Lawmakers say: Arroyo softens stand on Southcom transfer

ZAMBOANGA CITY — President Arroyo may have softened her stand on her order to transfer the Armed Forces Southern Command (Southcom) headquarters to Pulacan, Zamboanga del Sur following the series of House hearings on the issue, lawmakers and local officials said.

House Minority Leader and Sorsogon Rep. Francis Escudero and Zamboanga City Rep. Erico Fabian, both members of the House defense committee, both noted the change in Mrs. Arroyo’s order to transfer the Southcom headquarters and its support units which she announced during her visit to Pagadian City last March.

"Makalipas ang congressional inquiry medyo lumambot (After the congressional inquiry, her stand somewhat softened)," Escudero said before flying out of this port city after their second hearing on the issue the other day.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Efren Abu earlier ordered an in-depth study on the implications and resource requirements of the planned transfer of the Southcom headquarters, the biggest military installation outside of Metro Manila and which has been here for 29 years now.

In Thursday’s hearing, the House defense panel chaired by Parañaque City Rep. Roilo Golez found the transfer plan questionable due to the Armed Forces’ budgetary constraints, among other reasons.

Msgr. Crisanto de la Cruz, the city’s archdiocesan administrator and a close friend of Mrs. Arroyo, said the President had informed him in an one-on-one meeting that there was no immediate order for Southcom to be transferred to Zamboanga del Sur.

He said the meeting took place during Mrs. Arroyo’s unannounced visit to this city early this week.

De la Cruz said the fact that Mrs. Arroyo did not request Congress to allocate funds for the Southcom transfer shows that she remains open to recommendations.

"Let us hope and pray that the studies on (the Southcom transfer) that are being undertaken upon orders of the President will be favorable toward the retention of Southcom in Zamboanga City," he said.

Escudero said Mrs. Arroyo should treat her constituents equally, noting that consultations showed that city residents perceived her plan as "political vendetta" since she lost here to the late Fernando Poe Jr. in the 2004 presidential elections.

Escudero said the best way for Mrs. Arroyo to unify the country is to treat equally those who supported her in the 2004 polls and those who did not.

Meanwhile, business activities here returned to normal anew yesterday. Banks, shopping malls, drug outlets, factories, canneries, hardware stores and majority of the business establishments in the city shut down the other day as a gesture of support for the protest against the Southcom transfer plan which residents raised in a people’s assembly that day.

Businessmen admitted losing revenue during their one-day shutdown, but said these would not be comparable to what they would be losing if Southcom is relocated to Zamboanga del Sur.