On muckraking, dirty politics

Linked as opposed to accused or convicted.

If to be linked to a crime without being accused in court is in itself a crime, then a number of our senators, congressmen, and other government officials would be guilty as charged.

Well of course there is such a thing as trial by publicity.

United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) senatorial candidate Jack Enrile is the latest victim of the kind of dirty politics that is characterizing the 2013 election campaign.

First they resurrected the old story that Jack had a hand in the death (suicide) of movie actor Alfie Anido in the 1980s. Jack has dismissed it as pure speculation and an apparent demolition job directed at him and his father who, as the Defense Secretary then, wielded vast power and influence and therefore also earned his share of detractors.

Then there’s this innuendo, supposedly coming from a confidential memorandum of the then US Ambassador to the Philippines, William Sullivan, that Jack was involved in the death of a son of a top Navy officer in 1975. This despite the fact that it was a bodyguard of the young Enrile who was charged with the killing and later convicted by the court.

Why are all these issues being brought up only now, and at a time when Jack is seeking higher public office and when there is a move to dethrone Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.

Jack’s detractors should instead find fault in his performance as Cagayan lawmaker instead of engaging in mudslinging.

So what has he done in office?

Here is what was gathered.

Enrile helped build the kind of infrastructure that his constituencies in the first district actually needed: farm-to-market roads, irrigation and dredging systems, water impounding projects, and rehabilitation of roads and drainage, or a total of more than P650 million allocated from 1998 to 2011.

Enrile is also the author of House Bill 4626, or the Food for Filipinos First Bill, which seeks to set up a system of determining the minimum food requirements of Filipinos, reorganize the National Food Authority, and establish the National Strategic Food Supply and Reserve Corporation. 

Enrile is the principal author of a House bill that would prohibit manipulation of prices of commodities and price discrimination among customers.

Thus, Enrile’s campaign pitch today is food security, as exemplified by his “murang pagkain, maraming pagkain” plan, and consumer protection from unjustified and unreasonable increases in the prices of basic goods and services.

Cavite’s heroes

Cavite is not wanting in heroes – the famous and the nameless.

Come to think of it: Modern-day heroism isn’t also alien to Cavite. Still ringing in the ears, and permanently lodged in the hearts of Caviteños are the stories of unprecedented economic transformation in the economic zones and communities in that storied province.

I first  met Ayong Maliksi when he was Cavite governor. My first impression is his resonant leadership – bubbling with energy, vibrant with a vision, and resonating with homegrown charisma.

His vision has always been to awaken “daily heroism” among Caviteños. Loving one’s country is foremost in his slogan.

True enough, the Caviteños responded with equal measure – forgetting themselves, they together did something for Imus, first – and then the entire province of Cavite. As they helped the communities, it turned out, they were actually helping themselves.

Cavite thus experienced phenomenal growth in economic and industrial zones, accompanied by the mushrooming of information and technology firms in these zones. Investors came in, seeing the stability of investment policies and the peace and order situation in what was before the wild wild west of southern Tagalog.

During Maliksi’s term, Cavite was cited for having the country’s highest Human Development Index (HDI), a human-oriented measure of development, aside from the traditional gross domestic product (GDP).  The evaluators cited Maliksi’s health and education programs for the province.

When he was governor, he sponsored 45,000 scholars, which boosted the wealth of educated people in the province. As congressman – as he is now – he has provided scholarship grants to 15,000 students.

On health, he is known to be the governor who modernized the General Emilio Aguinaldo Memorial Hospital in Trece Martires City. He initiated the various units of the Philippine-Korea Hospital – and both facilities greatly improved the delivery of health care services to Caviteños. Some leaders would later claim these hospitals to be their handiwork.

Maliksi’s life is also living proof that one can rise above himself. He was once a chief of police of Imus. Then, he became vice mayor, mayor, and congressman. He became governor in 2011, and surprised everyone by his landslide margin against the actor-politician and Sen. Bong Revilla. He served his entire mandate of three terms as governor of Cavite.

After serving as congressman, Ayong is seeking a mandate from Cavitenos to be their governor once again.

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