Dongkoy’s ‘greatest hits’

By Cong Corrales

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”— George Santayana, The Life of Reason (1905)

EVER since 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez announced that he will be joining the fray for city mayor next year, social media have been abuzz on how this declaration would virtually ensure erstwhile kingpin Vicente “Dongkoy” Emano’s return to city hall.

While this theory may hold water, I believe it may not hold enough. I do not believe that Kagay-anons suffer from memory loss. I offer Kagay-anons one word to jog their memory: “Sendong.” But that’s getting ahead of what I want to say.

As a public service, let me count the ways, so to speak, the many incidents Kagay-anons had to endure under his absolute regime in the city, from his maudlin excuses to the macabre decisions. However, we’ll have to limit our list to hizzoner’s “greatest hits,” lest we run out of column space.

He does not have a sense, let alone respect, to local history and culture. In 1999, Dongkoy bulldozed Huluga to build a P635-million road and bridge on it. My igso Elson Elizaga wrote in his blog: “The project was stopped in 2001 when the Department of Environment and Natural Resources… issued a cease-and-desist order. But, unknown then to HCA (Heritage Conservation Advocates), it was lifted and the project continued in 2002, even though the project had no Archaeological Impact Assessment and was, and remains, illegal.”

He turned the monument of Andres Bonifacio in Divisoria into a flea market with his “Night Cafe.” This is a blatant insult to the Kagay-anon Katipuneros whose bones are buried at the base of Supremo’s monument.

There’s his dismal performance or the lack of it, as the city’s vice mayor. He could very well be the worst vice mayor in the Philippines having presided over the city council only twice in his three-year term. I’ll let you sink that in for a minute. His default excuse for his absences was that hizzoner was “attending more important matters.” When you’re the vice mayor, what could possibly be more important than presiding over the city council?

After his calculated stint as vice mayor—in order to get around the term limit rule—Dongkoy returned with a vengeance as city mayor from 2010 to 2013 by allowing ambulant vendors to be pretty much wherever they want.

He has been known to be a vindictive leader, often booting out employees who he deems not totally loyal to him. He usually brushes aside criticisms, no matter how legitimate they are, as “politically motivated” and no Kagay-anon will forget his signature “Pag mayor sa ‘mo” retort to almost any issue thrown at him.

By announcing that a bombing that kills less than five persons is not an act of terrorism, Emano cemented his insensitive nature to the general public.

Now we come to the piéce de résistance: The Sendong tragedy of 2011. Despite a geohazard map identifying riverine communities and river deltas as “highly prone” to flooding, for the sake of getting votes—to ensure his Marcosian rule over the city—Emano encouraged people to continue living there with his onerous “piso-piso settlement program.”

His stamp-pad city council even passed a resolution allocating funds for the electrification of the riverine communities and river deltas plus water service connection.

One of the reasons that exacerbated the Sendong tragedy was the mining operations in our city’s hinterland barangays. Let’s not forget that he was the one who issued the permit of Cekas Mining Corp. that recently destroyed some five hectares in one of our upland barangays. He even bypassed DENR’s Mining and Geosciences Bureau.

And the height of his insensitivity—he ordered the transfer of decomposing corpses of Sendong flash flood victims to the city’s dumpster in Zayas, Carmen because, according to him, city hall had no place to put the bodies on.

If you are still convinced hizzoner can stage a successful comeback, there’s the midterm elections in 2013 where Emano lost even in his own polling precinct in Gusa.

Remember that we have only limited our recollection of Dongkoy’s 15-year regime to his “greatest hits.” If you still think that Rodriguez joining the mayoral race will be Emano’s ticket to take back city hall, then perhaps you are the only one suffering from memory loss.

With that, maybe you do deserve each other.