Do city mayors need to travel abroad?

“No grand idea was ever born in a conference, but a lot of foolish ideas have died there.”
-- F. Scott Fitzgerald

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Critics ribbed the late former Iloilo City mayor Rodolfo “Roding” Ganzon and former mayor Mansueto “Mansing” Malabor for being “barriotic mayors” because they never attended a single international conference for city mayors during their administrations in the 90s.
Ganzon, of course, traveled a lot outside the Philippines when he was a senator from 1963 to 1969 as part of his legislative mandate.
Being “barriotic mayors”, as we very well know, did not diminish their effectiveness as public servants.
Even without any junket abroad, both Ganzon and Malabor were hands-on leaders who never had any deficiency in the services they rendered for Iloilo City.
Ganzon and Malabor may not have yielded to the increasing and growing demands of the climate of global synergy during their terms, but they were holed up in giving priority and attention to the more practical and immediate social concerns of their constituents in the barangays.
Iloilo City mayors started to expand their political, cultural and economic horizons internationally starting when Jerry P. Treñas served as the city mayor for three consecutive terms from 2001 to 2010.

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As the national president of League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) during the term of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Treñas became a globetrotter.
He racked up more than a dozen foreign trips, all in relation to his mandate as the local chief executive of Iloilo City and as the LCP boss.
When Jed Patrick Mabilog took over as city mayor in 2011, he also circumnavigated the globe in relation to his job as a father of Iloilo City like Treñas; Mabilog even landed as the No. 5 in World Mayor 2014.
Following their footsteps today is incumbent Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III, who have already gone to the United States for the Iloilo Trade Mission in June and in Singapore for the World Cities Summit in July this year in only nine months since he became the city mayor.
Mayor Joe III is expected to crisscross the sky some more for the future international conferences before and after the 2019 elections, if he wins.

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As part of the global village in this age of social media, cyberspace and globalization, our mayors or other local officials for that matter, should travel or accept invitations to go abroad, once in a while, and connect with the rest of the world or be left behind.
Interacting with foreign counterparts and actively participating in floor discussions and policy making deliberations in the summits is tantamount to upgrading their leadership skills and solidifying the selling points of the city that they represent.
There are major conferences calendared annually that seriously tackle bilateral modernization plans, trade packages, exchange programs, long-term infrastructure grants; paradigm shifts in environment, health, economic, tourism, education, culture, and related concerns that need the physical attendance of city mayors and not necessarily the attendance of heads of state or presidents.

Will lightning strike twice in city hall?

“If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.”

--Thomas J. Watson

By Alex P. Vidal

NEWARK, New Jersey -- An illiterate but patriotic public servant is as dangerous as the corrupt public servant.

The only difference is, corrupt public servants are really the real menace to society.

The illiterate will mismanage the government. The corrupt, on the other hand, will impoverish the nation.

The country can easily rebound from the doldrums of mismanagement.

If public coffers have been emptied by corrupt public servants, every citizen or member of the family will suffer from a hodgepodge of government neglect and dispossession.
Former Supreme Court Chief Justice and Senate President Hilario Davide prefers the illiterate over the corrupt.
I reject both.

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THE presence of Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque in the 50^th Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo City in the Philippines on January 28, 2018 didn’t sit well with those wishing to oust Mayor Jose “Joe III” Espinosa III before the May 2019 elections.

Roque, President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s representative during the festival’s final day, reportedly conveyed the President’s message of support for the festival’s golden edition.

Roque’s gesture could be interpreted that everything is well between Malacanang and Iloilo City Hall in as far as political relationship is concerned.

Those who believed that “stubborn” Mayor Joe III may have committed a serious gaffe by his refusal to recall the much-criticized executive order that closed a portion of Rizal Street in Plaza Jaro in connection with the Feast of Our Lady of the Candles Nuestra Señora de la Purificacion y Candelaria on February 2, however, think the city mayor is ripe for a kill.

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CRITICS surmise the city mayor can be eliminated through a case for “violation” of anti-graft practices act before the Office of the Ombudsman and, thus, suffer the fate of his predecessor, Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog.

They suspect his much-ballyhooed “cordial” relationship with the hard-hitting President from Davao City is a myth or like a bubble that can explode anytime.

They viewed President Duterte’s non-appearance in the Dinagyang Festival as a tell-tale sign that the President’s relationship with the City Hall has remained frosty even after Mabilog’s overthrow.

They are apparently cynical on a scenario of President Duterte coming to Mayor Joe III’s rescue in the event the city mayor will end up facing the slammer.

And if ever a case of that nature be marshaled against Mayor Joe III, it would most likely come from former Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel Mejorada, author of the Ombudsman case that toppled Mabilog last year.

If Mejorada is convinced that Mayor Joe III really violated the law when he defended and sustained his controversial Jaro Plaza road edict, the former capitol bigwig probably must be hoping that lightning will strike anew in the Iloilo City Hall.    

Incidentally, Roque is Mejorada’s former legal counsel in the latter’s libel cases filed by Senator Franklin Drilon.

His other legal counsel is Atty. Eduardo Jalbuna, former president of the Iloilo Press Club (IPC).

MIWD directors: Damn if you do, damn if you don't

"Somewhere in the world there is an epigram for every dilemma."
--Hendrik Willem Van Loon

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- We can't blame the members of the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) board if they continued to ignore the order of Iloilo City Mayor Jose "Joe III" Espinosa III to vacate their posts.
They are in a "damn-if-you-do, damn-if-you-don't" situation.
If they vacate, they can be charged with abandonment. After all, they assumed their posts through a proper process and procedure.
And they are all qualified for the job.
If they continue to stay, the city mayor will invoke strong legal arguments to justify their removal. They will be forcefully hounded by a city hall demand to resign.
They will be caught between the devil and the deep blue see, so to speak.
Mayor Joe III insisted that the appointments of Dr. Juanito Acanto, Atty. Josephine Caram, Dr. Jessica Salas, Dr. Teodoro Robles, and businessman Ramon Cua-Locsin by Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. are "void ab initio" based on the SC decision.
Mayor Joe III invoked as the basis for his order a recent Supreme Court (SC) en banc ruling on a case in Cebu City, which, if applied in Iloilo City, will give the city mayor the power to appoint the MIWD directors.
The city mayor has issued a Cautionary/Cease and Desist Order against the MIWD directors. He wants to appoint the new directors.
The MIWD directors, however, have defied Mayor Joe III even as their lawyers led by MIWD legal counsel Roy Villa have asked the city mayor to go to court.
Mayor Joe III can't appoint the new MIWD directors because there are no vacant seats, the lawyers have argued.
If he goes to court and begin the legal debate in the proper forum, Mayor Joe III, a lawyer, will have the upper hand if he believes he is right.
If he won't and will continue his saber-rattling only in the media, he can't physically remove the MIWD directors who are also invoking their own legal standpoint and rights to justify their stay.

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Grandstanding Senator Juan Miguel "Migz" Zuburi has decried the "horrendous" airfare ticket prices in a recent Senate hearing on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), but did not name which airline and how much were the ticket prices involved.
His sweeping accusation could hurt the airline industry unless he will provide details of his allegation.
It's easy to read between the lines.
Some people suspect that Zubiri only wanted to disclose  that some Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) resource persons had approached him to solicit for their airfares.
In other words, he wanted to embarrass those resource persons in a subtle manner.

Beware of snakes and parasites, 'Mrs. Joe III'

"Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver."
--EDMUND BURKE

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Now that her husband, Atty. Jose "Joe III" Espinosa III, has been installed by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) as the new Iloilo City mayor, Mrs. Gina Sarabia Espinosa or "Mrs. Joe III" should be wary of snakes and political parasites.
They are just waiting for the "grand welcome" in the city hall--or may have already started their initial serenade.
Some of them were the same characters who bombarded Mrs. Marivic Mabilog with "beso-beso" and "pa-sweet feeling" treatment when Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog ascended to power as chief executive after the May 10, 2010 elections.
They wormed their way into the corridors of power by splendidly heaping Mrs. Mabilog with verbal and actual blandishments, among other flowery compliments in a hope to gain favors and special attention for them, their relatives and cronies.
They were the ones who quickly clapped their hands and loudly chanted hooray to "recognize" whatever little accomplishment made by the first lady or done by someone else on her behalf.
Trademark of genuine "sip-sips."

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Once they were "in", they behaved like indispensable wiseacres; they arrogantly built images of invincibility; and hubristically stomped their feet on the pedestal of authority.
Many of these octagon-jawed opportunists did gain favors, in one way or the other, for their relatives and cronies and for their own whims and caprices, of course.
In politics, there's a conventional wisdom that says if you don't have a direct access to the chief executive, take the "short route": go to the wife.
We are not saying though that Mayor Mabilog had tolerated and opted to keep a blind eye on their perceived haughtiness and shenanigans.
Mrs. Mabilog may have been smitten by their lullabies and cajolery in the beginning, but not lock, stock, and barrel.
In fact, she never flexed her muscles in the city hall. She stayed out of her husband's shadow and disabused the people's minds that they could get what they wanted from the mayor if they would befriend the wife.

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When Mayor Mabilog was on top of the world, some of these carpetbaggers and remnants of "chewing gum gang" were on top of the universe.
When Mayor Mabilog was in trouble after being falsely tagged as a "narco-politician" by the misinformed President Duterte, most of them were nowhere to be found; they suddenly became deaf, mute, and blind.
The dyed-in-the-wool allegiance to Mabilog nosedived.
Then came Mayor Joe III. Came also the new white lady, the bejeweled daughter of the famed Sarabia Jewelry, First Lady Gina Sarabia Espinosa.
She must learn from history; she must study the predicament of past first ladies. Since there is a possibility that Mayor Joe III's tenure might go beyond 2019, there is also a strong possbility she will meet more flatterers and false admirers like those who praised the Emperor's robe.
In the Divine Comedy, Dante depicts flatterers wading in human excrement, stating that their words were the equivalent of excrement, in the 8th Circle of Hell
Minna Antrim once warned us that "Between flattery and admiration there often flows a river of contempt."