Optimism is in the air in Zamboanga city

It was exactly a week ago when former Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. arrived in Cebu City and went straight to our MyTV Studio because he accepted my invitation for him to kick off our plan to help educate Filipinos on the benefits of a Federal system of governance. I dare say that I got more than what I bargained for, especially that Nene Pimentel came up with a pamphlet entitled, “Balancing the Distribution of Government Powers.” He distributed this pamphlet so now we have good material to help educate our people about Federalism.

Then last Tuesday, Nene Pimentel spoke on a Forum for Federalism at the jam-packed Madrid Room of the Casino Español. I had a MyTV videographer take a video footage of that presentation and this forms the backbone of MyTV’s Federalism Hour, which will be shown Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 4:00PM to 5:00PM and later at 11:00PM. Then we also show it on Sunday at 12:00 noon so our televiewers would never miss seeing this very thorough presentation.  

So watch this highly interesting and educational show on Federalism as explained by former Sen. Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel, Jr. on SkyCable’s channel 61 at 8:00PM tonight with replays on Wednesday and Saturday. We also have replays on MyTV channel 30 at 9:00PM tonight and at 7:00AM and 9:00PM respectively on Wednesday and Friday.

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ZAMBOANGA CITY – I’m in this city known for its flowers, the city where I had my honeymoon eons ago when I got married. This is my second trip to Mindanao since the election of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte because I wanted to find out the pulse of our major cities in Mindanao. Three days after the May 9 elections, I flew to Cagayan de Oro to firm up my contract with Parasat Cable for MyTV channel 28. As I reported a few weeks back, I could sense a great air of optimism with the people in Cagayan de Oro because a son of Mindanao is now elevated to the presidency of the Philippines. This never happened before.

Well, last Friday, our new motorcycle club, the Road Brothers took a trip to Zamboanga City via Dipolog City upon the invitation of my nephew, Mr. Geo Tan, the son-in-law of my brother Architect Bing Avila. We had 12 other brother riders who took the ferry, “Our Lady of Good Voyage,” of Medallion Transport from the Port of Cebu to Dipolog City. This vessel was filled to the rafters with passengers and to think there wasn’t any huge fiestas that anyone was celebrating. The cargo hold was filled with vehicles that we had some difficulty placing our motorcycles.

When we got in Dipolog City, we took a quick breakfast in Jollibee then we were off for the 300-plus run to Zamboanga City. Yes, the reason why we ride to Mindanao is because of their great roads. But as usual, DPWH had some roads were being fixed, so this slows us down. This is not to mention that it rained hard when we got near the town of Ipil (this was the town that the Abu Sayyaf burned in the mid-90’s) which is halfway to Zamboanga City. In Ipil, lunch was in Jollibee again.

Nope, Jollibee didn’t’ sponsor our ride, but it was the fastest food we could find so we could continue with our journey without delay. It was around 1:30PM when we got into Ipil and the Jollibee outlet was filled with customers. Finally we arrived in Zamboanga at around 4:30PM, and we got snarled in bad traffic in the last 10-kilometers at the Ma. Clara Lobregat Highway. When a place has traffic jam, it can only mean one thing - business is brisk in the area. We stayed in the residence of Mrs. Pilar Tan who feted us with Zamboanga’s seafood delicacies, oysters, prawns and churacha. Unfortunately, I cannot eat these foods except fish. Her brother Dr. George and Dr. Filipinas Rojo also came to entertain us.

I called an old friend, businessman Mr. Edward Chiong who came to see me for a chat, and we talked about the political and the business situation in Zamboanga City. From what I heard, my good friend Celso Lobregat won his congressional bid, while Ma. Isabelle “Beng” Climaco of the Liberal Party won as mayor of Zamboanga City. But the people of Zamboanga rooted for Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. After all, as I already pointed out, he is the only son of Mindanao to win the presidency of the Philippines and while we still saw many checkpoints along the way, Zamboanga can certainly reap the benefits of peace in Mindanao. With the prospect of a Mindanao Railway that President Duterte will push through, the 300-plus-road trip from Dipolog to Zamboanga City can certainly be a great boon for business in Zamboanga City. Indeed, optimism is in the air in Zamboanga City.

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