Gov. Toto to Pres. Marcos Jr: How can I tell her about you?

 

“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.”

— J. R. R. Tolkien

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

WHEN Iloilo Governor Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. abandoned the National Unity Party (NUP) and recently took an oath as new member of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s ruling Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) in Malacanang, he must have been given the opportunity to engage the President in a tete-a-tete. 

President Marcos Jr. is, of course, aware that Defensor Jr is the chief ally and Iloilo campaigner of former Vice President Leni Robredo, Mr. Marcos’ rival in the May 2022 presidential election.

But because politics is addition and not wanting to miss the opportunity to exhibit humility and leadership, Mr. Marcos Jr. embraced Defensor Jr. and meekly welcomed the Iloilo leader to the fold of the administration. 

Amid the uncanny situation, was Defensor Jr. tempted to ask Mr. Marcos Jr “how can I tell her about you?”

The singular pronoun is no other than Robredo, who was in Iloilo as guest of honor in the 50^th anniversary of of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Iloilo chapter, where she had a lunch meeting with Defensor and Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas on August 11.

It was not known whether Defensor Jr. had “alerted” Robredo during the lunch meeting that several days later, he would officially jump ship from NUP to PFP. 

 

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Did the Iloilo governor also think of telling Robredo “how can I tell you about him (Mr. Marcos Jr. and my plan to switch party allegiance)?

Better still, was it the right moment for Defensor Jr. to tell her about the awful truth?

If she was informed about the impending “party sweetheart shift”, Robredo must have been dismayed but only tried to hide it.

With little influence and no more bargaining chips, she couldn’t stop former partymates from walking to the doors in exodus.

She must have thought there was no more reason for Defensor Jr.—and even Treñas and other NUP Iloilo stalwarts—to remain in the old party and ignore the President’s alluring call for “unity and cooperation” if it would be for the good and benefit the city and province in terms of projects and other favors.

Also, accepting the “invitation” of the Marcos Jr. administration to join the PFP is tantamount to accepting the legitimacy of Mr. Marcos Jr’s win in the 2022 presidential election for Defensor Jr., et al.

 

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As of the lunch meeting in Iloilo and the oath taking in Malacanang more than a week later, there was no official protest lodged by the Robredo camp in relation to the May 2022 presidential election.

Robredo has never issued an official concession to Mr. Marcos Jr. 

Other than speculations that the presidential election was rigged, no one—including Robredo herself—has publicly decried the results of the election and showed aggressive interest to file a formal protest in the Commission on Election (Comelec).

In her many public appearances and speeches in the universities and other organizations where she was the guest speaker, Robredo has never claimed she was a victim of election fraud.

Some of her allies and supporters think she has already decided to move on and was no longer interested to dabble in politics—unless she decides to stage a comeback in the future.

Thus, the likes of Defensor Jr. and Treñas can’t stay in the old party forever and watch other chief executives of the provinces and cities that have decided to join forces with the Marcos Jr. administration partake large slices of the Malacanang cake.

Richard Bach once said, “Don't be dismayed by goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.”

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Closure of Iloilo borders will kill Panay economy’

“When trying to teach someone a boundary, they learn less from the enforcement of the boundary and more from the way the boundary was established.”

—Bryant H. McGill

By Alex P. Vidal

A FILIPINO-American national from Lambunao, Iloilo has decried the order to restrict or close the Iloilo borders, saying “it will kill the economy in Panay Island.”

New York-based Rommel Leal, 50, an entrepreneur and travel enthusiast, said if Iloilo borders are closed, other provinces in Panay dependent on Iloilo economy like Antique, Aklan, Capiz, and Guimaras “would be the hardest hit if their goods, manpower, and other components of economic activity can’t reach Iloilo vice versa.”

Leal said he received feedbacks from relatives and traders that “actually only the roads have been closed.”

“There are still access entry areas in far flung villages away from the national roads in the Iloilo and Capiz boundary that aren’t monitored by authorities,” he said.  

Leal said he found it “unnecessary” to restrict movements from Iloilo to other provinces “because Panay is one island and all its provinces don’t have direct road access to other islands.”

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It’s impossible for COVID-19 infected residents from Cebu and other islands to enter Iloilo unless they will arrive via vessels in the sea ports, said Leal, a resident of the United States since 2008.

Leal sympathized with Antique in particular because the province, he said, “relies on Iloilo as the gateway for their goods and workers to other provinces vice versa.”

“I pity Governor (Rhodora) Cadiao who had to make a public appeal to the provincial government of Iloilo not to implement a strict border restrictions,” observed Leal. “It (closure of Iloilo borders) will add misery to the Antiquenos who were already badly affected by the long lockdown.” 

Iloilo Governor Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr signed an executive order dated July 1, 2020 restricting persons from traveling to the province from July 1 to 15, thus closing the Iloilo borders.

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Only the following are exempted from Defensor’s travel ban:

-Government officials and personnel traveling in the performance of their functions;

-Health and emergency frontline frontline personnel and duly athorized Humanitarian Assistance Actors (HAAs);

-Persons traveling for medical or humanitarian; 

-Persons granted passage to the airport for travel abroad or from the airport to the border;

-Overseas Filipino workers (OWs) returning to the province in tripsl orgnaized by Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA); and 

-residents of Iloilo and Guimaras.

As of this writing, Aklan and Capiz reportedly also ordered the closure of their borders.

Leal also suggested to authorities to life the lockdown imposed on St. Paul’s Hospital in Iloilo City after eight residents doctors had been reported infected with COVID-19.

“There are so many hospitals in the world today where hundreds of health workers have been infected buy they were not ordered lockdown. Hospitals are essential places in the time of pandemic. They should be opened and be made accessible to everyone,” he concluded. 

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NOT all of the 98 people, including village officials in Western Visayas, charged by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group–Region 6 (CIDG-6) recently over alleged irregularities in the distribution of the government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP), pocketed the money intended for the poorest of the poor.

Some of them were charged criminally for abuse of authority and harassment of their political nemesis who reside in their villages. 

But CIDG-6 Director, Lieutenant Colonel Gervacio Balmaceda Jr., has confirmed that some of those facing criminal cases have been the objects of allegations they included friends and relatives ineligible in the SAP’s first tranche.

Village officials who stole the SAP intended for their residents will only have themselves to blame once the criminal raps will progress in court.

Pocketing the money intended for those already suffering from virus-induced lockdown was tantamount to adding insult to the residents’ injury.

Many families until now don’t have enough food to eat for their daily sustenance because most of their breadwinners had been stranded in the house for at least three months.

Some of these breadwinners lost their jobs and will never regain them due to so many restrictions and unpredictable economic doldrums that developed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

 (The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

   

Defensor right not to tell Duque to quit

“There's so much interference, so much static and people's voices talking about what you do and why you do it that I've learned to be like, 'No, no.' It's actually simple. I just do this.”

—Jenny Slate

By Alex P. Vidal

IF Iloilo Governor Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. isn’t happy with both the health programs in the province of Iloilo and the way the provincial health office is handling the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, he can always call for the provincial health chief’s resignation.

Or the governor can replace the provincial health chief right away without prejudice to the latter’s security of tenure and civil service eligibility.

So far, so good. 

The provincial health office, headed by Dr. Patricia Grace S. Trabado, has been doing a good job in the fight against the pandemic, and the governor appears to be pleased and satisfied.  

But if Defensor Jr. is frustrated with the way the Department of Health (DoH) is being managed—especially if he finds the campaign to flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases in the country to be inefficient and unsatisfactory—the least he can do is recommend to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte that “incompetent” Secretary Francisco Duque III be sacked.

He can’t directly ask Duque III to yield his portfolio and escort him out of the DoH building. 

Even if Defensor Jr. thinks that Duque III’s supposed negligence and mismanagement of the DoH will have immediate and far reaching effects to his Ilonggo constituents, in one way or the other, he doesn’t have a jurisdiction over Duque III’s employment in the Malacanang.

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Since Duque III serves at the pleasure of President Duterte, only the president can remove him from the cabinet.

As long as Duque III enjoys the trust and confidence of the president, he can’t abandon his post only because some local chief executives don’t like him.

Thus Defensor Jr. made the right answer when asked by reporters recently if he would also call for Duque III’s resignation after Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas openly demanded for the controversial DoH boss’ resignation “for the sake of the country.”

Treñas thundered: “As a decision maker, what I can say is that the DOH has not done correct decisions since the start of this pandemic in the Philippines. That is why we are the country with the longest lockdown and yet the (COVID-19) cases continue to go up.”

The city mayor added: “I am not putting blame on anyone but there are decision makers. Secretary Francisco Duque is a friend because I have known him since the time of the late President Corazon Aquino.  But I think it is really about time to accept responsibility and voluntarily resign for the sake of the country.”

Although several senators have also earlier called for Duque III’s resignation, Treñas became the first local chief executive outside Metro Manila to seek for Duque III’s ouster.

He must have been exasperated when the DoH had earlier called for the pulling out of 39 rural health workers from Western Visayas to be assigned in Cebu, now touted as the new COVID-19 epicenter.

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Defensor Jr., on the other hand, wanted to leave Duque III’s fate to President Duterte even as he refused to reprimand the DoH chief or pass judgment on his performance, saying “he was not familiar” with the circumstance of the DoH tasks in the national office.

The governor reportedly admitted he had no basis to judge Duque III since he did not have a direct work relationship with the DoH secretary.

By refusing to interfere in a matter that only the president can decide,  Defensor Jr. wanted to send a message his time and energy were focused only to the Ilonggos in his area of responsibility, and that he has nothing to do with the wrangling and intramural in the national level whatsoever.

COVID-19 is still wreaking havoc in many municipalities even as the province and city of Iloilo are still under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) until July 15, 2020. 

Defensor Jr. probably believed it’s not worth his effort to demand for  the head of the top DoH official while the nation continues to struggle to surpass the deadly pandemic and lower down, if not totally stop, the number of infected cases and deaths.

The governor must have realized it’s not wise to fire the chief cook for committing a mea culpa in the middle of a big party where food preparations and kitchen works will last from lunch time to dinner time. 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

   

  

   

Ilonggos unite vs COVID-19

“One of the primary purposes of civilization - and certainly its primary strength - is the guarantee that family life can flourish in unity, peace, and order.”

—Robert Kennedy

By Alex P. Vidal

BY being always available and visible in the public, Iloilo officials led by Iloilo Governor Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. and Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas are sending a buoyant message to the Ilonggos that “we are on top of the situation and with your help and cooperation, we can surmount this crisis.”

It’s in times of crisis and calamities that the leadership and worthiness of our leaders are scrutinized and best tested.

Novel coronavirus or COVID-19 has laid low the Ilonggo populace, just like other places all over the globe, by an enemy too small to be seen.

There seems to be a a sudden resignation and fatalism in the air even as despair unrelieved by even glimmers of hope befouls social media and traditional media alike.

All of a sudden, the scourge of the coronavirus strikes many of Ilonggos as well as people caught flat-footed around the world as something supernatural. 

For the Ilonggos, however, the show of unity is heart-warming and unparalleled. 

They know when and how to turn despair into hope by cooperating with the authorities and cajoling others to toe the line using the social media and person-to-person persuasion.

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The good thing about the fear and confusion that cascaded in the hearts of many people is that the Ilonggos are now united against the common enemy.

There have been no opposition; no bellyaching; no protest, and nobody criticized or opposed our local officials who sent out stern executive orders (EOs) limiting the movements of warm bodies in the borders.

When Treñas ordered the temporary closure of the famed Iloilo Esplanade in the Iloilo River, nobody complained and everybody cooperated. 

The city currently has 16 patients under investigation (PUIs) and 1,097 persons under monitoring (PUMs) for COVID-19.

When the people are facing a cloud of uncertainty and confusion, they need leaders who are intrepid, decisive, firm, and who can assure them everything is being handled efficiently and professionally and that the government is ready to confront the crisis using its full authority, resources, and technical capabilities and otherwise.

Health experts and members of the disaster and coordinating council, the police and the military will work alongside the chief local executives to assuage the nervous public and help the people prepare for the next episode while everyone shakes in their pants but are optimistic there will be light at the end of the tunnel because their leaders are in the forefront helping contain the conflagration.

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KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. Instead of spending lots of money on a new desk for our office, let us invest in some salvaged wood and paying a carpenter to make us one to measure--it will have the added advantage of fitting the space exactly.

THE USE OF HAVING TWO EYES. If we look at our room with one eye only, we will find that it looks much flatter than it does with two eyes. With two eyes we can see that the chair is n front of the desk, that the wastebasket is round and that the closet looks deep. Our eyes are set from about two to two and a half inches from each other--measuring from center to center.

WHY WE HAVE EYEBROWS. Our eyebrows serve a good and useful purpose. If we had no eyebrows, the drops of sweat that form on our foreheads when we get warm would run into our eyes.

 (The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)