Butch Bagabuyo “One cannot know everything.” – Horace “From listening comes wisdom, and from speaking, repentance.” – Italian proverb KUDOS to the Rotary Club Kalayaan CDO headed by Netnet Camomot for a well-organized affair known as the the “Final Debate” among the mayoral and vice mayoral candidates in our city. As a consistent winner in all debates all my life, I can say without fear of contradiction that the six-issue debate among the three mayoral bets was a rout if not, lopsided victory in favor of perennially voted  by prestigious organizations as outstanding Rep. Rufus Rodriguez. Further, it is common knowledge that among the three contenders for the mayoral race, only Rodriguez is the consistent topnotcher in studies from grade school up to college, thereafter and continuing to this very day. Although the debate was a three-cornered fight among the three viable bets for the city’s top elective position, I would limit my findings on the performance during the debate between dismissed transition Mayor Oscar Moreno, formerly of Balingasag, Misamis Oriental, and Rodriguez because I find it disrespectful if not, un-christian, to comment on the performance of one who is gravely sick  just as I also refuse to make any comment on the presidential candidate who is a Stage 4 cancer-stricken candidate. This is my take on the answers given by the two mayoral candidates during the debate:
  • In all the six issues--peace and order, criminality, drugs, public markets in Cogon and Puerto, waste disposal at the present landfill, traffic woes, excessive taxes, Moreno was consistent on the blaming the city council for all his blatant failures. On this score, Moreno got the ire of the crowd in attendance and was persistently booed. Consequently, Moreno looked more like a boxer who had been on receiving a beating with rights and lefts and was about to be knocked out.
  • Rodriguez presented his wellesearched agenda despite lack of material time given to the debaters by the organizers of the debate.
  • When Moreno was asked how come he chose a treasurer who hails from Quezon City when Cagayan de Oro has a population of over 700,000 residents with abundant supply of professionals who excel in their respective fields of endeavors, instead of answering the fair and square question, Mr. Moreno chose not to answer head-on why he appointed the treasurer coming from outside our city. Instead, Moreno talked about efficient collection even as his predecessor failed to collect taxes resulting in huge debts by the city from various financial institutions and other irrelevant answers so much so that he got the loudest boo of the night for his irrelevant and damning self-inflicted tell-tale.
  • On the issue of why Moreno allowed chaos and confusion in our public markets such as leasing the public markets to Taiwanese and Chinese businessmen when public markets are precisely built to give our residents a common market area for the poor, and on why he allowed the Taiwanese and the Chinese to rent the stalls much cheaper than our own residents, Moreno, the clearly inexperienced debater and litigation lawyer who lacks practice, blamed his favorite whipping boys, the councilors belonging to the Padayon Pilipino. So on rebuttal question, Rodriguez asked Moreno why he did not cancel and/or terminate the lease contract when it was definitely dis-advantageous to the city. Moreno quickly deflected the question and cited the build-operate-transfer contract which, according to him, is not easy to terminate.
  • Wanting, perhaps, to score a pogi point from the listening public, he pointed out that he has a vast experience as an executive because he served three consecutive terms as governor of Misamis Oriental and is now the incumbent mayor of Cagayan de Oro. However, Rodriguez forthrightly demolished and turned to pieces the former’s self-serving arguments on his claim that he has expertise as an executive. Rodriguez defended himself and mentioned the fact that his record as a Immigration commissioner remained untainted by any charge of graft and corruption, and his being the dean of the San Sebastian Law College from 1990 to 1998 is another sterling example of executive competence. And to bolster his executive abilities, Rodriguez narrated in brief his well-prepared 10-point agenda: health, education, youth, culture and sports, employment and livelihood, dwelling, government, tourism and disaster risk management, transparency and accountability, cleanliness and waste management, traffic management, peace and order, and, infrastructure.
Rufus Rodriguez and Harus team pa more. Tsada, di ba?
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“The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.” These are the important words of a great US President in 1801. And such concern remains true to this day. But there are disturbing signs that the ruling elite, the filthy rich and the trapos of our country are trembling in fear so much so that they are doing their worst in making certain a status quo, and that they would remain our lord and master through the use of the digital-dagdag bawas now known as the VCM (Victorious Count for Mar). Now that our man, Davao Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte, is leading towards a home run or an unstoppable landslide victory on May 9, 2016, we, the warm bodies supporting Duterte-Cayetano, should not be complacent. I humbly suggest that the PDP-Laban legal team, the official political party of our man, “Super Digong” Duterte, handle the Trillanes lies and the fraudulent concoctions spawned by the ruling elites and the political dynasties of Aquino-Cojuangco tandem as well as the others. In the meantime, our various volunteer groups in the entire country should already mobilize our warm bodies and come ready to occupy the Luneta and all the other plazas in our archipelago starting May 7 and all the way to May 9, 2016. By so doing, we would be disarming those mulling to cheat. And it would also embolden our brothers, sisters and LGBTs who are now arming themselves to ensure that cheating will be completely stopped. Duterte-Cayetano pa more. Tsada, di ba?