By ROMMEL YNION
WHAT’S the fuss all about? I mean, this thing that has littered the Internet with impassioned pleas to extol a city mayor to high heavens on the basis of his achievements. Tempted to foray into it, I squeezed my brain for testimonial juices that could help add to the cacophony of it all.
It took me hours to pin down at least one thing that this city mayor has contributed to Iloilo City, but I couldn’t think of any. Oh, please Lord, have mercy on my brain. Can you help me, please, my dear God Almighty? No matter how hard I try to attribute even just one thing, yes, just even one tiny little thing, I still can’t get a grip on anything.
Mayor “Juday” Mabilog has done something unprecedented in the entire history of local politics: Extolling himself to high heavens as God’s anointed one to save a city from eternal damnation. Imbued with a messianic complex, he thinks of himself as the only one who brought God’s blessings to all of us, his poor little subjects.
I have seen cities all over this archipelagic country and even all over the world, but I have never seen a city mayor owning up to everything that doesn’t belong to him. Married to a woman who hails from Cebu City, I have witnessed how “normal” Cebuano mayors have been. No one of them claimed to be the only reason why their city morphed into a portrait of “progress”.
I have also been to New York City and I haven’t seen nor heard their mayor claim that he was the reason why because of entrepreneurial activities, his city never sleeps. “Normal” as they are, they know that whatever development their city has is just the cumulative effect of generational “inputs” from all sectors of society.
Entrepreneurism is a many splendored thing. These gung-ho creatures, called entrepreneurs, have within them qualities that have separated them from other human beings: Their ability to have faith in what is not yet seen by their naked eyes.
Take, for instance, Andrew Tan’s purchase of that vast tract of land in Mandurriao where the old Iloilo Airport once stood. That real estate mogul never knew Iloilo City from Adam. But over 10 years ago, just after a nobody named Mabilog lost in running for councilor (yes, that twerp ran for councilor in 2001 and lost), Megaworld, represented by Tan himself, bought that land on the basis of his friendship of then Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr.
What crossed this taipan’s mind in buying it at that time was, of course, a matter of conjecture. But he just bought it, promising that after his Resort’s World in Pasay City was finished, he would foray into Iloilo City. And, by the way, have we heard the Pasay city mayor claim that Megaworld came to his city because of him? Entrepreneurs are just like that. They mold environments. Environments don’t mold them.
How can Mabilog claim to be the reason why investors came here because of him when they were all here in Iloilo City long before Ilonggos got wind of his malevolent presence in our political firmament? This gal is sick in the head. SM City was already here in the ‘80s. Ayalas were already here before he became a councilor. Megaworld was already here when he was just a vice mayor. Question: who are these investors that he brought to our city? For crying out loud, mayor, please answer me!
And, oh, please God Almighty, save us again from the eternal fires of deception, one of which is Mabilog’s claim that he alone was responsible for the rehabilitation of the Iloilo River. There is nothing that is farther from the truth. This is totally one big lie.
As I wrote in my earlier column, as early as 2001, as editor of Philippine Star, I interviewed then Senate President Frank Drilon inside his own Senate office and in that interview, I myself heard from the Big Man himself that his magnificent obsession was to rehabilitate the Iloilo River.
But misfortune interfered with his efforts especially after that Hyatt 10 brouhaha that threatened the political survival of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. And so, Senator Frank shelved his initiative to rehabilitate the river, pending the restoration of his political stature to its former glory.
After President Aquino rose to power and the Big Man became Senate president once again and a political kingpin of Iloilo City, I was not surprised he immediately hit the proverbial ground running, mobilizing everything geared towards the rehabilitation of the Iloilo River. So, in heaven’s name, please tell me now, mayor, what role you played or what contribution you made to this particular development?
Another bunch of lies springing from the mouth of this mayor is that he is the only one who restored the heritage buildings in Iloilo City. Yes, the image he is trying to project is that he “alone” did it all, to the exclusion of everybody else. Hasn’t he even learned that it was Cong. Jerry Treñas who authored the law that ensure the survival and restoration of these heritage sites? Again, in God Almighty’s name, can you please tell me, mayor, what role you played in this except for being a foreman for construction and painting works?
Oh, yes, if all these were construction projects, then Mayor Mabilog would just be the foreman in charge of orchestrating construction workers to get the job done. Ah, then, we have at last pinned down his role in everything here. He has just been a point man, a triggerman, and yes, a foreman. And in that sense, he has been a good one. But, to say that he is the end-all and be-all of everything is balderdash.
To cut this long discourse short, Mabilog is not what he claims to be. He claims to be a leader when he is just a manager – and an incompetent one at that considering the rising criminality, floods, power crisis, corruption, among others. He claims to be a visionary when he is just a “photo bomber” interfering with the pictures of others’ accomplishments behind the scenes. In the final analysis, he is nothing then but a farce.
May God have mercy on Iloilo City./PN
