Monday, June 04, 2007 Seares: Pedong Ouano’s missing bust By Pachico A. Seares News Sense
WHEN Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein fell, they removed his statues and busts, feeding the world with media images of the dictator’s replica in stone or marble brought down with tug rope or smashed with wrecking ball.
No such thing in Mandaue City when the reign of the Ouanos, after 19 years, ended.
First of all, any suggestion of then mayor Ted being like Saddam, which some broadcasters love to make, is unfair and cruel.
Ted didn’t come close to Saddam. Unlike Saddam, Ted was truly elected by the people. So was his father Pedong.
People’s vote put and kept them in power: Pedong served from 1988 to 1998; son Ted, from 1998 to 2007. A third Ouano, grandson Jonkie, would have continued the Ouano rule had Jonas Cortes not drubbed him at the polls.
Only acronyms
There are no statues and busts honoring Pedong or Ted, only a lot of acronyms spelling out Ted’s name. No life-size Rizal-like reproductions.
Except for one bust of Pedong at the city park beside CICC. But it was hooded as it still had to be formally installed. And election defeat dumped the plan.
Even if the poll results were different, the Ouanos would have faced a lot of flak for it as the honoring didn’t conform to what City Council ordained.
Besides, in a society that doesn’t honor its heroes with a statue or street name unless they are six feet under, Pedong’s bust would have set off protest.
And now the bust is reported missing. Thieves spirited it away—to a junk shop maybe, Pedong quipped.
Maybe all for the better: less humiliating than seeing it hauled down, the fall recorded in news and history.
