During the past many years that I have known Rep. Heherson "Sonny" Alvarez, I have always identified him with environmental causes, because of his genuine and firm commitment to projects involving the environment. On the many occasions that Sonny invited me to socio-civic, cultural, and other activities, these always involved projects on how to conserve the trees, how to clean up the air, how to save and promote Mother Earth.
At this stage, I see no one who is more qualified to become Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources than Sonny Alvarez. The policies and projects under the turf of the DENR are very close to Sonny. With him at the helm, there is every reason to be assured that the environment program is in safe hands.
There is an even more important to consider in the case of Sonny Alvarez. As a human being, he may have his own faults and frailties. But dishonesty is definitely not one of them. Since the DENR has, for ages, been identified as a milking cow for the corrupt and the greedy, this will now stop happen at the DENR with Sonny Alvarez as headman of this very sensitive and important government agency.
Inspite of People’s Power II, the need for meaningful change in our political milieu seems to have been lost on our politicians. For instance, the ban on political dynasties, which the Philippine Constitution mandates as a matter of state policy under Article 2, Section 26, remains a sore point in our political system.
During the 9th and 10th Congress, House Bill Nos. 90, 10066, 13867, 2692, and 3584, all of which seek to ban political dynasties, were filed in the House of Representatives. As far as I know, none of them reached second reading; all were killed at the committee level.
Under the recently-cincluded 11th Congress, a similar bill (H.B. 385) was filed in July 1998. Until now, nothing concrete has come out of it. This is not hard to understand, considering that the current breed of politicians is wary of losing its political power, and considering, too, that many incumbent congressmen belong to political dynasties.
We are thus now forced to contend with a surfeit of politicians from the same clan or families, who see nothing morally or intrinsically wrong about the establishment of political dynasties. They even fight each other – brother against brother, cousin against cousin. Many of them are now engaged in frenzied maneuverings to outflank their own relatives.
An interesting case in point is that of the Hagedorns of Palawan. Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn, who is on his third and last term, is bent on running for governor. Even if he has to fight his own brother Douglas, who is himself gunning for the same office and who, as of now, is desperately trying to grab the gubernatorial post being occupied by incumbent Gov. Joel Reyes. It was Reyes who succeeded to the post after Gov. Salvador Socrates disappeared in a plane crash last July.
Douglas, who lost to Socrates by a wide margin in 1998, filed an election protest and succeeded in getting the Comelec to proclaim him as winner. However, he was foiled by the Supreme Court, which ordered a status quo after lawyers of Reyes and Socrates contested the Comelec ruling.
The Hagedorn brothers, who have quarreled with each other on various occasions, seem to be inexorably running on a collision course. And Mayor Hagedorn is reportedly fielding his wife Ellen as a candidate to succeed him as mayor, which is going to cement his hold on Puerto Princesa. On the other hand, brother Douglas is said to have given his go-signal to his son Mark to file his candidacy as vice mayor of Puerto Princesa.
According to their critics, what the Hagedorns are doing is to turn the province into their political preserve. The critics says that should they succeed in doing so, Palawan could well become Hacienda Hagedorn.
In the meantime, who cares about the constitutional principle guaranteeing equal access to opportunities for public service, and reducing social, economic and political inequities by spreading wealth and political power? No one, it seems, cares. How sad.
Here is another inspiring text message that I got from an unidentified texter:
A heart who seeks God early in the morning will find joy, peace & security even in the midst of a stormy day. Have a blessed day! In answer to persistent queries on the forthcoming schedule of healing sessions of Fr. Corsie S. Legaspi, the renowned healing priest, here it is:
16 Our Lady of Lourdes Church
Olympia Street, District I, Makati City
17 Retreat House, Binakayan, Cavite
18 Retreat House, Binakayan, Cavite
22 St. Francis of Assisi, Meycauayan, Bulacan
23 St. Joseph the Worker Church, Palanan, Makati City
24 San Isidro Labrador Church, Philand Subdivision,
Tandang Sora, Quezon City
PULSEBEAT: Atty. Samroliah H. Dekire, a Sharia lawyer, commends Ambassador Alfonso T. Yuchengco for proposing to the AY Foundation the setting up of a Muslim scholarship program for talented Muslim Filipinos. "If pursued, the program will help a lot of deserving Muslim Filipinos to get an education . . . ." The Angara diary about the night of January 19 in Malacañang said that Johnny Enrile arrived at the Presidential Residence between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Yet, in radio interviews the following day, Enrile denied he ever went to Malacañang. In his diary, Ed Angara wrote that Enrile embraced Estrada tightly when he left at 4 a.m. Who is telling the truth?.... Paging Rey Ruellan, the guy who complained about the lack of spare parts for his defective HP Laser Jet 6. Stocks of the spare part are available at the Delsan Office Systems Corporation, located at 8733 Sampaloc Avenue, Estrella St., San Antonio Village, Makati, Tel. Nos. 890-3004 and 830-3009. The information came from Ody A. Santos.
My e-mail address:
<jaywalker@skyinet.net>