Indignation can usher change in leadership!

Our visit to the Ambuklao Dam last Sunday got me to ponder, who was the visionary who thought of harnessing the Agno River and put that dam in order to generate a 75MW power from a place so far and desolate? I wanted to know so I could lionize that man. Like what we said, this dam was constructed in the 50’s and it became operational during the Marcos years.

I remember that the energy czar of Marcos was a fellow named Geronimo Velasco, who no doubt also envisioned the Philippines to enter the Nuclear Club. That was to be the Bataan Nuclear Powered Plant (BNPP), which unfortunately became a target of the opposition as a corrupted project under the Marcos regime. But when the Cory regime took over from the Marcoses, she mothballed the BNPP yet she still paid our debts on that project. In the end, the courts threw out the cases filed against the BNPP, but the biggest loser was the Filipino people. Thanks to ugly politics!

* * *

Talking about politics, I read a news report that lawyer Aristotle Batuhan has apparently endorsed the congressional bid of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña in what is considered a strange twist of events. Batuhan has always been a Kusug ally in the last two elections where he battled with then incumbent Congressman Tony Cuenco and lost. I really expected him to run for Congress in the South District for this election, but then he probably realized that with Atan Guardo slugging it out with Tomas Osmeña, he would be the odd-man out.

But his openly declaring his all-out support for Tomas Osmeña is a great booster for the Cebu City Mayor whom I heard has already complained that this election has cost him a lot. I don’t doubt this report; after all, it was Mayor Osmeña who fielded Councilor Hilario Davide, III to do battle against the incumbent Gov. Gwen F. Garcia.

Perhaps a little lesson from World War II history should be learned from this political exercise. Der Furher Adolf Hitler decided to implement Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union’s Stalin, even if he was still in the midst of fighting the Battle of Britain. Hitler could have won and kept all of Europe if he didn’t fight a battle with two fronts! This is exactly what Mayor Tom is doing and undoubtedly, it will take its toll on his election expenses. But I have no doubt that he will win his congressional bid hands down; after all, he is only running a campaign over half of Cebu City.

* * *

Today, we do have our share of ugly politics and politicians, but there are newcomers in the political arena that seem to bring a gush of fresh air into a community that knew no other politician except from one family. Yes, I’m referring to the entry of socialite and philanthropist Mariquita Salimbangon Yeung (MSY) into the Mayoralty race in Bogo vs. the Martinezes.

I was sent a copy of an open letter to MSY coming from a Lord Anthony D. Suarez of Bogo City. But since this is a very lengthy letter, I will just reprint excerpts, which is the meat of this letter:

“Madame, you just didn’t realize how the people of Bogo are deathly scared of the present local administration. Until you came and felt the muted cry of a frightened people, they had come to awaken the reality that enough is enough. That they must rise and redeem themselves and make up for the wasted years. The message is as clear as the lodestar, enough is enough. The ruling clan that has been with us since only God knows when, only characterizes the kind of people we are. Dumb, meek, submissive, and indifferent.

The people didn’t ask much from you then. It would take a gargantuan task of transforming Bogo from what it is today because had it not (been) for the present administration’s prodigal addiction to the golden pork barrel, one would wonder how Bogo would have looked like today….And so come May 10 elections, the people of Bogo would wage a different kind of war, a bloodless, peaceful war, to lay claim (to) the throne whose present occupant kept us from moving forward.”

Indeed, it takes the indignation of a people for things to move in a community. This writer obviously wants change in Bogo. It reminds me of the song from the famous Broadway musical “Les Miserables” which goes, “Do you hear the people sing, singing the song of angry men/ It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again/ When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drum, there is a light about to start when tomorrow comes.”

Perhaps the people of Bogo saw the improvements in Daan Bantayan under Rep. Benhur Salimbangon, which is why they too want a taste of infrastructure projects that have been denied to the people of Bogo. MSY can only do so much; it is the people of Bogo who must make that poignant decision if they truly want change in their political leadership.