Cardinal’s statement a relief to GMA, while Noli says he’s working hard on North Rail

As we expected yesterday, President GMA rushed to Lipa, Batangas, to talk to His Eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal (of Cebu) and the bishops gathered for a National Day of Intensive Prayer for Peace.

Did she "gatecrush" that prayer-meeting or had she been invited? In any event, she flew off to San Francisco last night much reassured by the statement of Cardinal Vidal, himself a former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) calling for reconciliation and healing, urging the Opposition to accept the "impeachment" result and move on.

In sum, although the CBCP Permanent Council still is to meet in Intramuros, the Cardinal and Pampanga Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, a member of the Council, believed the July 10 CBCP statement would be unchanged, although the "impeachment" issue will be discussed.

And so, off went GMA, accompanied by Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila, and her party. Press Secretary Toting Bunye had gone ahead last Saturday, while Foreign Affairs Secretary Bert Romulo had proceeded to New York Friday to prepare the way.

During the stop-over in San Francisco, I’m told, the President will meet her husband, the First Gentleman Mike Arroyo who’s been in self-imposed … well, "exile" there, then proceed to New York and her date with the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday (September 14).

Chinese Ambassador Wu Hongbo informed this writer yesterday when I contacted him that the schedule of GMA’s bilateral meeting with China’s President Hu Jintao was worked out between the Chinese Permanent Mission to the UN in New York and our Philippine Mission, headed by Ambassador Lauro Baja, so only they could announce the schedule. It’s understood that Mr. Hu Jintao will be conducting a series of other meetings with heads of state while he is in New York.

Among the topics to be seriously discussed with GMA, my sources say, is the North Rail project which is being undertaken by a $400 million concessionary loan from China and undertaken by Chinese engineers and technicians.

Another matter may be the potential $1 billion Chinese investment in our mining industry, not to mention other concerns. What irritates the Chinese is the fact that a Senate "investigation" of the project is reportedly ongoing (is this the Blue Ribbon Committee, or what Senate Committee, based on Senate President Franklin Drilon’s questioning of the "deal"?) To us Filipinos, a Chinese source indicated, a Senate inquiry may be an everyday sort of thing, but to Chinese investors and officials, who’re unused to our domestic political Grand Guignol, a Senate inquiry is a worrisome and "insulting" thing with the Chinese government itself being dragged into domestic political controversy. In the long run, even the Chinese investors poised to put money into our mining industry might be turned off – and go away. That’s the long and short of it.

* * *

I had a phone call from Vice-President "Kabayan" Noli de Castro yesterday to reassure me that he has been working very hard to relocate the families in the path of the North Rail project. "I have certainly not been remiss in this task of relocating the families living there, thereby delaying the clearing operations for the railway," he said.

He reported that "we have completed the clearing operations along the Malabon and Valenzuela segments of North Rail in the record time of three months." He pointed out that the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council began the task only last January, and has relocated a total of 7,312 families to various resettlement sites and other relocation options.

The Veep pointed out that "it took the previous administration (Erap’s) three years to implement relocation projects under regular processes."

Some 31,200 families will be relocated from Bulacan to Pampanga in the next 12 months – indeed, Noli hopes everything will be accomplished before Christmas this year. "To date," he pointed out, "we have relocated about 900 families from the Bulacan alignment and we are still going."

"I’m very much aware of the urgent need to complete the relocation process, given the timetable for the North Rail project," Kabayan stressed, but relocating "scores of thousands of squatters’ as you have put it," is not easy. "I do not wish to make excuses, but that task is much harder than it looks on paper. This has to be balanced by the need to safeguard the welfare of the affected families."

The Vice-President said that his is "most certainly paying personal attention to the matter." In fact, he revealed, "I personally visit the resettlement sites almost every week to monitor the progress, we are now facing various hurdles to the relocation program, including the rains which slow down construction, funding issues, schooling of children, and political concerns, but we are hard at work on the relocation, no matter what happens in the political arena."

"We are now implementing incremental development, and we are happy to report that various private sector organizations have been helping us through their donation of various facilities. We start relocating the families even while the settlement sites are still under development," he explained. "In most instances, we have to ask the families to live in tents temporarily while their new homes are being built. That is not a pleasant prospect in itself for the affected families, and we have to consider various concerns, including health and sanitation, once you have a large number of people living in temporary shelters. Where necessary, I have ordered round-the-clock work on the resettlement sites to ensure their prompt completion." Thus said Kabayan.

"Would you believe," he exclaimed during our conversation, "we find ourselves short of 9 million hollow blocks, among our other problems!" In short, the Veep and his Urban Development people are encountering difficulty finding, much less procuring those 9 million blocks.

* * *

Noli underscores that under the law (which everybody calls the "Lina Law" protecting squatters) you just can’t tell squatters to get out. There must be resettlement housing provided for all of them. Thus, the Veep’s main task, and that of his agency has been convincing squatter families to accept voluntary relocation."

Explaining to families why they must be moved to ensure the completion of the North Rail project is a difficult process, but Noli states they are succeeding.

Half of Caloocan and half of Valenzuela, Bulacan, has already been attended to, and the entire Metro Manila will shortly be "accomplished."

There are still some 12,000 families to relocate in the Bulacan segment, and 14,000 in the Pampanga segment. Noli confesses he has been able to deliver only 7 kilometers from Caloocan North to Valenzuela to Malabon, but the rest of the initial 20 kilometers will shortly follow.

On the other hand, it was originally conceived that a space of 15 meters to the left of the railbed, and 15 meters to the right of it, would be enough for the work to proceed, but the Chinese engineers are now reportedly insisting that double that clearance should be provided.

What contributes to the hampering of relocation operations is the fact, Kabayan adds, that the clearing and relocation program are not part of the $400 million North Rail budget, but payment for it must be sourced from funds available under the GAA (General Appropriations Act).

"We’re doing our best," the Veep concluded, "and coming in on schedule."

He remarked: "We’re already thinking about the south Rail, too – but that comes next."

This ought to be good news for our very able Philippine National Railways General Manager Jose Sarasola II, who’s obtained a $50 million (P2.83 billion plus) funding from two Korean financing institutions for the first phase of rehabilitating the PNR South Line from Caloocan to Alabang, plus another $50 million for the second phase extending from Alabang to Calamba, Laguna.

But that’s another story.

* * *

Lt. Gen. Edilberto P. Adan, currently the Deputy Chief of Staff of the AFP, who’s taking over as SouthCom commander, contacted me to put to rest once and for all the story that he had removed the "reserve parking" for Medal of Valor awardees inside Camp Aguinaldo.

He told me: "I can categorically state that I did not order the removal of the parking space for MOV awardees in Camp Aguinaldo. Honestly, when the issue came out in the news it was the only time that I became aware of the parking privilege for MOV awardees at GHQ."

In fact, Ed noted, "the Armed Forces Spokesman and Chief PIO had made a statement to the effect on several occasions to answer that said issue, declaring the parking space is there and it has never been removed."

General Adan emphasized: "The newspaper (not of course The Philippine STAR) that published it made a false report and it seems that our effort to present facts was not recognized." We’re sorry that in this corner, we, too, gave credence to that erroneous report.

Now that General Adan has formally clarified this, may I say this should clear him, once and for all, of that unfair rap.

As for the SouthCom appointment, this is still a matter to be confirmed by the President herself – like, for instance, is Ed there as Officer-in-Charge, or SouthCom commander for the duration, i.e. until his retirement on January 27, or what?

It was a complete surprise. Let’s see what happens next.