LETTERS FROM DAVAO

By Jun Ledesma

The honor rolls and the dropouts

December 31, 2018, 12:13 pm

I ALWAYS do a final accounting of how characters especially decision makers and institutions influence our lives for the last 365 days. This is sort of a simple math and will try my best not to overdo or under-rate for after all, this is not about figures so trust me I will not do a booboo like what a Vice President in a country in the Pacific did.

* Pres. Rodrigo R. Duterte shares with Miss Universe Catriona Gray our Persons of the Year Award. Duterte who was described by UP Prof. Clarita Carlos as a leader who is “intelligently courageous” and “has a fire in his belly” still comes out blazing with expletives. But take heed. When he curses, he has a target audience. If it is not meant for you then listen with your left ear and let it out on the right. Make no mistake, however, as the man never wanes in his quest to hunt criminals and members of the drug syndicates. On the other hand, Digong is the most compassionate person I knew. He is gentle, very friendly and is kind and some members of Manila media at the start of his presidency thought that when he winks or whistle it denigrates them. Truth to tell, the ladies among them would tug along with the “tagabundok” President, as Jim Paredes would describe him, all the way to the wee hours of the morning sharing the microphone in Davao City’s KTV karaoke bar, laughing at his corny jokes and him at their childish cracks. The President never felt the immensity of his power and when he had fun with the lady journalists like in the first days of his presidency it was a simple man enjoying the company of his new found friends.

* Vice Pres. Leni Robredo who was given a portfolio in the Cabinet should have demonstrated what she could do instead of listening to the assurance of her supporter Loida Lewis that Duterte would resign due to intense pressure and she will then assume as President. She went to church along with the Catholic bishops who had diabolically wished Digong will get sick and die only to realize that the man is as healthy as a ram. She became erratic driven by the fear that she might lose the electoral protest of Bongbong Marcos. Her camp has done every trick like soaking filled ballots and electoral returns to erase the damaging proofs and figures. Her mathematics became so convoluted, to her 4 X 40 totals to 1,600. But the polite Duterte still was polite to her although what remains of his admiration of Leni is her lovely knees.

* Sen. Antonio Trillanes, the co-conspirator of detained Sen. Leila De Lima in penning down Digong on their nebulous claims of “more than 2,200 EJK cases in Davao City”, exited the country. He is facing criminal libel cases in Davao filed against him by former Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte. He is reported to be in Amsterdam for what he boasts as a series of speaking engagement. Really? Not even Patrick Henry could claim he was a sought after speaker. Amsterdam is just two hours away from the CPP/NPA Leader Joma Sison so maybe they can compare notes.

* Four “honorable” senators were in detention, namely Johnny Enrile, Bong Revilla, Jinggoy Estrada and Leila de Lima. Enrile had breached 90 so he was freed earlier and Bong is now a free man, the charges against him having been dismissed, while Jinggoy was given permission by the court to travel to HongKong. All three are running for the Senate and two are within the magic 12. It looks like “the frailty of a woman” defense of Leila is not legally tenable.

* Executive Sec. Salvador Medialdea, the little President, is not that really little as he is a heavy weight despite the tremendous workload in his office. He is the first man to report in Malacanang and the last to leave. He had been missing the green and if the urge to play golf even during weekends or holidays, he has to formally file a leave of absence.

* Bong Go, is an ex-Special Assistant to the President. His boss had been so used to his physical presence and that feeling is mutual so while he no longer holds regular office, he remains to be the loyal “tulay sa Pangulo” especially in extending assistance to medical patients and victims of calamities. He started off as No. 23 in senatorial surveys, but now people had realized he was serious in running that he is inching within the magic 12, assuming he is not yet. The President will be his campaign manager.

* Bam Aquino, would have done well by himself but his alliance with the yellow sinkers spells the doom of his political careers. His death knell in the Senate race is his penchant to grab credits from other people’s achievements. Mindanao will likely dump him for his impertinence of saying that martial law should only be imposed in the region if already it is in the state of war.

* Jun Evasco, the campaign strategist of Duterte, left the Cabinet to run for Governor in his home base Bohol. He is a big loss to the Duterte administration but a big gain for the Boholanos.

* Jesus Dureza, took command responsibility over his underlings who were dipping their fingers in the cookie jar while the President Adviser on Peace Process is out doing odd jobs for the President. The last time I heard he and his wife Beth were playing with their grandchildren and in between go out fishing in the Davao Gulf. He is a big loss to the administration but I think Jess deserves the break. He had served in the administration of Fidel Ramos, Gloria M. Arroyo and the Duterte. If I were Digong, I will get back Jess and appoint him as his liaison between the Legislative and the Executive Department. The widening cleavage between the House of Gloria and Malacanang does not augur well for the country. Press Sec. Salvador Panelo merely remarked that Budget Sec. Benjamin Diokno is entitled to some courtesy. In the Lower House meanwhile Majority Floor Leader Rolando Andaya is heard saying he cannot level up or down with Sal because he, Panelo, is not a parliamentarian. What a balderdash added on the ego of Andaya. GMA should crack the whip and work for the harmonization of budget and development projects of the Duterte government instead of arguing as to who has the power of the purse and who should bask longer under the television klieg lights.

* Sec. Carlos “Sonny” Dominguez is the team captain of the Duterte for President Movement and went on to be the point person that could make or unmake the Duterte government. As Secretary of Finance, he has succeeded in turning the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs into a veritable revenue generating agencies. For the first time in many decades, BIR and BOC which were icons of corruption and inefficiency, have become among the best performing assets of the government…of course with extra help from President Duterte himself whom Sonny describes as his top tax collector. The DOF Secretary is also the government’s top negotiator in generating cheap money from China and Japan for the administration’s BUILD BUILD BUILD program. If Sonny fails, this government will fail. Meaning, those new railway projects and vital roads and bridges infrastructures, we hope will ease traffic, disperse industries outside of Metro Manila will never come to a fruition if the Finance boss will miss his objectives. But Secretary Dominguez is up to his job. He is an achiever and he will not let criticisms and other barriers come in the way of realizing his goals. Let me put it this way…President Duterte takes care of peace and order, Secretary Dominguez takes care of the financial matrix that would enhance investments and development.

* Federalism draft had been mongrelized with the House of Gloria coming up with their own version that shamelessly ensured their own interest. They removed the cap for the term of office and threw out the anti-dynasty provisions in the ConCom draft.

* I cannot understand the logic of the so-called tariffication in the procurement of rice. This will bring us back to the time when (Chinese) traders control and dictate the buying and selling prices of rice and corn. If there is a cruel way to kill the rice farmers, this tariffication animal is the way to do it. Whoever has this bright idea is missing and messing the issue on rice supply and productivity. Since it will eat too much space, my advice is for government to revisit the strategy of how Marcos was able to raise the income of farmers and then made Philippines a rice exporting country.

* If you hate Marcos because of your love for the Aquinos, talk to Agriculture Sec. Manuel Pinol because he was old enough when Marcos was President. The biggest mistake of this government was to remove NFA under the auspices of the DA. Under the tariffication plot, anyone can import rice provided they pay tax. Looks convincing and simplified. But traders will just pass on to consumers the tax due so where will the price of rice go but up, up and away. The key is to encourage farmers to increase their production by extending them a modicum of price support. But the master key is actually to resuscitate NFA by providing it procurement fund, rehabilitate the rice mills which were mothballed during the Cory regime, establish NFA-run silos in every four clustered barangay which will also serve as buying stations of the NFA. Develop a quedan system similar to the practice in the sugar industry. The authors of the tariffication bills are mostly lawyers so what rational output can you expect from them? The rice traders are laughing their way to the bank once this freak bill is signed into law.

* There is another Marcos designed poverty alleviation project before – The Food Terminal Inc. This provided a mechanism before where FTI buys food products from the provinces, ship and store these in cold storage facilities of FTI in Taguig where in turn wholesalers buy the commodities to be retailed all over Metro Manila. This increases the income of vegetable farmers, fish and meat producers from the provinces. When the Cory government took over, the operations of FTI was stopped. Later, they leased the storage facilities and stalls and worse, the government sold the valuable real estate assets of FTI for a song. These days, FTI still has board of directors when its only task was collect rentals. Duterte should dismiss and replace all members of the FTI existing BoD for lack of initiatives, place FTI under DA and make that a going concern.

* The Philippine Airlines made it to the big league and congratulations is well in order. But the Capitan, Mr. Lucio Tan, should temper its profit making. The fare between Davao and Manila is more expensive than PAL’s fare from Manila to HongKong. Looks like Lucio Tan loves his relatives in China more than he cares for President Duterte’s political constituents. We from Davao cannot subsidize the fares of our neighbor across the West Philippine sea — the far richer Chinese passengers.

* Davao City Mayor Inday Sara. We merely call her that instead of adding Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio. This iron lady virtually took the nation by a storm and shaking the foundation of the power-wielding Speaker of the House of Representative Pantaleon “Bebot”Alvarez. The sin of Bebot was that he tagged Inday Sara’s Hugpong ng Pagbabago an opposition. Bebot was also heard allegedly saying Duterte is President and that he is Speaker of the House and can have the President impeached. Bebot denied having said so but Inday Sara has ears in many walls. Under her watch, Davao City economic growth reached to as high as 12% and later stabilized at 9%. Because of the stable peace and order condition prevailing in the city, we see massive development in every nook and corner of the metropolis. There is a frenzy of construction of hotels, high-rise condominiums, malls and subdivisions. As I write this piece, I hear power drills digging the pavement by the roadside to give way to duct for power and communications cables and to replace old and small water pipes as the Davao City Water District embarks on a P12.5-billion bulk water project. All these and more under the administration of Mayor Inday who once punched a sheriff for demolishing a temporary shelters of settlers at the height of a calamity that hit the city. “Do not mess with this girl”, she warned Bebot Alvarez.

* Mayor Inday Sara, Chairperson of HnP is running unopposed in the coming midterm elections. HnP was meant to be just a regional party conceptualized to collectively manage and spread the huge capital investments pouring into Davao City so that it will not suffer from suffocation arising from massive development. It’s like spreading the sunshine. Today, moreover, there is a pilgrimage of leaders from all over the country wanting to forge an alliance with Hugpong Ng Pagbabago. But there are political values underneath the HnP and if you’ve read the Three Musketeers credo it’s “One for all, all for one”. The only difference is that you don’t reckon with only three. As it was demonstrated HnP is a force that can remove the 4th most powerful man in the country. If it can unmake, ergo it can make.

Pres. Rodrigo R. Duterte’s satisfaction rating is up six points. Metro Manila, balance Luzon rated the President “Very Good” while Mindanao where he had martial law extended gave him an “Excellent” grade. His irate critics maybe gnashing their teeth in disbelief. With his unwavering trust and satisfaction rating, there is no way the salivating opposition can diminish the popularity of this leader from the hinterlands of Mindanao.

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About the Columnist

Image of Jun Ledesma

Mr. Jun Ledesma is a community journalist who writes from Davao City and comments from the perspective of a Mindanaoan.