Politics is ruining us

Last week was the 32nd anniversary of the People Power Revolution. I can vividly recall that day as my late father Max Soliven, the late Betty Go-Belmonte and I were walking through the crowd of EDSA distributing newspapers to the people. We ended up in Camp Crame where my dad and Tita Betty met General Fidel Ramos in the Command Center. Of course nowadays, the crowd in EDSA has slowly diminished.

But a veteran and highly acclaimed writer, National Artist F. Sionil Jose whose love for country never fades wrote: There is no final word on history, or on the Marcos dictatorship and the EDSA Revolution that ended it other than the grim realities of the Marcos years – the thousands of Filipinos imprisoned, tortured and killed. One can never know for sure why Marcos declared martial law. Was it because he wanted vengeance on the oligarchs who insulted him? Was it a genuine desire to change the country? Or untrammeled greed? This is why Nick Joaquin’s A Question of Heroes is significant because in it Nick examines the character of our men of destiny and from there, explains why our history is what it is.

Thirty years ago this week, thousands of Filipinos amassed at EDSA – the squatters from the slums, the middle class and the radical chic from the gated enclaves. All braved possible death from the Marcos-controlled army but they persisted and Marcos, his family and close allies were forced to flee with American assistance to the US. The people power phenomena was enshrined as our country’s shining moment.

Thirty years later, our memory of the EDSA Revolution is dulled, even forgotten. The Marcoses are back in power, gloating over the credulity of the Filipino people, their amnesia. But my hope is that it is a legacy our young people will take to heart. And that we pass to them not only our memory of that glorious event but also the insights we gained from it and from the unhappy decades that followed. First, it takes more than people power to usher progress and hopefully, freedom. It also requires unity and iron commitment to this nation. Second, we must think, and realize that our fixation with so-called democratic institutions have not worked for the poor; democracy has not freed us from the tyranny and exploitation of our own elites. Third, we are our own worst enemies. We are shallow, hypocritical. We elect officials who we know are corrupt and/or are murderers. Marcos succeeded in gaining absolute power because many Filipinos collaborated with him. And finally, although from the distance in time EDSA seems wasted, it is not, if we remember and learn from it. As that doughty Sakdal leader, Salud Algabre, intoned in 1935 after the failure of the Sakdal revolt: “No revolution ever fails. Each is a step in the right direction.”

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Little did I know that the issue I wrote about San Antonio, Zambales would open a can of worms. I have received many calls, text messages and letters from community members of the town telling me unbelievable stories about the mayor and how she has allegedly exploited their environment. On the other hand, I received a series of messages from the mayor’s camp and a formal letter from the mayor herself. She was gracious enough to explain the dredging/ quarrying issue in her town and was excited to share how she has contributed to the development and protection of the town. I can’t seem to make heads or tails of this issue with the different voices of the community members and the mayor.

According to Mayor Estela Antipolo: Through the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Resolution No. 01, series recommending the immediate desilting and/or dredging of said river, the Municipal Government has consistently searched for ways to prevent the flooding of said affected areas.

With the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between Stargrade Aggregates Supply (Heritance Resources PTE LTD of Singapore) and Hon. Amor D. Deloso, Provincial Governor of Zambales, on the desilting/dredging of Pamatawan River in San Antonio, Zambales, and further, with Sangguniang Bayan Resolution Nos. 17-058 and 17-058A, signifying the Municipal Government’s interposing no objection to the project proposal of Stargrade Aggregates Supply to desilt/dredge/quarry Pamatawan River, there is finally a way to immediately address the perennial problem of flooding in the six affected barangays.

The proposal of Stargrade Aggregates Supply which entails the dredging of the Pamatawan River, at no cost to the Municipal Government, is a win-win situation for the people of San Antonio, as the proposal not only dredges Pamatawan River and minimizes floods, and Stargrade Aggregates Supply will also pay the Provincial Government which will later on give the Barangay and Municipal government shares for the extraction of the sand, which is actually lahar, brought about by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.

Did they state how much the payment or compensation will be? Clearly then, this desilting project is seemingly a permit for quarrying business for this company.

The mayor continued that after my column Threatened Communities came out last week, calling DENR, an immediate inspection was done by the Regional Director of DENR (Francisco Milla), the Regional Director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (Laudemir S.Salac), Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer (Atty. Marife Castillo), Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer of Zambales (Engr. Cesar Estrada). She said that the inspection “yielded no objection from the Regional and Provincial Officers.”

My first question is, does this project have an Environmental Compliance Certificate (or ECC)? ECC is a permit issued to protect not only the people in the community but also the environment and the safety of the people’s dwellings.

 How can the above officers yield no objection and conclude with finality when there are members of the community complaining about the project (particularly the land owner whose property was affected)? The ECC is a continuous process until the project is completed. If people complain, the project is halted first to ensure the safety and protection of the community. It will only resume when the concerns are properly addressed.

My second question is about the project itself. I received a copy of the Memorandum of Agreement with the Province of Zambales represented by Governor Atty. Amor Deloso and Stargrade Aggregates Supply giving authority to Stargrade “to dredge fifty million cubic meters (50,000,000 cu.m) of river-run materials.” Sanamagan! Do you know how big this volume of sand is equivalent to? Think of a building with ten floors on a 5,000 square meter lot. The volume of sand is estimated to be equivalent to 300 buildings. The area to be desilted cum quarried is about 2.6 hectares. Where will all that sand go? To Singapore? This volume can create a small island. And what will happen to the properties around Pamatawan River? Will they eventually sink? I thought they were just dredging the river to open the mouth to stop the flooding? This does not seem like a protection to the community. What are you doing to your Municipality Madam Mayor?

Paging DENR Secretary Cimatu and the Senators. I think you should also stick your noses in quarrying projects in Zambales (and other parts of the country) not only in Boracay. You will surely realize that as we fight to protect our islands, some local governments may be selling theirs to build other islands in foreign lands.  So, yes, you got it – what will be left of ours?