First Grandchild Mikaela Gloria will truly be a ‘first’

For the first time since the early ‘80s when then infant Borgy Manotoc, first grandchild of the late President Ferdinand Marcos and former First Lady Imelda Marcos lived at Malacañang, a baby’s cries will ring through the Palace halls anew.

The baby girl, to be named Mikaela Gloria, will be born late this year to presidential son Mikey Arroyo and his wife the former Angela Montenegro. The baby’s first name "Mikaela" is a combination of her parents’ name "Mikey" and "Angela." "Gloria," of course, is from you-know-who.

Although some of their grandchildren were born while Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada were president, the babies didn’t live in the Palace itself.

This time, the baby will be driven to Malacañang straight from the Makati Medical Center, where Angela will give birth.

The excited mom said the baby’s sex was confirmed by ultrasound tests.

The baby’s aunt Luli told me at a recent gathering said they are all eagerly awaiting the baby’s birth since she will be the first great-grandchild on the Macaraeg-Macapagal side, and also the first great-grandchild on the Tuason-Arroyo side.

Standing by in the pink nursery, which Angela has decorated with a princess and teddy bear motif, is a brown crib which belonged to Mikey.

But Angela says she wants a more feminine crib for baby Mikaela, and so the brown crib will go to the President’s room.

Why?

"We expect her to be borrowing the baby a lot," laughs Angela. The President, she says, is the type of mother-in-law who doesn’t poke her nose into her in-law’s business. "She gives me a lot of space," says Angela, who has been occupying a suite a few feet away from the President’s own suite at Malacañang. Usually, the only time she and her mother-in-law see each other is during Sunday lunch at the Palace."The only thing she often asks me about lately is how the nursery is coming along."

If President Arroyo will be like her parents, she will be a doting grandma to her son’s firstborn.

The President herself recalled that Mikey was such a favorite of her parents the late President Diosdado Macapagal and the late Doña Eva Macaraeg-Macapagal that they would borrow the boy for days on end. Mikey would stay with them in their Forbes Park home.

"There was a time when I picked up Mikey because he was sick, and they made tampo," she once confided.

Angela says she will be a "very hands-on mom."

"I will breastfeed the baby and take care of her myself," she says. This means she will be taking a leave from her work in the Montenegro family business.

Mikaela Gloria will be the first granddaughter of Angela’s parents Herman and Charito Montenegro. They already have two grandsons from their eldest daughter Emilie Yupangco, who is now expecting her third child. Expect the baby to be treated like a princess!

Hero or heel?

To denizens of Metro Manila–he’s a bayani and a kilabot at the same time.

He’s a hero to those who’ve been feeling helpless against vendors who conquer half the streets of Metro Manila, hawkers who condemn all attempts to put them in their right place as being "anti-poor."

He’s a heel to those who’ve been living rent-free on railroad tracks and esteros, a "Hitler" to those who’ve long occupied roads that belong to vehicles and sidewalks that belong to pedestrians.

In my book, for simply trying to make Metro Manila a place rather than a jigsaw puzzle, Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Bayani Fernando is a hero.

It isn’t easy to go against people who falsely use poverty as their excuse for bad habits and bad behavior. Very few hearts will bleed for you when photos show babies crying in their mothers’ arms as their shanties are being demolished, albeit legally, by your men.

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But there are times when you just have to harden your heart and be as focused as Hitler was (just focused, OK)?

I once walked from my dermatologist’s clinic on Batangas St. (near Buendia) to Marconi St. in Palanan, also in Makati. Half of the time I had to walk on the road, as the sidewalks were claimed by soft drinks dealers and talyers. Half of the time cars were honking their horns at me for blocking their path. Look, I am not big, but I guess that when it’s rush hour, every square foot on the road counts.

I live in a nice community in Parañaque and though my home is my Shangri-La, there are days when I feel like I have to cross the Himalayas to get there. Traffic, whether you pass by the South Expressway or Airport Road, is really the culprit. It is not helped any by the reality that the stretch of road from the NAIA (after the Puregold duty free shop) until SM Sucat looks like a setting for Halloween Night. There are lamp posts, but the lamps are unlit. The road is dark and winding. The lights come back only in front of SM Sucat, and then they disappear again. See for yourself, Mayor Joey Marquez.

Who forgot to pay the Meralco bills here?

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Bayani Fernando was asked where he got the nerve to go against the most hard-headed denizens of the metropolis.

"Oh, but I don’t have the nerve to go against terrorists, only the vendors," quipped Fernando at last Tuesday’s Bulong Pulungan at the Westin Philippine Plaza.

"I have the courage because I am confident that what I am doing will work. I have no ill will toward anyone. I know that in the end, people will realize that it was for their good," he stressed.

The STAR’s finance director Wenoli Bollozos, a resident of Concepcion, Marikina City, recalls that before Fernando’s first term as mayor, "just a drop of rain and our street will flood."

Today, says Wenoli, it could rain for days on end and Noah’s Ark will never find a berth in Marikina.

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Bayani Fernando, whose pretty wife Marides is now mayor of Marikina, believes his biggest task at the moment, is "to restore order to the roadways of Metro Manila."

"I want to make the roads user-friendly," Fernando vowed. Unfortunately for me, Sucat Road in Parañaque is not his responsibility (and so every night is Halloween Night for me!)

Fernando has taken steps to cut down on inconveniences to drivers who get a ticket for small offenses. Fernando has even suspended certain penalties for drivers with minor offenses, especially if the cause of the violation is a road sign that was not visible. Many of us know that it is the prospect of taking a seminar, not so much the fine, that makes drivers want to bribe their way out of a ticket.

Fernando admits that 50 percent of MMDA traffic personnel cannot drive, therefore he is sending a lot of them to driving schools. He knows that those who know how to drive are in a better position to spot an offense when they see one.

So when you are in a traffic jam and need an MMDA traffic aide, or think you have been unfairly accosted, just dial 136 and an MMDA adjudicator will go to you.

Fernando also warns that if your car breaks down–for whatever reason–on the road, it will be towed, no if’s, no but’s.

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Fernando is in favor of arming barangay tanods and giving them the authority to question "suspicious looking characters."

"Are they intelligent enough to make the distinction?" director Fritz Ynfante asked Fernando.

"Well, they certainly are street smart," he answered.

Fernando also revealed that since he became MMDA chairman, the MMDA has relocated some 300,000 squatters in Metro Manila. Of the 300,000, a total of 75,000 have been relocated from the railroad tracks and another 75,000 have been asked to clear the esteros.

"I discovered that 50 percent of these squatters are not homeless. They actually have weekend homes and live only in the city on weekdays," said Fernando.

It is not also true, he pointed out, that Metro Manila mayors coddle squatters because of their votes come election time.

"Squatters are very politicized," said Fernando, who served as Marikina mayor for three terms. "At best, only 50 percent of them will vote for you. The rest will vote for your opponent."

The MMDA chairman is also taking on the smoke belchers, and announced that 45,000 of them have already been apprehended.

A loophole in the system, however, is the law.

"Smoke belchers are only fined P1,000 per offense. An engine overhaul, on the other hand, will cost them P100,000. So they would rather pay the fine and be back on the streets than have an overhaul," he shrugged.

Bayani Fernando has one piece of advice to public officials who try their best to implement the law and meet with criticisms while doing so:

"Watch out for the personal interests of your detractors!" he advised.

In the meantime, Fernando is bent on doing his job, and is glad the press has been fair to him.

Hero, heel or Hitler?

What do you think?

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(You may e-mail me at : [email protected])