A glimpse of development projects in other places

Very often, we can become parochial. We get focused on activities and events in a particular place and forget about what’s going on elsewhere. That constricts our view of what’s going on around us. Tunnel vision constricts – and gives us false illusions about the realities.

This was what happened to me. The recent visit of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo naturally had a lot of impact on local projects and developments in Negros Occidental. And I got bogged down that I overlooked happenings in Iloilo City, just across the Guimaras Strait.

And just when my attention turned to Iloilo City and other Panay provinces, suddenly there was the stunning news of the Supreme Court issuing a resolution asking Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangadamanan and several DAR officials as well as police officers to answer in 10 days why they should not be cited for contempt of court. The reason — the bloody affair on the installation of farmer-beneficiaries at Hacienda Velez-Malaga in La Castellana, Negros Occidental last March.

That was a headline-grabber in Negros Occidental. Together with Pangandaman, the other DAR officials included Undersecretaries Narciso Nieto and Jeffrey Galang, regional director Alexis Arsenal, and PARO Stephen Leonidas. The police and military officers were PNP deputy regional director Superintendent Reynaldo Rafal; Col. Jesus Manangquil, chief of the 11th Infantry Battalion; Regional Mobile Group commander Superintendent Pedro Merced, and La Castellana police chief Regidor Alvarado.

Mario Diaz, counsel of businessman Roberto Cuenca, earlier had warned Pangandaman that he should postpone the March installation because of a pending case before the high tribunal.

The DAR chief, however, dismissed that warning, pronouncing “there is no legal impediment.” But, as pointed out by Diaz in his petition to cite the DAR secretary for contempt, the high tribunal’s decision in G.R. No. 174163 was still awaiting final decision.

Later, Gov. Joseph Marañon asked the DAR to clarify the initial findings of the survey-audit of the CARP in the province. The governor noted that in the case of Calatrava town, most of the agrarian reform beneficiaries had two or more CLOAs in their names. One even had 10 CLOAs.

That naturally created a major stir. And attracted public attention.

Iloilo City’s progress

On Wednesday, I listened to Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas painting a rosy picture of Iloilo City, the Western Visayas regional capital.

What caught my attention was Treñas’ reference to the establishment of several call centers in the city. These included, among others, e-PLDT Ventures, Call Box, Echo Global Mega Communications Inc., Techno Call Corp. and Omteractive Voice Call Center. There is also the medical transcription service by Medilink Transcription Services.

Besides, Treñas said other multinational call center companies such as TeleTech and Sutherland will soon open in the city.

This impressed me. The TeleTech and Teleperformance firms in Bacolod City have already given employment to some 3,000 people in Bacolod. And with so many already operating in Iloilo, I supposed many more must have been employed in that city.

Treñas also cited the promise of tourism for the city. Dinagyang, the top-of-the-line festival of Iloilo City, has been adjudged by the Association of Tourism Officers (ATOP) of the country as the Best Tourism Event of 2006. “It is also the first festival in the world to have won support from the United Nations in promoting Millennium Development Goals,” Treñas said.

Dinagyang’s tribe was also a guest performer at the Texas Folklife Festival in San Antonio, Texas, he added.

Treñas also cited the Fil-Hispanic Month and the closing rites of the National Heritage Month in May.

The tourism program, he added, is being spearheaded by the Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Economic and Development Council.

He later dwelt extensively on the infrastructure projects designed to improve the mobility and traffic of goods and services through the transport planning program of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and MIGEDC.

The program includes the widening of the Iloilo-Sta. Barara Road and the construction of a bypass road from Barangay Tacas, Jaro to Zarraga, passing through Leganes.

There is also the extension the Circumferential Road I eastward to Arevalo, across Mandurriao, Pavia and Jaro, eventually connecting with the Iloilo Coastal Road in Barangay Buhang, Jaro.

It will still be completed in 2010, but the P4.2-billion Iloilo flood control project will mean a tremendous relief to thousands of Iloilo City residents who are always subjected to flash floods in the city’s flood-prone areas.

There were many more that Treñas mentioned. But his State of the City Address presented listeners an optimistic future of Iloilo’s future.

Sheriff Tugado’s slay plot

Iloilo City, however, also got jarred when a detainee of the Pototan, Iloilo police station claimed he had knowledge of the plot to kill sheriff Johnny Tugado.

Tugado’s killing prompted the police to reinforce security around the provincial capitol and other places where sheriffs of the city and the province hold office.

That confession, however, was greeted by some with skepticism.

Jimmy Dollete, alias Negros, claimed that he, Mert Loloy, Larry Mallorca (alias Patong), and Noe Cordero plotted to kill Tugado at a Pototan public cemetery during the first week of May.

Dollete swore to his claim in an affidavit he executed at the provincial legal office last Tuesday. Loloy, however, belied Dollete’s claim and branded him an expert robber.

In his sworn statement, Dollete claimed that it was Mallorca who informed them that somebody had offered P200,000 to kill the sheriff.

Dollete claimed in his affidavit that he failed to participate in the actual killing of Tugado because he was arrested the night before in a bar in Pototan.

Tugado died last July 5 due to eight gunshot wounds in his head and chest caused by caliber .45 and 9-mm pistols.

But Tugado, according to Winston Eguja, president of the Sheriffs’ Confederation of the Philippines (SCOPHIL), earlier had informed his companions of having received death threats after the demolition of a property at the old Iloilo airport in Mandurriao.

Well, for the moment, there has been no word as to who offered the P200,000 for Tugado’s head.

The Iloilo police has been under intense pressure to solve the Tugado slaying even as the sheriffs have taken to carrying guns around. Although he had his handgun, that did not give Tugado the chance to defend himself when the gunmen approached him from behind and shot him in the head and body while he was parking his car in his garage.

ADDENDA. Members of the 47th Infantry Battalion, employees of national and local government units and students planted some 19,000 seedlings to boost the government’s Green Philippines program in Alcantara. Capt. Antonio Tumnog, of the 47th IB at Camp Jizmundo, Banga, said the area planted was in Tangaland’s Barangay Panayakan. A similar planting project was also launched by the military, government personnel and students in Minoyan, Murcia, Negros Occidental early this week… In another important development, Capiz second district engineer Teodoro Castillo announced earlier this week that the P80-million Capiz-Iloilo Road straddling Dao, Cuartero and Dumarao towns has been concreted and will be passable by Aug. 15. The funding was through the initiative of second district Congressman Fredenil Castro… I suppose a lot of local government units envy Valencia’s royalty share from the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC). Valencia gets one percent of the gross sales or receipts earned by the PNOC during the preceding calendar year from the operation of the geothermal plant in the town. And that P169 million is only its surplus share of the PNOC royalty.