"This concern has been, for many years, secondary."
"This concern has been, for many years, secondary."
“What’s in it for me?” is the foremost question in many politicians’, or public officials’ (an oxymoron in this case) minds when considering a policy or implementation issue to be decided upon. So has it been in the Philippine praxis for many many decades.
What’s in it for the people is secondary.
So it was quite a surprise as I travelled by land from Davao in Southeastern Mindanao to Butuan in the northeast, to see a road-widening project that converted a two-lane highway to a six-lane highway.
The last time I traversed this road was Jan. 23, 2015, after then-Mayor Rodrigo Duterte began his “listening tour” in our hometown, Butuan City. The day before, he spoke to a multi-sectoral group and local media at a forum held at our family-owned events place, expounding on his pet advocacy of federalism, which was well-received by an audience long feeling neglected by “imperial” Manila.
Governor Angelica Amante, who was a staunch Liberal at the time, was in attendance. When the inevitable question was asked of Mayor Duterte, “are you running for president?” he responded by saying “it does not interest me, but if the present candidates fail to respond to the needs of the people, and Inshallah, I might.”
That “iffy” statement was enough to send paroxysms of delight to the Mindanao audience long clamoring for one of their own to lead the nation, and likewise end the generations of neglect the southern island has long experienced while it was touted as the “land of promise.”
Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez, at the time a former congressman of Davao del Norte and once transportation secretary and I, along with the former’s good friend Edwin Jubahib boarded his SUV and motored to Davao at around four that afternoon.
While the Agusan-Davao highway, part of the Pan-Philippine road network that connects Luzon through Eastern Visayas to Mindanao, was started as early as during the time of President Elpidio Quirino, what we Caraganons and Davaoenos had for the longest time since has been a two-lane highway, mostly asphalted with stretches of concrete. Often there were patches of muddied road brought about by landslides.
Until Rodrigo Roa Duterte became president. Now, from Davao City to Trento in Agusan del Sur, we have a new concrete six-lane highway. And in Tagum City, Bebot Alvarez’ home base, pylons have been raised to begin the construction of a flyover that would connect this bustling city to Davao and forego the perennial traffic brought about by continuing progress.
The sides of the two-lane stretch from Agusan del Sur to Butuan City are likewise being bulldozed and graded in preparation for a similar six-lane highway.
My driver said there are similar road-widening projects in other parts of Caraga, with new two-lane highways being constructed to link Surigao del Sur to Butuan without passing through the circumferential road in Surigao del Norte.
Build, build, build!
There are similar projects being started all over the country, along with newer or expanded airports, railways in the pipeline, a subway system for Metro Manila soon to break ground.
No wonder, I thought, that three in four Filipinos are saying, quite forcefully, that the Philippines is in the “right direction” under the leadership of Duterte.
And despite the rise in prices of many basic commodities from rice to oil, the President, well into his third year in office, is getting astoundingly high approval ratings.
They not only sense change. They see change.
***
Our driver and I also discussed local politics in Butuan City and the two Agusans.
Contrary to what I wrote in an article about dynastic politics some weeks ago, where I gave an example of the Amantes of Agusan del Norte “wisely” dividing their political territory despite seemingly irreconcilable differences, the opposite is happening.
Our beautiful governor, Angel Amante is running for the second district against her brother Erlpe who is the incumbent representative. She has put up Dale Corvera, her vice governor to run for governor in her stead, even if her current term limits are not expiring, just to have a “final” showdown with her brother.
“Matira ang matibay,” as Erap and FPJ used to say in their action movies.
Congressman Erlpe instead put up his son to run for governor against Angel’s Corvera. But the wily Erlpe just might surprise sister Angel by “substituting” for his son when the surveys show he would not win against his popular and charming sister.
In Butuan City the incumbent mayor, Ron-vic Lagnada, a construction magnate who in 2016 won as mayor (defeating then-incumbent Mayor Ferdinand Amante, Angelica’s first cousin) is virtually unchallenged for his second term.
“Wala’y makasukol kang Ron-vic. Daghang kwarta,” my driver commented.
“Unless Charlie Gonzales, a bigger contractor from Davao whose paternal roots are Butuanon, enters the fray,” he said. But then again, that does not seem to be the case. The genial Charlie seems disinterested in Agusan politics, other than helping his friends who have political ambitions.
***
But one can see the glaring difference between Davao City and Davao del Norte in the southeast and the two Agusans and Butuan City to its north.
The moment you step into the boundary of the Davaos and into the Agusans, it is as if you have entered a time capsule. In the south, there is progress. In the north, life has hardly changed.
From bustling rural and urban progress to rural listlessness and urban decay, where “change” is only felt because the national government through Mark Villar’s DPWH is widening the Agusan-Davao highway, and a few Gaisano malls and Jollibee’s suddenly sprouting in the poblaciones of San Francisco and Bayugan.
From progressive and dynamic leadership with a vision for the people, to feudal dynastic leadership with nothing but “what’s in it for me (or us in the family)” as driving purpose.
In the Davaos we traversed, there is something for the people. In the Agusans, then and now, perhaps forever, but for crumbs from the table of politics, it remains “what’s in it for us”?