BY ROMMEL YNION
IF you ask me, there are only three Ilonggo leaders we should thank for: Raul Gonzalez Sr., Frank Drilon and Jerry Treñas. They are the ones who contributed to the developments that we see in Iloilo City now. Let us take a closer look at them, one by one, to see how they became the whys behind this city’s march to “progress”.
Although progress is relative depending on the eyes of the beholder – as Nancy Binay uses the latter phrase to accentuate the role of perception in appraising the value of something in question – we can assess how these three Ilonggos have put Iloilo City on the road to “progress” as defined by the whirlwind of developments enveloping our city for the past few years.
As I wrote in my previous column, it was Raul Gonzalez Sr. who did everything to persuade real estate tycoon Andrew Tan to buy the land on which old Iloilo Airport stood in Mandurriao. At first, Tan hesitated because at that time, Iloilo City was not in his radar screen of entrepreneurial activities, but since for some strange reasons, he could not say no to the then justice secretary, the tycoon who eventually became one of the top 10 richest Filipinos, bought it. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The historic real estate deal was consummated at the Gonzalez residence in Jaro, Iloilo City. Albeit silently, Andrew Tan himself and Raul Gonzlez Sr. inked the agreements that led to the final sale of the said property. Without fanfare, Tan and Gonzalez put Iloilo City on a trajectory that led to its unprecedented real estate boom.
As Megaworld City rises now, we, Ilonggos, have to remember that day. Although we cannot pin down exactly the date on which those two met in early part of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term, we still have to keep in mind that that particular footnote in our history catalyzed “growth” as we define it in our own language, bereft of any academic basis, but essentially factual based on our sensory appraisal of reality.
I remember sometime in 2001, I found myself face-to-face with then Senate President Frank Drilon in his Senate office. As an editor of “Philippine Star” at that time, I introduced myself to him as a reporter who was interested in the brewing controversy at that time in Iloilo City’s waterfront where the Espinosas, reportedly gaining notoriety for their mulcting activities against ship operators, are being booted out by the Special Action Force (SAF) and the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA).
“I am also an Ilonggo, sir and that is why I am also interested in this,” I said, adding that I was a friend of then PPA general manager Alfonso Cusi who asked me to see him because Cusi assigned me to liaise between the port agency and the other agencies of government that flushed the alleged “mulcters” out of the waterfront.
As soon as Senator Drilon signaled me to take the seat in front of his huge mahogany desk, he narrated how he had been receiving death threats from the Espinosas because of his support for that initiative to boot them out of what they had considered their territory for ages.
“As long as this is good for Iloilo City, I have to support even if we have to face these death threats,” Drilon said, adding that his assets in the intelligence community had already informed him that there was already a contract on his head. As he said that, he exuded sadness as if he knew something bad was going to happen to him.
It was at that time that I felt that the magnificent obsession of Senator Drilon was to clean up the Iloilo River. By starting to weed out the alleged extortionists from the waterfront, he felt he was initiating a process that would eventually cleanse the river of its “pollutants”.
“This will take a long process (of cleaning up the river) but we just have to be patient,” Drilon said. “Nothing as big as this initiative could be done overnight.”
At that juncture, I knew that Senator Frank Drilon supported our efforts in PPA to carry out the mission to start the process of ridding the waterfront of unsavory characters that marred the image of the city. I remember saying to myself as I walked out of his office that if a fellow Ilonggo as big as the Senate president was committed as I was to get a monumental job done, then it was already done before it started.
And that was the gist of my report to my friend Alfonso Cusi after that meeting – which I don’t think Drilon still remembers because the first time we met again at Hotel del Rio in 2011, he even asked me who I was, not recognizing me as that person he had met in his office in 2001.
It was the meeting that I had my first impression of Senator Drilon as an Ilonggo who loved Iloilo City more than his life. Why, he was even willing to face death threats and even death itself just to clean up the Iloilo River. Gifted with a foresight to see the inevitable, I knew then that Iloilo River was lucky to have a man who was committed to make it as beautiful as possible.
We, Ilonggos, then have to remember Senator Drilon every time we look at the Iloilo River now. He is the man who envisioned it to be where it is now. Simply clean and beautiful. Putting his money where his mouth is, he poured his pork barrel on projects that cleaned and beautified it. Thanks to him, along the river, we now have the Esplanade and the ferry terminal among other projects.
Yes, he was right when he said to me that such a herculean task could not be done overnight because 13 years after he uttered those words to me, Iloilo River has not yet completed the process of beautifying itself as nature has to cooperate with human efforts to hasten its growth and development; but it is definitely well on its way to becoming one of the most beautiful rivers in the world.
Taciturnity has made Cong. Jerry Treñas look like a do-nothing leader. But taking a closer look at his performance, we stumbled on this news item on the Internet:
“Last May 15, President Benigno S. Aquino III signed Republic Act No. 10555 or ‘An Act Declaring Jaro Cathedral, Molo Church, the Iloilo City Central Business District, Fort San Pedro, Jaro Plaza Complex, Molo Plaza Complex and Plaza Libertad Complex, All Located in Iloilo City as Cultural Heritage Tourism Zone’.
“The bill’s author, Rep. Jerry Treñas of the Lone District of Iloilo City, said the declaration will further enhance the city’s claim as a top cultural heritage destination of the country.”
Holy of holies, we owe then all the restoration of our heritage sites to Cong. Jerry Treñas without whom they would have stood forlornly in the quaint corners of our city, forgotten and, well, neglected. But thanks to this unassuming Ilonggo leader, our treasures from the past have been restored to their former glory.
These three are the real Ilonggo heroes. Although they have been the reasons why Iloilo City is where it is now, they remain quiet and humble, allowing history to just judge how much they have contributed to the development of our city. After all, that’s what legends are made of, they become more “legendary” when historians just discover them.
And, curiously, to digress from this column – and what a way to digress which often happens in the middle of a narrative not at the tail-end of it – after all is said and done, what has this twerp who claims to be the “world mayor” contributed to Iloilo City? He claims to be the catalyst of Megaworld City, Iloilo River development, and heritage sites restoration, falling short of claiming that he is the super hero that will lead Iloilo City to the Promised Land. Who or what is he? A pretender-to-the-throne? An impostor? A credit-grabber? A free-loader? Or a fly on top of a carabao?
What a hypocrite./PN
