ROBREDO: THE MAGSAYSAY OF OUR TIME

An administration ago, we would not have wept like this.

The nation is in grief today after confirmation of the death of DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo came this morning together with the retrieval of the Secretary's body off the coast of Masbate City. Robredo, together with aide-de-camp P/Insp Jun Abrasado, and two pilots, Capt. Jessup Bahinting and Nepalese flight student Kshitiz Chand, crashed in the afternoon of August 18, 2012 in the waters of Ticao Strait, some 500 meters from the Masbate Airport while trying to make an emergency landing.

Robredo was on his way to Naga City, Camarines Sur after making a speech at the National Summit of the Community Investigative Support and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIS-CIDG) held in Cebu City. He was supposed to take a commercial flight back to Manila and then travel by bus to Naga but then opted to take a chartered flight straight to Naga to be with his daughter who won a medal in a swimming competition.

According to the lone survivor of the crash, P/Insp Jun Abrasado, one of the engines of the Piper Seneca plane had a problem which prompted Capt. Jessup Bahinting to call Masbate Airport for an emergency landing. The plane, however, did not make it.

Upon hearing of the news of the crash, President Benigno Aquino III rushed to Masbate to personally oversee the search and rescue operation for his long-time friend and fellow reformist. The government, as well as the family of the Secretary, were initially hopeful that Robredo might still be alive as he was a good swimmer. There were even reports circulating via text and Twitter that the Secretary has been rescued at sea by local fishermen, none of which were confirmed.

Such was the hope and anticipation of the Filipino people over Robredo's safety due to the late Secretary's legacy of clean governance. Prior to his death, he was in government for over 20 years, which started when he won as Mayor of Naga City in 1988. He was the youngest elected mayor in the country back then, at age 29. His election followed six terms of reformist leadership in the city which got rid of local corruption, illegal gambling, and turned Naga City into a model of local governance.

Robredo received various awards for his reformist leadership, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service in 2000, and the Philippines' Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World Award for Government Service in 1996. Such brand of reformist leadership is what inspired newly-elected President Benigno S. Aquino III to appoint him as Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in 2010.

As DILG Secretary, he sought to make local governance more oriented to serving the people's needs. Despite the rampant corruption and mismanagement of his predecessors in DILG, he was able to unite all units of local government towards making public service more efficient, transparent, and accessible. His leadership style was that of a loving father—never that of a dictator. His employees at the DILG remarked that the late Secretary never shouted at anyone when he gets mad but rather just bites into his fist to control his emotions.

It was this brand of reformist leadership that made Robredo very dear, not just to Bicolanos but throughout the country. Such was weight of his loss to many Filipinos because it reflects a society's renewed aspiration to be led in such a way. It shows that Filipino society has had enough of traditional politics which has marred local governance for decades and wants reformist leadership such as that of Robredo's to flourish. If it were a government official from the previous administration who died, it would've met a different (perhaps even spiteful) reaction. Take the case of former Department of Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, who took his own life in 2011.

Just as reformist leadership is beginning to take shape and grow in a once corrupted nation, news of Robredo's death came. The last time a national figure figured in a plane crash like this was 55 years ago, after the death of President Ramon Magsaysay when his plane crashed in Cebu on Marcy 17, 1957. Like Robredo, his governance was that of a reformer and sought to make government become closer to people and responsive to their needs.

Hence, it's only fitting that Sec. Jesse Robredo be hailed as the "Magsaysay of Our Time". TSS

PUT THE LITTLE GIRL TO SLEEP!

ARROYO: Hates chopper rides.

TAGUIG CITY - CGMA's spokesperson Elena Bautista-Horn lamented to the media this morning about the administration's "delaying tactics" in transporting the former thief (sorry!) president to the VMMC today. They said that the administration must implement the transfer order now by land instead of an air transfer as originally planned. "Weather" and "chopper" are apparently Mrs. Horn's other words for "delaying tactics."

DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo and the Philippine National Police has clarified that there were no intended delays to the transfer of Mrs. Arroyo to VMMC. The agency has decided to forestall the chopper transfer until better weather arrives, and has decline the Arroyo camp's insistence on a land transfer. Meanwhile, Mrs. Horn insisted that it will be safer for Mrs. Arroyo to be transferred by land. "Kung ang problema lang naman nila ay yung mga rallyista bakit hindi nila hawiin. Hinihintay lang nilang dumami ang mga Anti-Gloria protesters sa harap ng ospital! Payagan na lang sana nila kami, kahit magtaxi na lang kami papunta dun," the spokesperson said, to which a reported asked, "Hindi po kaya barilin naman ang dating pangulo kung by land ang pagbiyahe sa kanya gaya nga nung sinasabi niyong planong patayin siya sa Operation Put The Little Girl To Sleep?" Mrs. Horn replied, "Ah, hindi baril ang gagamitin sa Operation Put The Little Girl To Sleep." I wonder why Mrs. Horn knows so much about this plan. Could it be? I smell something fishy.

CGMA insisted on being transferred by land to the VMMC instead of air. Atty. Ferdinand "Itlog" Topacio, in an interview with GMA News, said that the former president has had trauma after her previous experiences with chopper crashes. Meanwhile, in footage release by GMA News, three PNP choppers were spotted circling St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig which is part of the transfer convoy. These are apparently, the "brand new" Robinson choppers sold by her husband Mike Arroyo to PNP officials. No wonder the president is traumatized!

Atty. Ferdinand "Itlog" Topacio said that the former president is already stressed because of her waiting ordeal.  She has been sitting all morning in a wheelchair, has already had two breakfasts and is also experiencing stomach pains. If I had two breakfasts in one morning, while seated all throughout in a wheelchair, I will have stomach pains too. Pwede namang tumayo, humiga di ba? O tumuwad kung gusto niya!

Atty. Ferdinand "Itlog" Topacio, when asked if former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo is also irritated by the delay of transfer, stated: "Kung ako nga na di asawa eh naiirita na eh!" ALIN po ang naiirita?

These are just some of the statements we've heard in today's fiasco about CGMA's tranfer to VMMC. The usual boisterous and preposterous ranting and whining of the Arroyo camp's spokespersons has been irritating us since the former president's "ordeal" started. It irritates us for the fact that their statements do not corroborate with what they have acted upon before. Why insist on being detained at the VMMC at such unfortunate moment when they were the ones insisting in the first place that CGMA is in grave danger? St. Luke's is a well-guarded, well-equipped hospital -- what else could go wrong in there? Can't she just wait to be transported after the weather clears up? Didn't the court order explicitly said that she has to be transferred safely and properly and yet she wants to brave the downpour and flood, and wrath of the angry masses! The people has had enough! We just hope that the former president could have chosen her mouthpieces well, because the way they are speaking to the media, the more CGMA sounds a ridiculous, desperate, spoiled brat. Its making us want more for her to be put to sleep instead, just to end this ruckus.

But more than anything else, this entire act by the Arroyo camp is ridiculous and desperate. Their so-called "demagoguery" by the administration is nothing but a ghost created by their own scheming party in order to portray her as being persecuted and prejudged. This is no demagogue. This is a poorly scripted act to win the hearts and minds of the unaware, uneducated, emotional and ill-advised masses like the handful of Kampampangans we saw in VMMC today.

This is a teleserye, entitled, "Put The Little Girl To Sleep". TSS