Bogo copes with non-cityhood; prospects ‘still pretty good’

Saturday, December 4, 2010

1. How do you assess prospects of growth with the stripping of Bogo’s cityhood status? Tell us how much of your development plans was pinned on Bogo being a city.

Still pretty good. It continues to be hub of education, trade, and commerce in northern Cebu because of its strategic location. As my vice mayor Santiago Sevilla said, except for the greatly reduced IRA (internal revenue allotment), it’s still business as usual in Bogo.

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Of course, the IRA would’ve given tremendous boost to our economy and would’ve resulted in better services, facilities, and amenities. Bogo’s economic life is closely linked to that of adjacent municipalities and that of neighboring provinces Leyte and Masbate.

We had pinned a lot of our development on Bogo’s being a city. But we have adjusted our sights. During the two years we received IRA as a city, we put in place several urban development fundamentals. Among them: a new business city center and the house of government at the same site.

The new business center is in Polambato with its broad stretch of flat lands, which was declared a special economic zone by President Estrada. Polambato also has a new “roll-on, roll-off” port, which we had developed into Cebu’s northern gateway to the Philippine Nautical Highway, a port that’s a favorite alternative passage point for people and products to and from Masbate, Leyte, and other provinces. We have expanded the port’s capacity for increasing maritime traffic. The new business center and market buildings will complement the development.

2. How will your having supported Noynoy Aquino in the last elections help in coping with the setback of being a town again?

Our support for President Noynoy in the last elections was a matter of principle and of friendship. Our ties with his family started in 1985 when I was the first mayor in the province to throw open support behind Cory’s candidacy. In her Cebu visit during the Edsa revolution, she stayed in our house before she went to the Carmelite monastery for sanctuary. We stood by Noynoy believing he has the best potential for bringing change to a society made decrepit by decadent patronage politics and equally decadent national governance.

Of course, we’re hoping the President will help us in our present setback but I’m too old in the game to expect too much. I believe the President has to be given space even by friends like me, in order that, free from fetters of friendship and political alliances, he can fine-tune his organization, determine priorities, and get his system truly running.

3. You’ve spent about three decades in public service: 19 years as mayor and 11 years as congressman. What do you see as enduring achievements of that career and what still do you want or need to do?

Securing PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel) during my time was not as easy as it is now. Nor were the amounts as large. So whatever fund I secured went to projects that would bring long-term economic benefits, not to quick-fix “derma” projects aimed for political cosmetics.

Tabuelan, once a sleepy town, got its port and municipal hall. Ports were also built for Hagnaya and Sta. Fe. The road from Carmen (where the good roads from Cebu City ended) to Hagnaya was concreted. My wife during her term also secured funding for the concreting of the road and bridges from Tabuelan to San Remegio, though they were implemented after her term.

As chairman of the House committee on local governments when it pushed for the passage of the Local Government Code of 1991, I used insights of my long years as mayor to help give flesh to the concept of local autonomy in the code.

As mayor, I helped make Bogo what it is now. The present town hall was a self-help project built from proceeds of the first low-cost housing project in the country, a concept that then First Lady Imelda Marcos used as model for a similar program nationwide.

There are still a lot of things I want to do if given more time, among them an alternative international airport and an alternative maritime hub to decongest the Cebu port and spread growth to the countryside.

4. Look at the political landscape in Cebu. Do you see major changes within the next three years when in 2013 your party will have will have another crack at the seat of power in the Province?

If there’s anything I have learned from recent events, it’s that anything can happen.

Who would have the craziest idea, prior to the death of Noynoy’s mother, that he would become president? And by a hair’s breadth, we almost had this change in the power structure of the province in the last elections. Three months before the elections, that seemed impossible.

5. Your clan is among the political families that have kept power in their respective turfs or enclaves for several years. The issue of dynasticism must have been raised in the last campaign. Did it have any impact on election results in Bogo?

The problem is that the law has no clear definition of what dynasty really means. For the purpose of banning family members from running, it certainly is a dead issue for now. In Bogo, it was difficult to see the direction of the issue’s impact on my family or on some other family. It depends on which side of the river you’re standing.

6. Bogo has had a history of intense political rivalry that isn’t seen in most parts of Cebu province. That’s why, more often than not, Bogo is in the hotspots list of the police and Comelec. How do you account for that?

What history are you talking about, Cheking? It was only in 2007 that there was a faint suggestion of political rivalry in Bogo. But then it was not for a local political position and not even an intense rivalry if we go by the election result at the time. The opposite camp raised ruckus over alleged cheating, to which the Supreme Court twisted their accusing fingers to their own faces as the ones who engineered the cheating.

In their zeal to paint Bogo as an active volcano, they classified one barangay as a hotspot when the barangay captain running didn’t even have an opponent!
What is also beyond accounting is how come the media couldn’t see the events in Bogo the way they really are. (See sidebar.)

7. Do you see opportunities for young leaders not just in Bogo but also in other parts of the province? Or do you see political power kept and exercised in the same way that it was when you started as mayor in 1971 and as congressman in 1987?

One has to be naive to the bone to believe that political opportunities for young leaders are the same as those when I started in 1971. Or the same, as textbooks tells us, about equal opportunities in a society blessed by democracy.

In 1971, a young leader can win with a good campaign platform and a good smile. Today, never mind the platform and the smile. Just have money to run your campaign and to pay for voters and others you need to pay so your votes could be counted.

It’s a pretty cynical view from a dyed-in-the wool democrat but except for a bit of exaggeration, that statement stands.