Inside the joint Cabinet, RDC meeting in Cebu

I finally got inside the Malacañang of the South a.ka. Malacanang sa Sugbo for that joint Cabinet-Regional Development Council (RDC) meeting last Friday morning. Yes, it might surprise you that I have never been to the Malacañang of the South (though I used to go there when it was still the Customs building) simply because we were never invited for any reason, except that as media we are invited to the presidential press briefings, but I usually do not attend them because we already have reporters from The Philippine STAR and The Freeman who cover those presscons.

The Cabinet-RDC joint meeting brought not only the RDC members of Central Visayas, but also those from other RDCs in the Central Philippines, which included Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan, or MIMAROPA for short, Bicol and Panay. No, there was no mention that this was the beginning of the Supra or Mega Region nor does this have any political overtones. It was a plain and simple socioeconomic report about the Central Philippines, its commonalities, and its potential and of course, the challenges that it faces.

My role there is my being a private sector representative (PSR) of RDC-7. Positions in the RDCs during the Marcos years were purely held by government officials. Under the Cory Constitution, private sector participation has become part and parcel of the RDCs and all PSRs who get the nomination of accredited groups or non-government organizations (NGOs) are elected to represent their respective groups.

Since PSR representation in the RDC is limited to a few, the rest of the PSRs become members of the different sectoral committees under the RDC. Most of the RDC’s work falls under the committee level where government officials and PSRs often clash. Let me point out clearly that PSRs, while they are elected to positions in the RDC, are not paid a single centavo in salaries or wages. This is purely volunteer work by private sector representatives in a governmental organization.

In fact the presence of PSRs (our votes are just like the votes of a governor or mayor or regional director) in the RDC Full Council has made it more dynamic because often, the problems of a particular province or town are usually brought out in the open during RDC meetings, whether it’s a lack of school buildings, bridges or ports.

For instance, during a first-quarter RDC Full Council meeting a few months ago, we were given a power point presentation of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) plans and programs and I was aghast to learn that they did not give any attention to alternative fuels. It was as if there was no fuel crisis happening in the rest of the world! It was then we learned that the DOE wasn’t talking about alternative fuels with the Department of Agriculture (DA). We not only confronted them, we asked them to make a report on bio-diesel, ethanol and the jatropha plant. Now all these are being reported in the national news and this was triggered by an RDC meeting in Region VII.

That joint meeting also gave the PSRs from Central Philippines a rare opportunity to meet with other PSRs from the other regions, which inspired us to call an impromptu meeting where we agreed to hold the very first PSR Convention this coming Aug. 18. Indeed, it is the very first time since the PSRs have became part and parcel of the RDC that they would be meeting in Cebu to find out certain commonalities on issues concerning the socio-economic growth of our country, like turning green, for instance.

Actually, that was my second joint Cabinet-RDC meeting. The first was with then President Fidel V. Ramos in Tagbilaran City. But this was to be our first under the presidency of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. During a break in the meeting, President Arroyo mingled with the PSRs and talked to them casually, albeit intimately so everyone was able to say his or her piece to her.

I, too, had an intimate chat with the President together with my old friend, Cerge M. Remonde, where I reminded her of our TV interview with her on Straight from the Sky at the Waterfront Hotel just before the 2004 elections and pointed out to her that she was the only presidential candidate with a program to change the Constitution. Well, we’re almost there fulfilling that plan. I also told the President that in this all-out war against the communists, she could get tips from my old anti-communist buddy Cerge, who led us 20 years ago in this fight against the communists.

I also impressed upon the President for that blueprint of the all-out war against the communists so that the military can truly focus on fighting the NPAs where military might is needed, while the rest of the government focuses on destroying the roots that breeds communism. But as I’ve said in previous articles, politicians would also find in this war a golden opportunity to sue for peace with the communists so they could become the heroes of the land.

That’s exactly what many people felt of that naïve politician Sen. Jamby Madrigal who acted on her own (now she claims that she did it for the Senate) and sought a dialogue with the communists and the government. Why don’t we ask Sen. Jamby why she didn’t go to the Netherlands when Joma Sison and his ilk refused to go to the negotiating table a year ago? The answer, of course, is simple: Joma and Fr. Jalandoni mistakenly thought that President Arroyo would have already fallen. They obviously forgot that she had a lot of support outside Metro Manila!

When will the communists realize that the Philippines is not Manila and Manila is not the Philippines? I believe that President Arroyo has a lot of support outside Manila simply because she doesn’t believe that Manila is the Philippines! More importantly, she gives Central Philippines the attention we’ve long been denied and I had a ringside seat in that Cabinet-RDC meeting that showed us that she really gives the Visayas importance!

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After the meeting in Malacañang, I stayed for a while to see a rare event: two media friends, Leo Lastimosa of DyAB (ABS-CBN) and Super Bobby Nalzaro of GMA-7, side-by-side, to interview the President. Both are extreme rivals, just like their TV stations. After a two-hour long wait it was abruptly cancelled. This would have been Cerge Remonde’s greatest show for the President. But at least the two left with clasped hands and a great photo-op!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns in The Freeman can also be accessed through The Philippine STAR website (www.philstar.com). He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.