Ledesma: MinDA is not a hostage case

THE problem with Sec. Jesus Dureza is that he refused to belong to the league of callous characters like those at the MWSS and GSIS board who clung like barnacles to their posts for the million reasons already known to us. These insensitive appointees of the previous administration had bled these two agencies to satisfy their caprices. In the case of Dureza, he thought that Pres. Noynoy Aquino be given a free hand to choose somebody he can trust to run the Mindanao Development Authority which is still in its infancy. Jess, did that out of delicadeza and love for Mindanao. We all know that he is not required to resign as his six-year term of office is guaranteed by the law that created MinDA.

It is not so much of a surprise for Pnoy to accept the offer of Jess, but it stunned me to learn that he appointed Lualhati Antonino in lieu of Dureza!

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I have nothing against Antonino but she is a perfect example of a square peg in a round hole. I think that the Aquino administration is toying with Mindanao as it did with the hostage situation in Luneta. Whoever prodded P.Noy to appoint an Antonino is hopelessly unaware of the animosity that the Filipino Muslims had against the family. They displayed their ignorance and utter lack of perception of the sensitivity of the issue that concerns MinDA and the tri-people that inhabits Mindanao.

This is not the case of Chinese tourists whose safety the government negotiators trifled with.

In hindsight, maybe this administration deserves Lualhati. After all, who are we to question the judgment call of the President. Besides Jess Dureza already happily announced in General Santos City seconds after Liberal Party President Mar Roxas sought him out personally to advise him that Pnoy accepted his courtesy resignation and that Antonino will replace him.

I learned later that Jess was in Gensan to attend to BIMP-EAGA concerns during the Tuna Festival in that City. I had it from good sources too that when Jess made the public disclosure, the reaction was one of disbelief.

Well, Jess is finally back to his private life. His wife Beth, who had since then recovered from a delicate health problem, is the happiest person on earth for Jess will finally be with her most of the time than when he was holding fort in Malacanang. Beth too, will no longer worry that her husband is out somewhere in the boondocks of Jolo, Lanao or Maguindanao talking to rebels or dispensing relief goods to evacuees.

Of course Jess also talks with Muslim leaders like Nur Misuari of the MNLF and Ustadz Ibrahim Murad of the MILF, makes the rounds of Islamic countries who hold sway on the separatist groups in Mindanao.

It's freedom day for Dureza, a bar topnotcher whose first case as a neophyte lawyer was my libel case which we won and all I can afford to pay him was a cup of instant coffee. However, I don't think that Jess will go back to lawyering. His first love after Beth was journalism and he might just dabble back at it or host a TV show which we used to do during our younger days.

Jess is an accomplished journalist before he became an extremely good lawyer. He has a mean swing in golf, a very engaging person, he shoots from the hip, and is a very persuasive conversationalist. The last one makes him an ace negotiator for peace or for hostage takers. The only thing he is bad at is praying extemporaneously, if you get my drift.

Having said my piece on this ultimate roughshod treatment of the present dispensation on matters affecting Mindanao, I sincerely hope that Lualhati Antonino will be able to address the enormous and complex challenges that beset Mindanao. As I said before, MinDA is the last and only strand remaining that link Mindanao to the seat of power. Remember that in the Cabinet of President Noy, no one from Mindanao was appointed. The Antoninos are actually from Luzon. But then does Mindanao matter to this administration?