Now that Roberto Ongpin’s P660-million “behest loan” from state-owned DBP is being investigated, two other mysteries during the Arroyo administration might as well be raked up. Namely, why did DBP and government-run GSIS unload their shares in Meralco and Philex also to Ongpin, at soft three-year payment terms at that? Why did the state-owned PNOC sell its controlling shares in Petron to Ongpin without benefit of public bidding?
Answering those questions could prove Sen. Serge Osmeña right, that there was a “big man,” literally and figuratively the heavyweight first gentleman Mike Arroyo, behind the deals.
* * *
Is the National Democratic Front (NDF) sincere in talking peace? The Philippine government panel (GPH) in negotiations with the communist rebels is asking itself that. The question cropped up because the NDF has set stiff conditions for the resumption of talks. Foremost of these are the army’s pullout from certain rebel-infested areas, and the release of underground leaders arrested for various criminal indictments. And then last week the insurgents razed facilities, heavy equipment, and watercraft worth P1 billion in three foreign-partnered mines in Surigao. Could that be the final answer?
The GPH panel has been guardedly silent, but not presidential peace adviser Teresita Quintos-Deles to whom it reports. At once she denounced the raid for “undermining people’s confidence in the peace process.” Hers was a diplomatic way of putting it. The military, while bowing to civilian superiors, has been warning that the communists are only using the negotiations to further their “people’s war.” Invariably the NDF entertains meetings at the onset of any new presidential administration. But this is only for its fighters to rest, recruit, and propagandize during the period of lessened military skirmishes. At some point it finds a way to scuttle the dialogue and return to the battlefield. That has been so in the 24 years of on-and-off parleys, the military cautions this fifth GPH panel formed since 1987. For that historical reason, the NDF allegedly cannot be trusted.
Trust is the most important element in any peace negotiation. So shared British MP Paul Murphy in chats last week with Quintos-Deles and the separate GPH panel in the talks with Islamic separatists. The Catholic Welsh was a member of the British government panel that struck an armistice in 1998 with the Irish Republican Army. “Confidence building was our toughest challenge,” Murphy recounted. “We had to convince them that our government was serious. At the same time we had to make them understand that the armed struggle was over.”
The British embassy is part of the International Contact Group in the government conference with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. That confab has been proceeding, despite occasional histrionics, because of two other elements. First is a ceasefire. Too, compelling forces — the United States and Muslim countries — are prodding both sides to sign a peace pact. Same with his talks with the IRA, Murphy recalled. In their case, the European Union was pressing for a settlement. More than that, Northern Ireland’s womenfolk were nagging the men to stop fighting, for their children were dying. This brings to mind how Maguindanao women recently ended constant rido (clan war) by denying their husbands sex until they stopped armed conflict.
There is no truce with the communist rebels. The NDF allegedly refuses to halt armed hostilities lest these tempt rebel commanders to desert the jungle fighting for homecomings. Neither is there a strong force to prod the NDF finally to agree to peace. The GPH panel notes that the females on the NDF side seem to be more strident about returning to war. Incidentally the Surigao rebel attack was led by Edron Madlos, son of the NDF regional spokesman for Mindanao.
Speaking of which, the GPH suspects that the NDF’s national leaders have lost control of their Mindanao forces. Recently the NDF ordered the freeing of an abducted town mayor. Instead of complying, the Mindanao regional command set more conditions for the release. In the case of the MILF, a maverick commander has been expelled for repeatedly breaking the ceasefire. It would be silly to expect the NDF to do the same to its fighting units.
* * *
The plunder rap filed against the Fuentebella political family is an eye-opener. It gives a preview of what could happen in their proposed new province of Nueva Camarines out of their fourth district of Camarines Sur.
As reported to the Ombudsman, deputy Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella, wife Evelyn, and sons Arnulf and Felix allegedly diverted P80 million in public funds to their sprawling properties in Sagnay and Tigaon towns. Evelyn and Arnulf are the mayors of the two towns; Felix chaired the Partido Development Authority, a state corporation that receives subsidies ostensibly to develop the district.
Their political foe CamSur Gov. L-Ray Villafuerte accused them of used P28 million to build roads leading to and multipurpose facilities right inside their five-hectare resort in Sagnay. Another P32 million in government funds supposedly went to country manors in Tigaon.
After filing the plunder rap last week Villafuerte said the Fuentebellas aim to strengthen their political grip on the fourth district by separating it from the province. They purportedly had done this initially with through the PDA, the only state firm exclusive to a congressional district. Recently the Department of Environment and Natural Resources gave the PDA the right to accept and review mining permits, a job that rests with the Mines and Geosciences Bureau and the provincial capitol.
Villafuerte added that the fourth district remains the province’s poorest despite the century-long reign of the Fuentebellas there. He said the separation of a Nueva Camarines would only further impoverish their constituents.
* * *
Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ, (882-AM).
E-mail: jariusbondoc@gmail.com