Basketball terrorism is a tragic irony

It is more sad than ironic that the efforts of firstly, Mr. Jonathan Guardo and Lahug Barangay Captain Mary Ann de los Santos and secondly, the city hall in providing such recreational facilities as basketball boards/rings, has led to the coinage of the term "basketball terrorism".

In any case, this appellation is now applied to the situation when a particular community asks for a pair of basketball boards from the group of Mr. Guardo/Capt. De los Santos and then when it is delivered and installed, it is ordered removed by some city officials. Or so the reports say!

Why sad? Both Mr. Guardo and Capt. de los Santos have made known their desire to run for the city's congressional seats in the coming 2010 elections. Mr. Guardo will, once again, attempt to contest for the south district representation. He tried in the last 2007 polls against Congressman Antonio V. Cuenco, but fell short. However, since the day after his loss, he relentlessly worked to rectify the flaws of his previous campaign and improved his strong points.

For her part, Capt. de los Santos is aiming to become the representative of the north district. She made a run at the city mayor's post in May 2007 but also failed to dislodge His Honor, Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña. To our knowledge, she, too, has been regrouping her political forces by identifying her weak areas and solidifying her bailiwicks to aim at this perceived smaller arena of a congressional district.

To a great extent, both of them have shown some degree of success. A strategy they have apparently been employing is to penetrate the youth voters. Considering that the easier entry point to this sector is to cater to their recreational needs, both Mr. Guardo and Capt. de los Santos have made sure to demonstrate to the youth that they can be relied upon to answer their ordinary whims.

From friends of mine in the campaign front, I know that there are many areas in the city where such a simple need as a basketball board/ring is not available. If city hall wants to replicate the efforts of Mr. Guardo and Capt. de los Santos, it can simply scour these places and put up the boards where they will be much welcome. It is sad that city hall has to resort to dismantling these pieces of sports equipment bearing the names of either Mr. Guardo or Capt. de los Santos and replacing them with those inscribed with the ownership of the city government.

Let us address the irony angle of this situation. In our constitution, the role of congressmen (and senators) is described with definiteness. They are, as if we do not know this, lawmakers. Congressmen and senators are elected to write laws. Differently said, statutes are the basic products of legislators.

Somehow, there is implicitly rather than expressly added to the constitutional duties of lawmakers. For instance, the matter of putting up covered courts, concreting roads, buying buses for the use of barangays, purchasing large tv units for installation in barangay halls, to name a few, is not written in our constitution. It is only a happy anomaly that public funds are placed at the directional control of lawmakers for them to dispense where loyal supporters are. 

Unfortunately, this constitutional aberration called the pork barrel has become the fountain of strength among congressmen. These are sources of funds with which to mollify constituents who could not find the worth of their representatives in useful written laws. But, it works. It puts an anomalous disadvantage for the congressman of the city's north district, for example, to paint his picture and that of his daughter on the buses assigned to barangays as if the funds used to purchase them were his own. So, I suppose, to counter this mileage, Mr. Guardo and Capt. de los Santos, using their own funds, try providing sports facilities bearing their names.

In effect, challengers Mr. Guardo and Capt. de los Santos are canalized to fighting a different political milieu. Instead of harping on their preparedness for legislation and on the qualities of their congressional leadership, they are sucked into a battle where the abundance of money, however sourced, is the main weapon. How ironic! How tragically ironic!

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