Visayas Republic is different from Sugbuak!

For tonight's guests on our talkshow in Straight from the Sky, we bring you the leaders of Cebu's business organizations to talk about the current political crisis from the point of view of businessmen; why they still support the Constitution and believe in the legitimacy of the Presidency of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. I'm sure we've all had our share of listening to the opposition politicians who've wanted the president to quit. Now it is time for us to listen to what our business leaders have to say.

We have with us Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. Pres. Robert Go and the Chamber's Vice President Bob Gothong. Also with the panel is Mr. Eric Mendoza, President of the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. and Chairman of Cebu X and the Chamber of Furniture Industry Foundation. See them tonight on SkyCable's channel 15 at 8:00 p.m.

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Today, The FREEMAN celebrates its 86th Anniversary as the oldest newspaper in circulation in Cebu. Indeed how time flies as it's also been a year since The FREEMAN merged with the Philippine STAR Group of Publications in what was a mutually beneficial marriage of a national newspaper and a local newspaper. Kudos to The FREEMAN staff and to the Philippine STAR for achieving this historic union!

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Now for some clarifications, especially for our beloved Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and to Rep. Antonio Yapha who is saying that the creation of the Visayas Republic is no different from the Sugbu-ak...because it is not the same! The issue proposed by Rep. Yapha of Sugbuak is based on political greed borne out of an imminent problem common to the members of the House of Representatives from Cebu's 2nd district Rep. Simeon Kintanar, the 3rd district Rep. Antonio Yapha and the 4th district Rep. Clavel Asas-Martinez whose terms are expiring in two years and since there's a constitutional ban prohibiting them from seeking a third term, hence the proposal to break up Cebu into a Del Norte, Occidental and a Del Sur was born.

The proposal to break up Cebu and its dire effects was obviously not carefully studied by its proponents; that's because the underlying reason is really to create more provinces for their own family's political control and the Catholic Church led by his eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal rightfully condemned this proposal for its too obvious and sinister purpose.

On the other hand, the creation of the Visayas Republic was never ever entertained (perhaps mostly as a joke) by the people of the Visayas who have always played along with the idea of a Philippine Republic. This idea only came up when the possibility of a military junta once again resurfaced and the question came into our minds... whether the people of the Visayas would be so stupid to fall under the yoke of another military rule? The answer to that question is a resounding no... even to the point that we might even create the Visayas Republic.

Hence the idea of breaking away from the Philippines and forming the Visayas Republic is actually to pre-empt or even thwart any attempt to grab political power by the gun, because the message we are sending to the people behind this military junta is... you may be able to grab Malacañang, but you can't hold the entire country together! Mind you, this idea isn't even original to us in the Visayas, as it has long been sought by certain groups in Mindanao. The difference is, the Governors in the Visayas are merely creating a team effort to study the possibility of how this can come about if and when the need arises. To be sure, no one is proposing this idea for as long as the opposition upholds our Constitution... as defective as it is!

If you recall, on Sept. 21, 1972 then Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos threw away the 1935 Constitution and placed the entire Philippines under a dictatorship, and like feeble sheep the Filipino people embraced this naked grab of political power to fall under one man and one family, supported by a military machine paid for by our taxes! Haven't we read the phrase, "for evil to flourish, it is enough for good men to do nothing!" Instead of chastising the Governors of the Visayas for being prepared, they should be saluted because we can't predict where the political events in Metro Manila would lead? For all we know, it may really be a military junta. When that happens, what can we expect our leaders to do when they are not prepared for anything? Let me point out clearly...that the creation of the Visayas Republic was not brought about by someone's political greed like what happened with the proposal to break up the Province of Cebu.

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila's columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com