Bayani will keep his MMDA post, and become DPWH Secretary, too

When I accosted former President Fidel V. Ramos last Monday night to ask him if he was "running", he winked and replied: "Of course, I’m running – every day." FVR meant, of course, that he goes running daily.

Ever since the "report" came out that he might be tapped by Lakas to take a second run for the Presidency since GMA wasn’t running, Apo Eddie says, he had been besieged by questions, and attacked right and left. He can’t fool us. He loves it!

But – even if no Constitutional impediment is found to exist contrary to what many are already warning – it might not be a bright idea for FVR to try to do a MacArthur and seek a return to Malacañang. Remember the admonition that a fellow should quit while he’s ahead? Surely, a former Chief Executive and Commander-in-chief misses the fanfare, the strains of "We say Mabuhay!", the ruffle of drums, the pomp and circumstance – and the 21-gun salutes. But in 2004, I’m certain Citizen Eddie, as a former general, also realizes that during a political campaign those 21 guns will be pointed directly at him.

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Nobody can state for certain until and unless the President herself announces it (there’s many a slip twixt cup and lip) but Alikabok told me last night that GMA met with Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando yesterday afternoon. She told him, swears Alikabok, that he should continue running the MMDA and become Secretary of Public Works and Highways concurrently.

There is certain to be a howl raised, instigated by those hopefuls who were lusting for the "lucrative" DPWH job, but this is a wise decision. The MMDA and DPWH, after all, not merely complement each other – but need each other in implementing projects essential to the welfare of 12 million Metro Manilans. For example, there are the massive flood-prevention and floodway projects which were stalled because of a dispute over whether they should be undertaken by the DPWH or the MMDA. With Fernando at the helm of both, such "differences" over turf and budget would be smoothed away, and much-delayed work could be initiated immediately.

These are only some of the many undertakings that can be jump-started if Fernando were supervising both agencies. As MMDA Chairman he is already a Cabinet member – a second Cabinet post would not be needed to enhance his standing in the President’s "official family".

However, this new assignment would enable him to get things done on both a National Capital Region and national level.

For instance, the "opening" of an expanded and more efficient railway link between Magallanes (Makati City) and Calamba, and other commuter railway links can be launched with dispatch. The railway expansion plans call for the relocation of about 7,000 squatters — and Fernando, thanks to his experience as three-term mayor of Marikina (where his wife, Marides Carlos Fernando, is now mayor, elected on her own by a landslide), has, by his patience and firmness, successfully dealt with the squatter problem there.

Moreover, Bayani is a mechanical engineer, successful in the private sector before he won his first term as mayor of the once-blighted city of Marikina in 1992. (His late father was former Marikina Mayor Gil Fernando, who served from 1946 to 1948.) In short, he combines both a politician’s instincts and a practical businessman-contractor’s street-smarts. He was aptly named Bayani ("Hero") by his patriotic father, which, he sighs, was a burden to him, since he was taunted by other kids about it, and had to struggle even just to pretend living up to his name. His wife, Marides, fondly calls him "Bayan" (Nation).

The sidewalk vendors who were evicted call him other names, naturally – none of them flattering, and even some which are unprintable. Yet, the very stick-to-itiveness of this Prinsipeng Hindi Tumatawa (he barely cracks a smile, even when cracking a joke) is what makes him formidable. When Fernando thinks what he’s doing is right and good for the community at large, he keeps on going – come hell or high water.

It’s interesting that the Metro Manila mayors, even Manila Mayor Lito Atienza who had strongly opposed his "intrusion" into Manila, came out to say that Fernando should not be transferred from the MMDA chair, but permitted to complete the projects on which he had embarked. Now, they’ve got their wish – pending, of course, GMA’s official announcement today or tomorrow? – and they are expected not merely to be jubilant but extra-cooperative.

For our part, as Metro Manilans, I can only say that we’re happy. Not everybody, on the other hand, will greet this development as salutary. There will be those who’ll hiss that Bayani Fernando would be swapang or "greedy" to hold two Cabinet jobs, each one demanding of time and effort. Yet, a couple of good deputies could easily handle the administrative work in both entities, while Fernando made all the tough decisions.

There’s much repair work, or "correction" to be done in the DPWH, just vacated by former DPWH Secretary Simeon Datumanong: The spare parts and "ghost" repair scandal may hit as high as P182 million! Is it possible Datumanong had no inkling of what was going on – right under his nose?

Anyway, a take-over of that controversial public works and highways ministry by a no-nonsense type like Fernando is certainly disturbing (and a source of panic) in some quarters. Among them small-time directors who own sporty Ferraris.

So, President GMA and Fernando may have to brace themselves for the flak from these – and other quarters. They should, undeterred, stay the course. Damn the torpedoes.

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Manila is going to be a busy place, from the policy and diplomacy standpoint, in the next few days.

Today, United States Defense Undersecretary Bolton is flying over here from Kuala Lumpur (where he had talks with Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Defense officials). Arriving in his US official jet, he will confer with President Macapagal-Arroyo, then, after a few hours, fly back to Washington DC.

What’s intriguing is that Bolton just came from Seoul, South Korea, where he met with the "top officials" there. I presume he also conferred with incoming President-elect Roh Moo-hyun, the chosen successor of incumbent President Kim Dae-jung (of the Millennium Democratic Party), who’ll take over as President in February.

It seems that Bolton has been fence-mending as well as discussing US policy towards Pyongyang and North Korea’s alarmingly resuscitated plutonium-production and nuclear program. (Methinks the North Koreans, being more advanced in their nuclear activities than Baghdad’s Saddam Insane, may constitute and even "clearer and more-present danger" – especially since North Korea’s Dear Leader, Kim Jong-il, is madder than a March Hare, and probably as demented as Saddam. But the Tall Texan, George "Dubya" Bush, needs a war on Iraq, and in all likelihood will launch it, sooner rather than later.)

In any event, Bolton will probably discuss such matters with GMA. Once he gets back to Washington DC, even before shrugging off jet lag, he’ll soon head back to Asia, visiting Tokyo, then Beijing – then going onwards to Moscow. It’s becoming apparent that he’s playing the role of trouble-shooting. I just wonder in which direction he’s "shooting."

GMA should ask him for a US loan so we can procure F-16s, and helicopter gunships, to resurrect the sagging morale of our Philippine Air Force – and give our military more operative clout.

She needs the military, we need the military, and the US needs our military cooperation. Yet, Uncle Skinflint always says, we can’t give you F16 jets, because it would cost too much to maintain them. (Just ask for the same deal, please, that Washington DC gave Poland – and accommodate US aircraft manufacturers.)

Or we might ask the Russians for MiG-29s, bartered for bananas. Don’t think I’m just kidding.

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Which brings us to another important visitor who’s arriving. This is Mr. Gennedy Seleznev, chairman of the Russian Duma (parliament). He holds a post equivalent to the Speaker of the House and the Senate President rolled into one.

We’ve had a rush of Russian VIPs lately. First came Russia’s Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov last December 16, after the coming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in Bangkok, may be a visit by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

Abangan.

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THE ROVING EYE… The President is expected to make a number of major announcements tomorrow (Thursday) on the occasion of the traditional first-of-the-year Vin d ’Honneur in Malacañang, in which the Ambassadors and diplomats congregate to greet the Chief Executive (She did the same thing last year). This has been a week of surprises. One such surprise was the appointment of Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernando Braganza as incoming Press Secretary – despite, we hear, the discomfiture of Secretary Rigoberto "Bobbi" Tiglao, who’s been confined to his duties as Presidential Chief of Staff. Tiglao had announced that Presidential Spokesman Ignacio "Toting" Bunye would hold that position and the Press Secretaryship concurrently – then Braganza got the latter post. Everybody’s confused by the "musical chairs" game GMA is playing. I hope GMA herself has gotten confused. Oh, well. Since Tiglao has been suspected by some editors and columnists of "leaking" inside information to a favored newspaper (not this one), there’s not too much weeping over the latest developments. As for me: I wait to see what happens.