Duterte robbed in Congress

I never thought I would see the day and write about how our tough guy President Rodrigo Duterte got “Held-up” at the House of Representatives. The bad part is that he got “Held-up” and then got robbed all in the same afternoon.

Most people who watched the coverage of the 2018 SONA all know about how the leadership Coup caused an embarrassing and unexpected delay of the day’s proceedings. As a result, the President’s State of the Nation Address got held up for nearly an hour and a half. During all that, President Duterte reportedly had to play referee and make a Solomonic decision for Speaker Bebot Alvarez to continue as Speaker of the House and officiate over the SONA alongside Senate President Tito Sotto. The Senate President has been quoted as saying that President Duterte wanted to walk out but was prevailed upon to simply perform his constitutional duty. The question being asked yesterday was: Where was the PLLO or Presidential Legislative Liaison Officer Adelino B. Sitoy?

According to past PLLO officials, Sitoy should have been in the know about the impending Coup in Congress and should have advised the President to stay in Malacañang until the leadership issue was finally and officially resolved. As the PLLO, it is expected of him to be entrenched with the key leaders and even the rebel forces among the members of Congress in order to be effective and well informed. Perhaps Sitoy may have done his job, may be he didn’t. But what is clear now is that the whole thing unduly detained the President and took the thunder out of his SONA.

Aside from being held-up from delivering his report, the President was also robbed of the privilege and right to proclaim “Mission Accomplished!” as he planned on announcing that the BBL or BangsaMoro Organic Law was passed. Unfortunately, Alvarez and associates in their attempt to head off and block the rebels from taking his speakership prematurely adjourned the session and prevented Congress from passing the center piece, the crown jewel of the 2018 SONA. Accidental or not, Alvarez will have only himself to blame for “stealing the thunder” from President Duterte.

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So how did the rebel forces convince the President to stay neutral in their fight against the Barakos of Congress? Aside from the Sara Duterte factor, a Malacañang veteran claims that the President was either briefed or knew about questionable or controversial issues hurled at Congress for sometime. First was the dubious law passed by Congress giving favorable tax benefits or advantage to Mighty Cigarette Corp. The dubious bill did not save Mighty after President Duterte told the company to pay its tax arrears leading to the eventual sale of the company. That controversial bill led to allegations that certain congressmen received a fantastic Christmas bonus. This was followed with a reported shake down of Resorts World Manila who after the shooting and burning incident was investigated by Congress and was threatened with confiscation of their Casino license, forcing “someone” to roll the dice with certain players. That someone apparently managed to send word to the President and informed him of the stiff “re-entry fee.” And last on the list was the accommodation given to the mining industry by congress when they ousted Gina Lopez as DENR Secretary. On at least one occasion, President Duterte took a swipe and hinted his suspicion as to why Gina Lopez was rejected by the Commission on Appointments particularly by the very rabid and vocal members of Congress. As they say: “Where there is smoke – there is fire” and in the three cases provided by my source the smoke was thick enough to send signals for probable cause to the number 1 Lawyer in Malacañang!

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Of all the things President Duterte spoke of in his 2018 SONA, the thing I support the most would be his call to Congress to pass a genuine and workable “National Land Use Act” that will equitably and justly designate specific lands for specific purpose and protect them from encroachment, politically or financially motivated reclassification, and insure that we have enough land area devoted to competing needs particularly agricultural lands for our food security.

Such a law would certainly slow down the illegal conversion of agricultural lands to economic or export processing zones as well as commercial and residential zones often instigated by local government officials and councils intent on increasing real estate taxes. Previous mayors and city councils in Lipa City have done exactly that to the point of trying to ban or force out pre-existing small farms to force owners to sell out to developers of residential villages and commercial centers!

Ideally, the Department of Agriculture along with the Congressional and Senate Committee on Agriculture should work on the passage of a law that would protect pre-existing piggeries, poultry and livestock farms from being the subject of complaints or harassment by City Hall or homeowners associations who only migrated and built up much later than the farms. Why is it that in Metro Manila LGUs don’t or won’t remove or phase out factories and warehouses that have been in their location long before residential or commercial development crept in.

In addition to the priority request of President Duterte for a National Land Use Act, Congress should also study the real need for LGUs to develop and submit a zoning plan based on actual developments and structures. Much like what has happened to Boracay, many LGUs don’t have an actual plan for development and zoning and slowly but surely towns and cities outside Metro Manila have started to get congested with very poor and limited access and mobility and no long term plans for water, sanitation etc. It’s Build Build Build but with no rules or anyone in-charge. After Boracay, the government, DILG, DENR and Congress should focus on urban development and management.

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