Is there no one else?

Jesse Robredo (photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)

In the popular movie Troy, Achilles (played by Brad Pitt) taunted the Trojans after he vanquished Hector by bellowing: Is there no one else?

Today, many Filipinos may be asking the same question.

The remains of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo have yet to be buried.  However, this did not seem to stop influence peddlers and lobbyists to work for their ‘manoks’ (favored persons) as possible successors.

Former President Estrada (photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)

In today’s news, former President Joseph Estrada was quoted as saying he will respect whatever decision President Benigno Aquino III makes in choosing the next Interior Secretary.  In almost the same vein, he dropped the name of Vice President Jejomar Binay, current head of the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund).  Binay was Estrada’s running mate in the 2010 general elections; Binay expressed very strong interest in the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) post before he was appointed to Pag-IBIG.

Vice President Jejomar Binay

Estrada was further quoted that Binay is already doing well as Pag-IBIG chairman and is needed by the agency.

Mr. Estrada:  if Binay is doing well and is needed in Pag-IBIG, why make these statements?  Trial balloons?

Another name being bruited about is Senator Panfilo Lacson, who will lose his job next year.

Senator Panfilo Lacson

Wala na bang iba?

Is there no one else?

Robredo’s death presents two related problems for President Aquino.

The first one is to appoint his replacement.

The second, a more difficult one, is to appoint somebody who surpasses or just approximates the integrity, intensity, and quiet industry of Robredo.

If not, the nation will not confirm his replacement.

Jesse Manalastas Robredo and Luis Robredo Villafuerte Sr.

Jesse M. Robredo

I  have a small story about Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, whose death was officially announced yesterday after his body was brought up from the depths off Masbate island.

I have a big story about his nemesis, Luis Villafuerte Sr., currently serving his third term as representative of the 3rd district of Camarines Sur province.

Camarines Sur province

 

 

I met and interviewed Robredo in 1998 when he was mayor of Naga City.  I was then commissioned by the Associates for Rural Development (ARD), in turn commissioned by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to do a ‘rapid field appraisal’ (RFA) of several local governments within the Philippines.  Specifically, I was tasked to find out if the local government units (LGUs) were able to avail of the Local Government Code’s provisions for innovative fund raising.

 

 

 

Robredo and his city administrator shared that while Naga City was affected by the decision of then President Joseph Estrada to withhold a percentage of internal revenue allocations (IRA) across the board, the city still did well.  They then told me of plans to build a new public market-cum-transport terminal for Naga City.

 

Luis R. Villafuerte Sr. (LRV)

Naga City public market

 

 

I met Villafuerte, fondly called LRV, earlier in 1976.  Through a friend, I got my first job at the Bancom Group, Inc., the holding company of the Bancom corporations.  Or so I thought.  I noted that something was not in order because I reported to work at the Villafuerte, Zamora, and Associates, at the Solid Mills Building in front of the Makati Medical Center instead of the Bancom Building along Pasay Road.

Our group was soon organized as the Media Systems, Inc., and its first project was to publish the “Investment Banking in the Philippines” book in time for the joint annual conference of the International Monetary Fund and the World to be held for the first time in the country.

LRV was a feisty and demanding boss with very little appetite for niceties.  Through the grapevine, we heard that the formation of Media Systems meant the final divorce between LRV and Sixto K. Roxas (SKR).  The two were considered to be key to the rise of Bancom Development Corporation (BDC), the first merchant bank of the Philippines.  SKR was considered the visionary while LRV was the operations man.  LRV will soon ridicule SKR as “strutting around as if he was God’s gift to finance” in his newspaper column.  After the publication of the investment banking book, I left Media Systems and rejoined Bancom as a member of its corporate research group.  There was not much space in the Bancom building so we had our offices in SKR’s personal library.

Ok, ok, ok.  I am writing this blog post also because the epal and papansin (calling attention to oneself) remarks of a member of the Commission on Appointments.  While the whole nation was in grief and praising Robredo, this person (who is better not named) quipped:  We have been deprived of the honor of confirming his appointment.  He then raised the possibility that Robredo’s confirmation be done posthumously.

The response of many: why wait until he dies before Robredo gets confirmed?  Why was he not confirmed in the first place?  After all, he has been in office for two years.

The short answer to these questions: LRV.  A member of the Commission on Appointments has veto power.  By himself, he can block the confirmation of a Cabinet member.

LRV is the uncle of Jesse.  According to Juan Escandor Jr. of the Philippine Daily Inquirer  Southern Luzon Bureau, LRV worked for the appointment of Jesse as chief of the Asian Development Bank-funded Bicol River Basin Development Project (BRBDP) and prepared him for Naga’s mayoral post.  In 1988, Jesse was elected the youngest ever Naga City mayor.

Escandor continues: Both parted ways in 1992 elections with Villafuerte fielding his sister Pura Luisa Villafuerte-Magtuto against Robredo.  Robredo made such a mark in Naga City politics making him the only political leader here whose handpicked local candidates all won in the elections without let-up since 1992, including the local elections in 2010, for seven consecutive elections.  The cause of the quarrel between uncle and nephew?  Robredo supported Fidel Ramos in his presidential bid against Ramon Mitra whom Villafuerte supported.

 

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION ON APPOINTMENTS: SPARE US YOUR ATTENTION-GRABBING ANTICS!

JESSE MANALASTAS ROBREDO DOES NOT NEED YOUR CONFIRMATION.

HE IS IN A BETTER PLACE NOW.

HE IS NOW FULLY CONFIRMED IN OUR HEARTS!

HIS PLACE IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY IS SECURE AND CONFIRMED.