Tulabut: Noel Tulabut, 911 memories

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

NO, THIS is not about myself. Definitely not.

It’s about my namesake, Councilor Noel Tulabut from the City of San Fernando who I call as “insan”.

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I get to talk with this cousin of mine once in a while and we would talk a lot about the local scene (read: politics). He makes sense to the fullest. A media colleague I was once with while talking to him had only admirations for his analytical wits.

“No, he is not a political science major nor a mass communications graduate”. That was my answer when this colleague asked of my namesake’s background as he found him really sensible. Noel Tulabut is an engineer by profession and a public servant by avocation. That plainly will always be my description of him, where his verbal prowess precedes his parliamentary skills.

Yes, these days, he is one of the few who would leave behind bread and butter for some unthankful job. Gold for headache. That’s how it usually is for a businessman-turned-politician. But Noel Tulabut does not mind.

*****

More than a year after he was elected again by the people of CSF, Noel Tulabut has remained uncompromising with his beliefs, promises and advocacies.

He calls a spade a spade. And he owes no one an apology in the course of pursuing public interests.

One of the recent instances where he went on collision was against Mayor Oscar Rodriguez. On the issue of a survey that purportedly shows that CSF’s poor (Class D and E, I suppose) have dwindled dramatically in the past several years.

Just like mentor-colleague Bong Lacson (and is/was close to Mayor Oca) my namesake doubted the veracity of the survey commissioned by the mayor that tells the public that the poor has almost gone extinct in the habitat for excellence – the City of San Fernando. Thus, he raised that issue in the City Council, questioning, I believe, the methodology, area, demographics and even the purpose.

That act, I believe, too did not make Mayor Oscar happy. Well, Noel Tulabut’s role (and the rest of his colleagues in the city board) was not to become a rah-rah boy for the multi-awarded city mayor. He would like to make it clear though that while he stuck it out with the Lakas Party (majority are with Mayor Oca), he is no oppositionist but a plain fiscalizer and watchdog.

Another incident where he again showed his fearless stance was his criticism of his fellow councilors – the absentees, at that. Yes, Councilor Tulabut was vocal against his peers who would unashamedly prioritize their businesses and careers and extra-curricular thingies over their mandates to serve the public.

Do not be surprised if one of his colleagues turns out to be a grand slam winner to the consternation of Fernandinos.

*****

As one of his battlecries during the campaign last year, Councilor Tulabut has sought for the rectification, if not reimbursements, of fees and charges being levied from the public by utility companies (power, water, etc).

It is a gargantuan task to be running head-on against well-established and well-entrenched companies but he is not leaving any stones unturned in looking for hidden charges that are being passed on to customers and subscribers.

He is also very much into putting things in order and in proper perspective – for which the mayor of Habitat for Human Excellence should be praising him.

He is looking into regulating flea markets or the tiangges and ukay-ukays which we all know deprive government coffers of due taxes and fees.

Worse, this underground economy often leads to complaints by legitimate traders of uneven playing field as they pay stalls and other government fees. Never mind the traffic they create and the garbage they leave behind.

I have long sought for the same legislation in my hometown Mabalacat (writing the Sangguniang Bayan even) to my disappointments.

With what he has accomplished and would still be doing, Noel Tulabut is showing what it takes to be a public servant – unnerving, untiring, uncompromising.

*****

Seeing on television the memorial events for the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 terror attacks in the US, refreshes my own memory of my experiences in the US.

I have gone to the US, particularly New York, six times in the last seven years. And they always coincided with the 9-11 celebrations as my past media coverage of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) took place every September.

In 2005, the conduct of UNGA and World Summit was really close to 9-11 celebrations and I remember taking a flight to New York from the west coast right on the day itself. I was in mid-air, aboard a regional carrier, on the dawn of 9-11.

As everyone knows how tight security is whenever September 11 comes around, travelling in the US – especially taking flights on 9-11 -- is no walk in the park.

Did I get scared? Of course, I got sweaty on the plane where the seat given me was on the bulkhead of a regional aircraft – similar to the very ones that crushed on the World Trade Center towers. Being on the bulkhead means being one of the first fatalities should an aircraft collide onto something.

In my New York stays for the UNGA, I have always been welcomed by the Cato family. The late Tatang Emer, father of diplomat Elmer Cato, has been so kind to me and has treated me like a son.

Whenever I stay in their Woodside house in Queens, New York, I would always pass by a 9-11 marker at the nearby St. Sebastian Catholic School at the corner of 57th Street. On that marker are names of firemen and policemen who lived in and around that part of Queens. They were responders to the tragic attack.

I have also visited Ground Zero where you would feel in the air how America grieves and would always want to remain unfazed despite continuing threats of terror to its citizenry.

9-11 should not only bring to us memories of grief and heroism but should also tell us to continue to pray for peace, harmony and justice.