Forget that silly probe into assassination plots: Let’s plot our progress

C’mon. It’s clear that Senate President Franklin Drilon Jr. plotted the ouster of President GMA, alleging election "cheating", etc., but an "assassination plot"? Even for some one like Frank, this would be beyond belief.

I’m tempted to preface my next statement with the usual Pinoy bromide, "in my humble opinion," but nobody who ventures an opinion is really humble in this town. So let me simply say that in the interest of getting this nation back on track, let’s lower the decibel count, get rid of the histrionics and, for Chrissakes, let’s not waste our valuable time "investigating" whether Senator Drilon wanted GMA done in violently. He wants to dethrone her, not – to invoke the Czech phrase – defenestrate her.

That having been said, may I propose further that the Senate stop acting like an organization of Keystone Cops "investigating" everything in sight in order to embarrass the GMA Administration.

Our Senators, who love to strut on television, seem to have forgotten their main function – which is to legislate. Instead, they’ve focused their efforts on being Senior G-Men, summoning witnesses right and left to be barbecued on a spit in the full glare of TV so they can push the agenda of their more noisy leaders, which is obviously to humiliate and overthrow La Presidenta since the "impeachment" try failed in the House of Representatives.

Why don’t the folks who believe GMA "stole" the elections wait for the legally prescribed one year and file "impeachment" charges again as the law mandates, instead of force-feeding the public with a rehash of the impeachment accusations? Enough of this uncivil war. We need to get back to work.

The awful truth is that most of our Senators would rather investigate – but aren’t those inquiries supposed to be (if I may sound tedious and repetitive) "in aid of legislation"? The legislative record of our Senators, who cost us (what’s the figure?) some P1.3 billion annually to maintain, is miserable.

Last week, an exasperated Speaker Joe de Venecia told us that the House of Representatives, under his gavel, passed 1,100 bills in the past three years, and sent them up to the Senate. The Senate, during that same period, approved only 17 of them. Wow. Only 17 bills approved by the Upper Chamber out of the 1,100 bills dispatched to them by the Lower House?

What on earth were the Senators doing? Scratching their balls? Please pardon the vulgar expression but, alas, vulgarity seems to be the pastime of the season. The fact is that our Senators were "investigating." When they ran out of reported deals, scams and scandals to investigate, they even started investigating each other. (Just ask today’s chief investigator himself, Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, who was once on the receiving end of his own Chamber’s harpooning).

The Senate must beware, unpopular as it has already become, I kid thee not, of being perceived as a bully. Sure, that controversial Venable contract signed by National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales last July 25 appeared really dicey, since a clause about "Cha-Cha" was unwisely inserted in it – but what the heck. Why do the Senators insist on treating Gonzales like some cheap crook and continue to "detain" him until he speaks up (to "implicate" GMA?) – even though Gonzales is now confined to a hospital room in the Heart Center, on the verge of undergoing a heart operation? The Senators are in a Lose-Lose situation (the opposite of that notoriously-touted "Win-Win" solution) in Bert Gonzales’s case. When a guy is sick, and is perceived by the public not to be malingering, it’s not smart to continue skewering him with a stubborn detention order.

Our solons are beginning to look heartless, while Bert G. is beginning to look less like a culprit than a victim.

And we thought politicians are supposed to have a feel of the public pulse.

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Then there’s the political "death wish" insistence of our Senators on investigating, and inevitably delaying or even derailing the North Rail project. To begin with, our commuting public urgently needs train service – the further north our railroad can push, in the shortest possible time, the better. Damn the legal mumbo-jumbo and the posturing, better build a railroad than snarl everything up with red tape and booby-traps set by nitpicking lawyers.

Where in the world can we get a loan from a friendly government at such giveaway rates? Three percent interest and 20 years to pay? Give us a break.

Some of our solons keep on harping on the possibility of getting a "better deal" from the Japanese of "one percent." If you examine the Japanese plan and mind you, it’s just a plan – it calls for the Philippine government to get rid of all the squatters on the projected route of the train before the Japanese even begin to negotiate. Then, it will take another 10 months, at least, for these new negotiations to come to a successful conclusion – if they’re successful.

How long after that, could the Japanese or their contractors start constructing the North Rail? Adopting this miasma of a plan would set back the railway project by more than two years. In this period of rapidly escalating fuel prices, time is of the essence.

In sharp contrast, 38 Chinese engineers, surveyors and technical support personnel began actual work right here on April 12 this year. They’ve already undertaken preliminary survey, soils, and mineral testing, geotechnical and hydraulics investigation and sub-soil exploration, as well as preliminary route alignment and scheme design.

What’s the objection of some noisy Senators? That under the $400 million credit deal, Beijing insisted on choosing the contractor, which in this case was their own CNMEG – or China Machinery and Equipment Corporation (Group), a state-owned enterprise. By golly, if I were plunking down $400 million of my own money to build a railroad, I’d make sure it wasn’t wasted on some fly-by-night prime contractor selected by our dubious Philippine process – yes, dubious – method of "public bidding." This clause is contained in the bilateral trade agreement between the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China.

CNMEG’s track record is wellknown, listed in the Engineering News-Record, a global source book, which ranks CNMEG as No. 37 in the world. In the year 2003, the total import and export volume accomplished by CNMEG was more than US$2.254 billion. In sum, they are very well qualified to build that double-track NorthRail for us, by any standards.

We must not delay that railroad, whose first phase leads to Clark Field (Diosdado Macapagal airport) in Pampanga.

Here’s the benefit of getting that "Choo-choo" going soonest.

Once completed, this rail service will accelerate the development of Central and Northern Luzon. This will provide easy access to new economic growth areas, and will improve the interconnection of major transportation facilities in the Manila-Clark-Subic economic triangle (called the Buffer Triangle), namely the airports and seaports of Metro Manila, the airport of Clark, and the airport and seaports of Subic.

MCRRS has provision for an airport express service to Clark for international business and tourist travelers. Freight service will also be introduced at a later stage.

The NorthRail Project is also envisioned as part of the solution to Metro Manila’s traffic congestion. There is an expected shift of commuters from road-based transport system to rail-based system, thus decongesting the roads to and within Metro Manila.

With improved accessibility, the introduction of this rapid mass transit system will encourage the dispersal of Metro Manila population towards Central Luzon. Workers and students presently crowding Metro Manila will be encouraged to live in communities in Central Luzon. New economic centers that will generate new jobs will develop along the corridor of this rapid transport system, thus providing a competitive alternative to Metro Manila.

Does the Senate want to torpedo such an initiative? The Senators can’t even pass an Anti-Terrorism Law – and the Bali Bombings are a wake-up call!

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Finally – and this is the most vital aspect of the brouhaha – we must not mortally insult the Chinese. Realpolitik and geography plainly show that the up-and-coming Superpower, both military and economic, in our region is the People’s Republic of China. I do not mean to suggest that we kowtow to Beijing, perish that thought. However, when the hand of friendship is extended, our Senators must not peevishly, and for their pedestrian and petty domestic agenda, slap it away.

The NorthRail loan was intended by Beijing to be a landmark gesture towards an Asian neighbor – the first of its kind undertaken by the People’s Republic which was, not too long ago, a recipient of aid, not a donor or financially powerful nation. China’s economy, booming at 9.5 percent a year today, is on a trajectory to overtake Japan – but not for many years yet. The ascending Dragon is very sensitive to slights at this stage. Our pugnacious Senators seem to be in the process of going out of their way to offend China as an experimental "aid-giver."

Do you know what China’s President Hu Jintao discussed with GMA when they met at the United Nations in New York two weeks ago? The first thing President Hu asked our President was: "Why is the NorthRail project being delayed?"

Do you know how many of China’s ranking leaders reviewed and approved, indeed signed the NorthRail project for us? The current President Hu Jintao. The former President Jiang Zemin. The current Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. The former Prime Minister Zhu Rongji. Two Speakers of China’s parliament also ratified the deal: former Speaker and Premier Li Peng and now Wu Bangguo. The contract was presented by two envoys, former Chinese Ambassador Wang Chungui, and the present Ambassador Wu Hongbo, now headed back to Beijing for promotion in the Foreign Office.

And some so-called solons, headed by Frank Drilon, Nene Pimentel, and the usual oppositionists believe the Chinese jerking us around? Why don’t we just build that NorthRail and stop this obstructionist nonsense?

I come from a family of lawyers, but it takes engineers to lay enough track to benefit millions of Filipino commuters and make their everyday lives better. Let’s give those engineers the "green light" – to get our country rolling forward to progress once more.