I must say it’s a relief to have a chat with the pilot of "747", as they tweak his latest "7 years growth for 7 years" takeoff program. In these depressing times, what we most need is such an organizer of enthusiasm.
JDV, from big ears to never-fading smile unflappable, is an idea whose time has come. Dubbed early on as the Maharajah of Hyperbole, defeated in the 1998 presidential race by a humiliating margin by Erap Estrada despite the "too-late" backing of the incumbent FVR (he would have been swamped anyway, by the Erap para sa mahirap tidal wave), De Venecia took his downfall like a man, going off to lick his wounds but never bitching or complaining that he "wuz robbed." Now, after three years in the pale, during which he was literally counted down and out, JDV has bounced back as "The Comeback Kid" of this dispirited era. Better than that, where others seem to have run out of ideas, wacky or otherwise, JDV is brimming over with them.
He reels off statistics with the virtuosity of a sleight-of-hand salamankero to buttress his points. Is it all blah-blah, or is there logic and serious intent behind all that verbosity? One hopes. But even when you factor in Joe’s breezy nature and reputation as a "snake oil salesman," somehow JDV is convincing. He knows that behind the dark clouds is a silver lining, not just another dark cloud. And for me, in a nation of breast-beaters and woe-is-me hypochondriacs, that’s enough.
"Professor," JDV chirped, "Get out of bed and get going, that’s the best cure!" Gina, for her part, made a remark that contained a kernel of what they had gone through during the period of dejection and disappointment, when many "friends" had deserted then: "Do you know what? Our house on Magnolia street is full of people again!" That said it all. It was then I realized that JDV was on his way back from the 4th district of Pangasinan to his third term in the Speakership. There must be some secret in the bagoong they manufacture out there.
Of cource, Joe is a TRAPO. He doesn’t deny that a country’s leadership, though, needs "traditional politicians" who mobilize legislation and "progress" by being deft in the art of politics. JDV, on the other hand, maintains no warlord army. Perhaps he didn’t even have to arm-twist too hard to get former Rep. Benjie Lim to vacate his slot and run another race, to become Mayor of Dagupan City.
But JDV, as he never lets you forget, goes far beyond the "traditional" local politician. He’s out there, continually, in the big wide world, hatching international agreements and deal-making globally. He’s a conference junkie and collector of celebrities. You might have been inclined to call him a social-climbing "name-dropper" but he’s got the photographs to document his peregrinations in the realms of power. Here’s a photo of him chatting with Japan’s Emperor Akihito in the Imperial Palace (1997), another shaking hands with South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, still another posing with former British Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher. He’s in a picture sharing a conspiratorial smile with former US President Bill Clinton (now a "citizen" of Harlem). Another portrays him sharing a joke with King Juan Carlos of Spain, conversing with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo, or in sober dialogue with Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein (he was probably trying to collect his "bill" on his now-defunct Land Oil contract).
Whether in diplomatic razzle-dazzle or in shenanigans, even his critics admit, JDV’s got flair – even if his drooping, sleepy eyebrows sometimes make him look like Garfield.
Joe pledges as the final great endeavor of his career to push the railroad all the way to the north, to Ilocos Norte. Another line, he promised, would be built northwest through Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, up to Cagayan, then eventually have its tracks veer west to link up with the Ilocos Norte "Express."
Now a caveat. Everybody in politics talks grandly of building railroads, extending the rails from Aparri to Jolo, so to speak, like the "national highway." Everybody, like ex-President Ramos did at the beginning of his term, glowingly describes a "plan" such as promising to modernize and enlarge our maritime industry, bringing down the cost of inter-island freight and ensuring more safety and comfort for inter-island passengers in this archipelago of 7,100 islands. This didn’t happen by the time FVR left. Nothing has happened. It’s the stuff of dreams, beckoning us from some distant future, while we continue to live in a nightmare of traffic, congestion, kotong-kotong along the highways, and pollution-spewing old buses. Not for this backward country a super-fast French T.G.V. or a Japanese "bullet train" or Shinkansen: We’ve even regressed from the "Jeep ni Erap" to the lowly pedicab, "The Tricycle of Gloria." President GMA, in her fervor to "out-Erap" Erap as the champion of the masa, even welcomes such clumsy non-starters as laundry soap called "Gloria Labandera." The idea, dear Madam President, is to uplift the masses, and give them a jumpstart towards becoming an educated middle class, not descend to their level (which they’d greatly love to ascend from, really).
And so, JDV’s grand vision of a Railway to the North, a Saluyot Express, sounds wonderful. However, in this land, the gap between promise and delivery is so vast, the chasm between pledge and fulfillment so yawning, that one is inclined to be skeptical. Yet, Joe has the verbosity, and perhaps the stick-to-itiveness to finally make that "vision" come true.
Every progressive nation has built its success on its railway network, linking farm to city or urban center to urban center. Vegetables, rice and other commodities which move by rail arrive in far better condition (and will in our context be cheaper at the market because their handlers don’t have to run the expensive hurdle of mulcting cops at innumerable checkpoints).
And so, we’re counting on JDV to do something out of the ordinary for a TRAPO; really get that railway system into operation, those tracks laid, those wheels of progress rolling.
"I have no ambition to become President," Joe told me as we parted. "I just want to do the best I can." Do it then, JDV, just do it.
As we left the dining room, I noticed that Joe switched off the air-conditioner, like a frugal Ilocano. That’s what he’d like to do, he grinned when I mentioned it, with the bloated national budget and the worrisome budget deficit. Just do it, Joe, I repeat. Goad, inspire, cajole, shove into action your fellow congressmen.
This nation has run out of options – and, worse, may be running out of time.