Why Guingona should be vice president - FROM A DISTANCE by Carmen N. Pedrosa

The right man for GMA’s new politics. I can understand why President Macapagal-Arroyo is having a hard time choosing her vice president. Messrs. Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., Franklin Drilon and Teofisto Guingona, Jr. are all good men. But her choice should not just be about a good man. The right choice for vice president at this time must be the best man for the job – Senator Guingona. He alone, among these three strongest contenders, symbolizes the thrust of Lakas-NUCD-UMDP’s new politics. The way I understand it, that new politics is about strengthening party platforms and steering away from personalities. The choice of Mr. Guingona would be the most consistent with the crusade for new politics about which President Macapagal-Arroyo has spoken so passionately in forum after forum even before she became president. Any other choice would cast a shadow on the sincerity of that crusade.

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Party platforms, not personal patronage. Senator Pimentel’s dramatic resignation on that ignominious night when 11 senators betrayed the public trust is still etched in the public mind. But to reward him with the vice presidency because of what he did that night would not teach us the political lesson of loyalty to a party platform. Neither will it do to choose Senator Drilon, competent he may be and rumored to have the backing of former President Cory Aquino. That, too, would be the old politics of patronage, no matter how well meaning it may seem. We are left with Senator Guingona who is supported by the party – Lakas-NUCD-UMDP – the President’s party, which she wants her partymates to be loyal to. She wants her partymates to understand what their party stands for, its guiding principles and program of government so they support it not only in their official duties but in the way they live. She hopes, she said in one of the gatherings I had the opportunity to hear her, that by setting the example her own party will be a model for other parties. Only then can we hope to save the country from the greed and opportunism of money politics.

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A man of principle. Having given the political reason why President Macapagal-Arroyo should chose him, it would be wrong to gloss over the qualities of Guingona as a man of principle. Among the frontrunners, he alone can claim a more consistent record of opposition against the fallen Erap government, even in the early days when it was not fashionable to criticize it. There were those who knew more about Erap’s shenanigans from a closer range but few would have had the courage to speak boldly as Mr. Guingona had. He may have been alone among politicians in denouncing the Erap presidency but there were scattered voices in civil society who echoed what he said. He was a reliable center from which many dissenting voices against the Erap government found solace then. His ‘I accuse’ speech and letter to Filipinos are mementos of the early struggle of these early brave souls. I, for one, am reluctant to shun older politicians. It is not age which determines the worth of a politician or a public official but the quality of his public service. Senator Guingona may be older but he represents that breed of politicians from the old school of which we can be proud. As we forge new paths in the coming millennium we would do well to look to that past as represented by men of honor like Guingona. He deserves to be our Vice President.

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One big marketplace for sustainable development. Congratulations to new MMDA Chairman Benjamin S. Abalos, Sr. for the very successful Solid Waste Management Summit 2001 at the Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club. EDSA II seems to have fired up both NGOs and government officials into the aksiyon agad mode. The invitations were sent out to about 500 people but when I left the hall, more people were coming. There were sellers as well as buyers, environmentalists and plain folks gathered as in one big marketplace of sustainable development. Congressman Heherson T. Alvarez was there to warn about global warming. Senator Loren Legarda-Leviste gave the opening speech on the Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 which was the first bill signed into law by newly installed President Macapagal-Arroyo. The President herself was expected to give the final message in the afternoon.

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What shall we do with the mountains of garbage? MMDA Chairman Abalos put it plainly and succinctly – the problem before us is what to do with 30,000 tons of garbage that we now have and with no place to dump these in. What are we to do? He wanted to hear from everyone so together NGOs, experts and environmentalists could come up with a solution. The 500-strong audience were asked to break themselves into groups and come up with three suggestions from each group. Also present were the different mayors of Metro Manila, among them, Mayor Lito Atienza, Mayor Rey Malonzo, Mayor Benhur Abalos, and Gov. Hilario de Pedro of South Cotabato and President of the League of Provinces, among others, and representatives of World Bank, IMF, the French Embassy and Greenpeace International.

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The problem of garbage begins in the mind. At bottom, I think the problem has to do with how we perceive garbage. If people are to be educated about waste management, the first stop is to change their mind and attitude about garbage. Garbage is not "garbage." From this elementary idea will flow the concepts and attitudes that the public needs to have, to avoid the crisis that we now have in the Philippines. In fact if you open the plastic bags that come out of every house daily, it is a mixed bag of paper, empty bottles, cans, left-over foods, etc., all other discards. Mixed in the bag, these discards become useless and end up in dumpsites like Payatas, Carmona. But separated, paper with paper, bottle with bottle and food with food, we have a different product all together. Done this way, the plastic bag of discards is a bag of saleable and useful products. Paper and bottles can be sold and re-cycled (recyclables) left-over food, etc. can be made into compost (compostibles). And the rest which are neither recyclable nor compostible are residuals like Styrofoam, etc. But even these can be made into other products. It is said better in Pilipino, nabubulok at hindi nabubulok. If you think there is no money in compost, you are wrong again. Compost is what enriches the soil and is therefore a vital ingredient for food production. Think how it would change the food situation if every Filipino home made its own compost in their backyards.

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Crisis and response. We may have a garbage crisis, one serious enough to put fear of a bubonic plague if not attended to immediately but I have faith that Filipinos, both those in government and the NGOs under a new dispensation, will rise up to the demands of that crisis. If you were in that summit in Wack-Wack, you would know what I mean. It was a cacophony of bright ideas.

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My e-mail address is [email protected]