Visayas Republic: It’s no joke

There were criticisms against the plan of the Visayas governors to put up the Republic of the Visayas should President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo be forcibly ousted from Malacañang.

The proposal was taken up in the July 14 meeting of the Visayas governors in Cebu City with Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia declaring that the provincial executives of the region are serious in establishing the Visayas Republic.

They even set up a technical working group to study the mechanics of the proposed republic.

Immediately that was greeted with skepticism by some quarters. Valladolid (Negros Occidental) Mayor Ricardo Presbitero, head of the Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino and the Konsiensya ng Bayan, immediately called it a ploy to allow President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to hold on to her besieged presidency.

"What we need at this time is to re-examine our conscience because we really look bad supporting a President who cheated her way in the last elections and who has misgoverned the country. Our moral values have eroded because we can no longer distinguish right from wrong," Presbitero added.

Rodolfo Parreno of the FPJ Movement Negros called the plan a typical knee-jerk reaction to the present situation that the country is facing. He even added that it means that if we would secede from the country, we would just be under imperial Cebu instead of imperial Manila.

He further declared that the move is unconstitutional and that those responsible could be liable for rebellion.

Correspondingly, Rep. Emilio Macias II (second district, Oriental Negros) called it "a joke." He said it is aimed to prevent GMA from stepping down from office. It could just be their expression of support for President Arroyo, Macias added.

Senate President Franklin Drilon also said the move was contrary to the Constitution. He called it "political noise."

Serious, Not A Joke

Antique Gov. Salvacion Zaldivar-Perez, chairwoman of the Western Visayas Regional Development Council, however, stressed that "we will form the separate republic if the President is ousted through extra-legal and unconstitutional means."

Oriental Negros Gov. George Arnaiz, however, riposted last Wednesday, according to Juancho Galarde of the Visayas Daily Star, that the 13 governors of the Visayas are serious in their plan to push through with the proposed republic if GMA is busted through extra-constitutional means.

The governors, he added, will start consulting their constituents on the proposal.

Negros Occidental Vice Gov. Isidro Zayco said the provincial governors and officials of the Visayas region are having a socio-economic and political summit with businessmen to discuss again the proposed republic in Cebu on Aug. 21.

Zayco added that he earlier had asked Gov. Joseph Marañon whether he should sign the resolution and the provincial executive gave him the go-signal.

Zayco said he finds the proposal viable, citing the case of the city-state of Singapore. He rattled off on dyRL Mercado Publiko the many resources of the region.

Zayco added that the proposal for a separate republic gained momentum after the Visayas officials saw the seriousness of Mindanao officials in putting up a Mindanao republic.

Last week, Mindanao officials, spearheaded by North Cotabato Gov. Manny Piñol and Bukidnon Gov. Jose Zubiri, held a summit where they aired the gripes of Mindanao against the constricting grip of imperial Manila.

Piñol stressed that the move was not for President Arroyo but to articulate the complaints of Mindanaoans about their second-class treatment from Manila. Zubiri rattled off what he considers were incidents of Mindanaoans being discriminated on their shares of taxes paid by Mindanao-based multinationals which pay the central government in Manila.

Officials of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations (Confed) Negros-Panay chapter, led by Luis Tongoy, earlier had cited the constitution of the Federal Cantonal Republic of Negros in 1898 which was approved in a plebiscite for the purpose after the successful bloodless revolution against Spain.

The Negros Republic did not align itself with the Malolos Republic. That, however, was brushed aside by the then military government of the United States of America.

That, it was pointed out, could be cited as a precedent of the proposed Republic of the Visayas.

Iloilo, Capiz Mayors To Attend SONA

Thirty mayors of Iloilo were reportedly invited to attend the State of the Nation Address of the President on Monday. These are the local executives who remain supportive of President Arroyo.

Then, there was the report that Capiz mayors were also going to attend the SONA.

No word has been received yet about the mayors of Negros Occidental, Aklan and Antique.

The mayors of Negros Occidental, who belong to the United Negros Alliance by a preponderant majority, have expressed their support for GMA. This, despite the fact that the UNA executives led Gov. Marañon had thrown their support for presidential bet Fernando Poe Jr.

Incidentally, this writer made an oversight in failing to cite the Panay News as the source of a quote of Rep. Joeben Miraflores (Aklan) upholding Senate President Drilon’s call for the President’s resignation during a meeting of the Tibyog it Aklan.

Another source, who also attended the Tibyog it Aklan, meeting also misquoted Miraflores.

Miraflores corrected the misquotation and stressed that he is for a constitutional process, stressing that he adopts the same position of Sen. Mar Roxas "who has stated that he is not joining those who are calling for the resignation of the President but is advocating the constitutional process to be resorted to."

Now, back to the Iloilo mayors. According to Vice Gov. Roberto Armada, Speaker Jose de Venecia was the one who invited the Iloilo mayors to the SONA.

Well, that means that a lot of local executives, the backbone of GMA’s support, may fill up the seats of the Batasang Pambansa. But there was something new in the invitation to the Iloilo mayors. This was the mention of "Cebu City" as the site of the SONA. That may have been a mistake, but it is intriguing.

Fishkill

It’s not only in Luzon where massive fishkills reportedly have alarmed local executives and fishery officials.

In Negros Occidental, Gov. Marañon also called the attention of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to investigate immediately fishkills noticed by fishermen of Valladolid and San Enrique towns last July 11.

Marañon has informed DENR regional director Celso Loriega Jr. that dead fish of different species had drifted along the coastal waters of San Enrique and Valladolid.

In Guimaras, fishkills have also been noted in the coastal waters of Sibunag and San Lorenzo since June 21.

Provincial agriculturist Igmedio Tabianan said Guimaras Gov. JC Rahman Nava has ordered a probe and their initial suspect as the cause of the fishkill are the wastes from the Distilleria de Bago.

However, Laura Jaramilla, DBI human resources and services manager, said they have not observed any fishkill in the communities near the plant. She pointed out that they would be the first to be affected if the wastes from the plant were the culprit.

This was the same observation of Valladolid Mayor Presbitero.

Anyway, whatever it was that slaughtered the schools of fish must immediately be pinpointed by DENR experts. Fishermen are already going hungry because of the fishkills.

Now, it’s also the vice mayor

As previously reported, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia is the subject of a recall petition which Bacolod Comelec register Mavil Majarucon has forwarded to the Comelec in Manila.

Last Wednesday, Leonardia filed a petition with motion to dismiss because the petitioners reportedly failed to comply with certain provisions of Comelec Resolution No. 7505.

Now, it turns out that there is also an ongoing recall petition against Vice Mayor Renecito Novero. Leonardia himself cited reports that 40,000 signatures have been gathered for the recall of Novero who is now in the United States.

Both Novero and Leonardia ran under opposing camps.

So it looks like the national situation is being actually replicated in the local level. And there seems to be no end to partisan politics.