Butch Bagabuyo “Leadership is an acoustical art.” – Dr. Leonard Sweet, TOMORROW, Thursday, 28th of April 2016, our city, I understand, will hear and see a debate between a summoned leader born and raised in our own City of Golden Friendship, Congressman Rufus Rodriguez and his vice mayoral teammate, Councilor Roger Abaday, against the dismissed transition City Mayor and his teammate, barangay kagawad Kikang Uy, an inexperienced legislator. Although the gravely ailing former mayor Vicente Y. Emano and his running mate, Vice Mayor Ian Acenas, are also among the debaters in tomorrow’s scheduled debate, as a practicing Catholic, I would rather limit this column between the two viable mayoral candidates in the coming local elections on May 9, 2016. Here’s my take: Any Kagay-anon worth his salt, can readily say without fear of contradiction that the dismissed transition Mayor Oscar S. Moreno suffers a wide, wide world of difference compared with Rodriguez based on the following criteria:
  • On academics, by this time, everybody knows in our city, Rodriguez was a consistent topnotch student from grade school to college and elsewhere while Moreno was just a so-so student all his life.
  • On morals, Rodriguez is happily married to one sweet and loving wife who is proud of her most affectionate and caring husband. And despite Rufus’ extraordinary achievements not only here but elsewhere, the couple in all humility chose to live in the ancestral home of their late parents Maximo Sr. and Martha Rodriguez. On the other side of the coin, Moreno is married kuno to a wealthy and beautiful wife named Arlene but apparently sleeps miserably and all alone by herself not in the conjugal bed but in another expensive mattress. According to my birdie at the City Hall, Moreno and his lawfully wedded wife live in an expensive type of a house--but not a home--in a subdivision somewhere in upper Carmen.
Undoubtedly, Kagay-anons have a perfect right to know the kind of leaders they have; hence, all elective public officials in our city are fair game to the public. Because morality is most important to Kagay-anons but may not be that important elsewhere, the natives like yours truly or those who have chosen to live here permanently or otherwise have the right to know even the most secret affairs of our servants in government be they dismissed and/or transition or even those brought to our city by the dismissed and transition mayor himself. But for lack of space and exhaustive examination, suffice it to say that dismissed transition Mayor Moreno is endlessly hounded by unpalatable morality issues affecting women in and out of city hall, married and otherwise. But to be fair with every Kagay-anon, you can all rest assure that yours truly will dig deeper into this topic in the succeeding issues. Due to space limitations, let us now touch of the main leadership issue. However, before doing so, permit me to quote Dr. Leonard Sweet of “Summoned to Lead” when he wrote: “When it comes to leadership, the senses are not born equal. Leadership has more to do with the ears than with the eyes. The significance of sound is the missing chord in the literature on leadership. What matters most is not the clarity of your eyes, but the charity of your heart and the clearness of your ears.” Believe you me, ever since I first saw the light of day, I have never ever met a person as hambuguero as Moreno. To give but one example of who is Mr. Moreno, here is the unblemished truth: his own bagman used to tell me that if you don’t want to be frustrated with Oca, stay out of talking sense or whatever suggestion you have in mind. Honestly, at first, I entertained the idea that Moreno’s trusted bagman may have been sour-grapping on some not so transparent deals, which according to my reliable informant, is a matter of public knowledge. Only yesterday afternoon, a columnist in one of the dailies in our city told me that at one time, he presented a modern and viable idea on waste disposal. They had partners who were big-time foreign businessmen. To make the long story short, the foreigners, after making two demonstrations by their technical people who were also foreigners but not accustomed to under the table transactions dropped the project and left the country exceedingly disgusted with Moreno. No wonder Oca has been dismissed by the Ombudsman for grave negligence and/or conduct detrimental to the interest of the public. On the other hand, consistent topnotch congressman Rodriguez is a near-perfect example of what a summoned leader has done: (1) constructed and repaired 900 classrooms at a minimum cost unlike the grossly overpriced classrooms built during the administration of Moreno. Rodriguez has also secured P80 million from the congressional fund and the Ched for scholarships and financial assistance to poor but deserving students. Mr. Rodriguez has also spent for his 11,250 scholars, and he has converted the Mindanao Polytechnic State College into a state university, now known as the Mindanao University of Science and Technology (Must), providing Kagay-anons a better public university in terms of infrastructure and quality education, a feat no one has ever done before in our City of Golden Friendship. This is all for now. Rufus harus pa more. Tsada, di ba?
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After writing three times a week for the past two years and counting, I would like to express my sincerest thanks and gratitude to all those who followed us all through out and helped us propagate the idea that only Davao Mayor Rodrigo “Super Digong” Roa Duterte is the last hope of our country for a true and meaningful change from the graft and corrupt prone system of governance to the federal form of government. And despite the unholy alliance of the ruling elite, the giant TV, radio and print corporations in Imperial Manila, the filthy rich and the trapos, the 22 teeming millions of poor and middle class Cebuano-speaking Filipinos spread all over the archipelago have succeeded in proving once more that no amount of money and political machinery can match the warm bodies of the long abused and bullied Mindanaoans. May I therefore ask you, my dear readers, and those who follow you to pray for continued safety and good health of the next president of our country. Duterte and Rufus Rodriguez pa more! Tsada, di ba?