Quenching Mindanao’s thirst

Butch Bagabuyo

“You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – Neil Simon

YEAR 2015 was the 50th year of Mindanao’s fist and only failed chance to produce a President in the person of a sure-winner if not, for principle, the late former Vice President Emmanuel “Maning” Pelaez. To us, Mindanaoans, and many Filipinos, Maning Pelaez was the best President the Philippines never had.

Instead and sadly, our country led by Imperial Manila and the filthy rich installed a brilliant dictator named Ferdinand E. Marcos who successfully solidified the three branches of our government and almost became King with a beautiful queen-in-the-making. But because God is good, wealth, guns and goons were silenced by the teeming millions of the poor, the deprived and the oppressed led by a reluctant housewife, who never dreamt of becoming President–but she turned out to be our most revered President to this day.

Unfortunately, however, the restoration of democracy in our country was superficial at best. In fact, in the last 29 years, greed continued to flourish, emboldened criminals, and instituted the culture of impunity. Ironically, “selective justice” cum prosperity only for the chosen few is presided by President Cory’s one and only son named after his martyred father, Benigno  Aquino.

Since 1935, the birth of Philippine Commonwealth, our country has elected 14 presidents. However, Imperial Manila and the filthy rich listed 15 presidents. And the first in the list is Emilio Aguinaldo, the suspected brains behind the murder of a poor freedom fighter named Andres Bonifacio. Thus far, the list of our presidents includes 12 from Luzon and three from the Visayas. Harshly, in a span of 80 years, no one from our paradise-like islands of Mindanao-Sulu-Palawan-Tawi-Tawi was ever given the opportunity to be President of our dear country.

Not that Mindanao lacks leaders and resources because we have more than what it takes to become a super power in the level of the Vatican city-state.

And because “opportunity knocks but once,” let us, Mindanaoans all and in harmony with the millions of the poor, the deprived and the oppressed Pinoys elsewhere, shout out loud: enough of Imperial Manila, the filthy rich and the trapos.

Now, the 6th day of 2016, let us start a countdown in unifying the south led by Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte with Sen. Alan Cayetano of the north to give the Team Duterte-Cayetano a stunning landslide victory from the President all the way down to the last municipal councilor.  Otherwise, debilitating greed shall continue to reign supreme in our benighted archipelago with  the highly suspicious digital dagdag-bawas a.k.a. PCOS in the unholy alliance with the OMR (Read them: President Cory’s Only Son and Oplan Mar Roxas).

Our battle cry shall be: complete change. Duterte-Cayetano, paglaum sa mga kabus nga Pilipino.

Tsada, di ba!

• •

“The purification of politics is an iridescent dream.” – Ingalls, Epigram

Because our city is the heart of the educational hub of Mindanao, Kagay-anons started, slowly but surely, the purification process of politics in the last local elections of 2013. And because we are a proud but not hambuguero people, we have forcefully kicked out of city hall the icon for arrogance cum ignorance, the former Mayor Vicente “Dongkoy” Emano. Undeniably, the landslide victory by an underdog was made possible by the uncommon bravery cum brilliance of the Rodriguez siblings–Congressman Rufus Rodriguez, his brother Congressman Maxie and sister Macasandig chairperson Bebot. Further, because we are unlike dismissed transition Mayor Oscar S. Moreno, we gave our local legislators the chance to redeem themselves but to no avail.

Undoubtedly, on May 9 this year, both dismissed transition Mayor Moreno and all the remaining clown-cilors of the disgraced and now gravely ailing former mayor Emano are all, without exception, going to be drowned and washed out of city hall just like the way they maltreated the poor victims of Sendong who are, to this day, without sufficient food and clothing in makeshifts, despite the existence of more than enough money from donations to build homes for the homeless.

The greatest majority of Kagay-anons are disillusioned and cynical over the nauseating blame game overplayed by both dismissed transition Mayor Moreno and the clown-cilors. And the voters of our city have had more than enough of the empty promises and the unabated greed shamelessly committed by Moreno and Dongkoy’s tentacles if not, clones who have callously enriched themselves in office far way beyond their legal means.

Starting this month, the poor Kagay-anons are earnestly fortifying ourselves so that on May 9, 2016, our most cherished dream of purifying politics and having a leader who religiously follow the footsteps of our wellespected and admired fathers of our city–the late Maning Pelaez, Nene Pimentel, Tenying Borja and Ben Canoy, the towering pillars of leadership cum action for the poor, without counting the cost, and ever faithful and true to their marriage vows of loving their respective wives and families–would win a landslide victory for all the members of team Robust Rufus Team Harus.

Tsada, di ba?