Wrong place for an admiral - JAYWALKER by Art A. Borjal

Navy Admiral Guillermo Wong to head the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority? That’s a crazy, backward, Neanderthal idea. The Subic Freeport is no longer a naval facility; it is now an economic, trade, export and investment hub. To restore Subic Freeport into a naval base, under the administration of a naval admiral, is dead wrong, an unforgiveable mortal sin. Such a move is going to negate all the lofty objectives and efforts exerted by the great Filipino statesmen, led by then Senate President Jovito R. Salonga, in throwing the American naval facility out of Subic Bay.

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Let me underscore. The SBMA does not need a military man like Admiral Wong, who may be the most decent and honest guy in the Armed Forces, to be its head. What the Subic Freeport needs is a dynamic business-oriented management and finance man, a technocrat who can rub elbows with the industrial and economic tycoons in the international business community, to sustain the growth of Subic Bay, under the leadership of SBMA Chairman Felicito "Tong" Payumo, as a humming and buzzing export processing and industrial zone.

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Look what happened at the Clark Economic Development Zone. When a military man, Gen. Romeo David, was appointed to manage Clark, the place turned from bad to worse. It did not attain the economic and investment targets set forth by the country’s business policymakers. This only goes to show that there are areas, like Clark and Subic, which are not suited to test the mettle of retired military men as military operations specialists.

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The root source of the Subic Freeport’s problems, after Dick Gordon stepped down as its chairman, was Gordon’s agenda of keeping Subic and Olongapo as his and his family’s political turf. Note that all the protest actions that happened in Subic’s post-Gordon era were initiated and stage-managed by Gordon and his henchmen. I do not recall any instance when Tong Payumo and his boys, after they took over the Subic Freeport, ever created trouble and problems in Olongapo City, just to put the Gordons down.

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This passion of Dick Gordon to have a permanent political turf, made up mainly of Olongapo City and the Subic Freeport, is not going to die down or fade away. No matter whom President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appoints, should she decide to "politicize" Subic Freeport, is going to meet huge roadblocks from the Gordons. Which means that the new appointee will be stymied in his or her efforts to sustain Subic Freeport’s growth.

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At this stage, Tong Payumo appears on the way to turning the Subic Freeport into a major contributor to the Philippines’ economic development. Employment at Subic has tripled since Tong Payumo took over. Investments have gone up, and continue to go up, with the Payumo leadership succeeding in buckling the tide of the Asian economic crisis. There is definitely nothing wrong with Payumo’s SBMA leadership. What is wrong is the persistent efforts of Dick Gordon and his men to put Tong Payumo down.

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One more item about the type of leadership needed at the SBMA. What that place needs is a technopol, one who can make good things happen despite the political roadblocks put up along the way. And a technopol means an economically-enlightened and politically-astute "technocrat-politician" who can buck the arrows and darts from the political turf advocates, and succeed.

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Under the legal mandate of the SBMA, the body is supposed to generate economic growth in all the areas surrounding the Subic Freeport: Bataan, Olongapo City, Zambales and other nearby areas. The SBMA is not supposed to be the sole domain of Olongapo City, which some politicians want it to be. It is supposed to work for all. Only a technopol can give meaning and substance to this mandate of the law creating the SBMA.

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It is heartwarming to know that there are countless people out there, whose friendship and concern are truly genuine. Last Saturday morning, my friend of many decades, Aida Salazar (we used to eat at the old Front Page at Plaza Ferguson, just across the US Embassy, a restaurant put up by the late Teodoro "Ka Doroy" Valencia, the newsmen’s newsman), called up to invite me for a cup of coffee at EDSA Shangri-La’s Garden Café. I immediately said yes, for who can say no to one of the best and most effective public relations ladies in our country?

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Actually, all that Aida wanted was to see me, after my recent surgery, and convey to me the greetings and get-well prayers of other friends like FF Cruz, Aber Canlas and DPWH Director Salvador Pleyto. Of course, both of us also wanted to reminisce old days and talk about other gentle souls like Mario Casayuran, the late Celso Cabrera, and other journalists whose paths treaded those of Aida’s pathways. It was an invigorating "over a cup of coffee" meeting with Aida Salazar, and I hope there will be other endless cups of coffee with Aida, at other places and other times, during the next five, ten or even more years.

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Another friend of long standing, Begonia Ortigas, wife of an equally dear friend Rafael "Rafa" Ortigas, sent me two boxes of puto pandan and puto ube, and how delicious the delicacies were. In her note, Bego said that Rafa himself was in a hospital for several days, but is now, thank God, back home and well on the way to full recovery. Despite Bego’s own problem with Rafa, she managed to say many prayers for me to the blessed Padre Pio, whose relics I, together with Lovely Romulo and Mercy Tuason and other friends visited in Italy last year. By the way, our memorable visit to Padre Pio in Europe was made possible by no other than Rafa Ortigas.

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Lawyer-CPA Fortunato "Forting" Aguas, former assistant commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and also President Emeritus of Club Filipino, contacted me to vouch for the integrity of BIR Commissioner Bienvenido A. Tan, Jr. "Commissioner Tan was one of the very, very few personages who proved his integrity, honesty and dedication to public service. We cannot and will never believe he was capable of misfeasance or malfeasance in office," Forting Aguas said. Forting, who now spends most of his time attending to socio-civic endeavors, added that Tan was one of the most respected BIR commissioners. "The truth will vindicate him and prove his detractors very wrong, very wrong," Forting reiterated, to underscore that the Ombudsman’s charges against Commissioner Tan are definitely baseless.

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As a footnote, Forting informed me that Dr. Augusto Sarmiento and Dr. Mon Sawit who, together with Dr. Enrique Ona and Dr. Mary Ampil Litonjua, formed the main team of surgeons who conducted my radical neck dissection, are his personal friends. "Titong Sarmiento and Mon Sawit are among the best and they are the unsung heroes for many in the field of Philippine medicines," Forting Aguas said.

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Thanks also to Senator Loren Legarda; Alice Kalaw Cortes, RCBC Araneta Avenue branch manager; Art & Mariter Macapagal; Duds Dayao, through the courtesy of Atty. AGA Arellano; Christopher John Cruz of SBMA; Guy Cruz; Judge & Mrs. Jose C. Reyes Jr. of Brookside Hills, Cainta, Rizal; Rami Ramano and family; the Department of ENT-HI Philippine Veterans Memorial Medical Center; Marlen Ronquillo; Wilson Flores; Dindo Falcon; Ferdie T. Sibal of Capitol Green Village, Tandang Sora, Quezon City; and Glenn Ferniz and Mansour-Dynamics, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for showing their concern during my recent period of crisis.

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My e-mail address: <[email protected]>