canada.”

El Rio y Mar had all the creature comforts without sacrificing the island life – wi-fi confined at its business center, no television – again, the whispers of the mangroves behind its villas, the croak of the geckos, the ever present chirping cicadas is all that lull the guests to sound sleep.

Up 4 a.m. Saturday for a quick coffee, then onto the catamaran, the first rays of dawn breaking at the mangroves lining up the river, then yet another transfer to a van to take us to Calauit for a day with the animals.

Here, I counted the minutes, aye, hours through back-breaking, bronco-bucking ride of steep climbs and plummeting drops with our driver doing 4X4 on a rutted trail in a Toyota Coaster.

Aching joints find instant relief upon sight of Calauit after a short riverboat crossing.

Straight out of Africa: a tower of giraffes and a dazzle of zebras, ruminating, grazing in complete symbiosis with a herd of Calamian deer.

All native born, the African animals at Calauit are now, from the Kenyan stock imported in the 1970s to provide game for Bongbong Marcos’s safari jaunts  – yet another urban legend appended to the son of the Great Ferdinand.

No, Bongbong – young then, and Senator now – was never seen at Calauit, so our tour guide said.

Feeding the giraffes, touching cheeks with them, is one experience of a lifetime. The connection, an epiphany of sorts, of the blessed bonds among God’s creations. Heaven, touched.                       

A fitting end to that bone-breaking but all-too fulfilling day: a dip at El Rio’s pool, the warmth of the water enveloping the body, de-stressing the mind, taking away all the cares of the world…   

Cebu Pacific flew me safely back to chaotic Manila – but with the fondest memories of Coron. Enough to last, till my next flight with CebPac.

Read me next from Angkor Wat.  

It has to come to this

THE GODSON seethes.

Pampanga 3^rd District Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales has taken his losing cause to the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) charging his nemesis – and wedding godfather – City of San Fernando Mayor Oscar S. Rodriguez as having purchased, wholesale and retail, his victory in the recent polls.

In his 10-page protest, Cong Dong alleged that Cong Oca caused his hand to sign and issue “numerous” checks in favor of as numerous payees just a few days before the elections, charged to the account of the City of San Fernando, Pampanga and the Municipality of San Fernando, Pampanga with the Land Bank of the Philippines, San Fernando Branch.

Cong Dong said that on May 10, 2013 at the city’s Heroes Hall, Cong Oca handed out “financial assistance” each in the amount of P5,000 to his so-called scholars at the Don Honorio Ventura Technological State University.

Numbering some 1,000, the supposed scholars, Cong Dong alleged, are residents not only of the City of San Fernando but also of other parts of the third district of Pampanga.

“The indiscriminate issuance of the above checks and the distribution of ‘financial assistance’ to numerous recipients, beneficiaries and/or scholars just a few days before the elections obviously constitute massive vote buying,” Gonzales charged, citing Cong Oca as having violated Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code, which prohibits any public official or employee, including barangay officials, from releasing, disbursing or using public funds during 45 days before a regular election.

Also flouted, he added, was Comelec Resolution 9585, which implements Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code that prohibits the release, disbursement and expenditure of public funds effective March 29, 2013 until May 13, 2013.

Were it not for Cong Oca’s “acts of massive and widespread vote-buying,” Cong Dong could have easily won last May 13. So believed his lawyers, citing his two previous landslide victories as proofs positive of his sure triumph over the comebacking Cong Oca.

“Having been elected twice already for the same position in the 2007 and 2010 elections, the sudden loss of some 87,376 votes is simply unexplainable and statistically improbable.” So the lawyers said.

The godfather speaks.

"It is all too ironic that he is protesting what he himself precisely did during the campaign and days before the election. I think he is very guilty of that, driving him to desperation. We never bought votes and we stand by our previous statement that we were never beaten by his money.” So was Cong Oca quoted in the local papers, in effect accusing his godson of projecting his image unto his godfather, of outsourcing the blame for his defeat on him.

Cong Oca turned the tables on Cong Dong on the very issue of scholarship assistance, blasting his godson as "an official who corrupted education."

Firing away thus: "It is very sad to note that he corrupted education. Saan ka makakakita na pati kindergarten binigyan ng P800 tapos scholar na. Iyung iba naman, P10,000 per family. We have proof and evidence too of such activities during the pre-election days but we kept it to ourselves para walang gulo. Besides, it is not my character na manira ng kapwa at mag-akusa. Indeed, his protest is very, very ironic. Pero kapag hindi niya itinigil ang kalokohan na iyan, kami naman ang magsasampa ng mga kaso laban sa kanya."

How did it ever come to this? Godfather versus godson? Politics sundering all spiritual bonds.

Politics has no relations to morals. Yeah, Machiavelli, as right today as then.  

Tarzan, as usual

TWO WEEKS after the polls, 1^st District Rep. Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin is up and about his usual rounds serving his constituency.

Five police stations in Mabalacat City and Magalang on Monday received 10 mobile patrols funded through the congressman’s priority development assistance fund (PDAF).

It goes without saying how those vehicles will go a long way in the preservation of order and the maintenance of peace in the communities where they will be deployed. Also in responding to emergencies, not necessarily police in nature.

A morale boost too to the cops are the patrol cars, given the problem of mobility endemic in police stations around the country.

As Magalang cop chief Supt.Ryan David enthused: “Nais naming ipaabot kay Congressman Lazatin ang pasasalamat dahil sa pagbibigay niya ng dagdag na patrol vehicle sa Magalang Police Station. Mahirap po talagang labanan ang krimen kung kulang tayo sa resources. Pero ngayon po na nadagdagan na ang aming mga sasakyan, makakaasa po kayo na mas lalo pa naming pag-iibayuhin ang aming pagpapatrolya para masiguro ang peace and order sa Magalang.” No need for any translation, the full meaning of the statement imparted in the English words there.

As ardent is Mabalacat City top cop Supt. Ferdinand Perez: “We appreciate Congressman Lazatin’s effort in trying to help us improve our peace and order system, especially in Mabalacat. Alam naman po natin na ang Mabalacat ay lumalaki na at ito’y isang siyudad na kaya mas lalong kailangan nating paigtingin ang ating seguridad.” Yeah, as in a drug-free, rather than free-drug, Roxas District in Barangay Dau. And the resurgence of meth-dealing at Jopilan Street in Agusu too. The people of Mabalacat are keeping their fingers crossed, Sir.

After all, high police morale breeds higher expectations among the people that they do their job well, and really done. That’s the message delivered in Cong Tarzan’s handing out of those mobile patrols. Gets nyo?

On Monday too, 20 public elementary schools in Mabalacat City and Magalang received from Cong Tarzan computer sets.      

Nothing new here really. As a matter of course, giving computers to public schools has been part and parcel of the Lazatin service delivery packages. The last distribution made only last March.

Still, the significance, aye, the impact of this program, is as telling as ever, education being up there in our people’s hierarchy of values. And the Department of Education ever short in funds and resources to fully meet not merely the expectations but the very needs of the public.    

This, articulated aptly by Leonardo David, principal of San Miguel Elementary School in Magalang: “Matagal na po kaming naghahanap ng mag-dodonate ng mga computers lalo na dito sa mga eskwelahan sa Magalang, dahil alam naman po natin na kokonti ang budget ng DepEd. Kaya malaki po ang pasalamat naming mga principal ng Magalang kay Congressman Lazatin sa pagbibigay niya ng mga computer sets sa amin.”

That, resounding in Rogelio Yumul, president of the Association of Barangay Councils of Mabalacat City: “Napakalaki po ng maitutulong ng mga computer sets na ito sa ating mga guro at ibang school officials and employees dahil mas magiging magaan na ang kanilang trabaho. Kahit po ang ibang eskwelahan dito ay may mga computer sets nang ginagamit, hindi pa rin po ito sapat.”

In just one day, Cong Tarzan did for peace and order and education what other so-called solons have not even thought of in one full term.

In just one day. Two weeks after he lost his city mayoralty bid, no musings and lamentations of might-have-beens. No protestations over what could have gone wrong. It’s plain and simple service, as usual for Cong Tarzan.

No wonder, he’s already being missed in the first district.

      

    

Law of numbers

IT’S THE law of averages finally catching up with him.

So political pundits deemed the loss of Cong Tarzan Lazatin to Mayor Ed Pamintuan in the battle for Angeles City.

The defeat was due to happen after Tarzan’s unbroken election victories from the congressional contest of 1987 to the congressional elections of 2010 – a span of 23 years, interspersed with three elections as city mayor.

Tarzan just can’t go on winning forever. A loss is just bound to happen. That’s the law of averages. As it is generally understood to mean. But that which mathematicians would rather call an “erroneous generalization” of the law of large numbers, which goes thus: “the frequencies of events with the same likelihood of occurrence even out, given enough trials or instances.”

In cara y cruz, Rizal’s face has come up three consecutive times. The law of averages, er, large numbers, holds it’s the Bangko Sentral logo that’s due to show in the next throw.   

In Tarzan’s case the law of averages – we stick to this for uniform understanding – took the negative application commonly attributed to it.

As it did in the cases of the dynasties that came to some end – ignominious, rather than otherwise – last May 13. The Gordons and Magsaysays of Zambales, the Josons of Nueva Ecija, the Payumos of Bataan – all falling victims to the law of averages.

But the law of averages has some positive effects too. As in the case of newly elected Mayor Rene Maglanque of Candaba.

The perennial whipping boy in the fourth district congressional elections managed to snatch a victory this time – the law of averages finally catching up on him too – albeit in a different contest. But still, a win is a win made sweetest after all those losses.  

Akin to the law of averages in election application is the law of diminishing returns. Here is how it goes.

In previous senatorial contests, Loren Legarda had always landed Number One. This elections just past, she was a far second to topnotcher Grace Poe.

Same with Board Member Cris Garbo who has held a virtual Torrens title to Numero Uno in the first district, making him undisputed senior board member. My, in the election just past, newcomer – to the board – Cherry Manalo pulled the rug under Garbo. 

The case of Balibago Barangay chairman Rodelio “Tony” Mamac falls within the ambit of the law of diminishing returns too. Mamac ran and lost in the Angeles City mayoralty contest in 2010. Mamac ran and lost in his vice mayoralty bid in 2013.
Now, whether Mamac runs for a city council seat in 2016, or seeks re-election as barangay chair, the law of diminishing returns – in the hierarchy of local government structure, as well as stature – already has him covered.  

The case of Among Ed Panlilio makes the best illustration of the law of diminishing returns.

In the recount of the 2007 vote, he lost to Nanay Baby Pineda by over 1,000. If ageing memory still serves right.

In the 2010 elections, he lost to Nanay again by some 230,000 votes.

In the elections just past, he lost anew by over 382,000 votes.

Figurative and literal, Among Ed’s returns diminish after each contest he entered.    

Anybody out there now going to have the law of averages and law of diminishing returns repealed, like some bloke tried to do with the law of supply and demand?

How I miss Chito Bacani.