Sec. Robredo: A great man of the people

As of this writing, the Aquino administration has declared a National Day of Mourning for Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo who perished in a crash last Saturday afternoon. Though the aircraft wreckage has already been found, as of press time, the family of Capt. Jessup Bahinting and his Nepalese co-pilot Kshitiz Chand are still waiting for them to be recovered and returned to Cebu.

Meanwhile, all the major TV networks are all praises for Sec. Robredo for his exemplary lifestyle and commitment to serve his people. Watching his life story unfold on nationwide TV, one can see his greatness was during his days as Mayor of Naga City, which when he took over as Mayor was on the verge of bankruptcy. Those video footages of then Mayor Robredo walking the streets of Naga City wearing jeans and a t-shirt with no bodyguards shows his humility, that being Mayor of Naga, he truly showed to his constituents that he was… first and foremost, their servant.

In all honesty, Sec. Robredo wasn’t really a genius that he was able to turn things around for Naga. But what he had is something seriously lacking in most of our traditional politicians today…a genuine concern for their constituents. He was able to immerse himself in the needs of his people and learned from them what they needed the most. Indeed, most politicians vow to serve their poor constituents, but in the end, they end up extremely rich, while the poor remains to be poor.

It is for this reason why we need a new kind of politics that was exemplified by Sec. Jesse Robredo when he was still alive. I just hope that after the mourning period is over… we will hopefully never go back to our bad old days, where politicians literally fool their constituents, often buying their votes using our tax money.

It is for this reason why I have always believed that the pork barrel should have long been abolished… especially under the leadership of President Aquino who is espousing his “Daang Matuwid” program. But when I got that report from Malou Mangahas about the Pork Barrel, it turned out that the Pork Barrel kitty has been increased under Pres. PNoy.

I dare say that it is about time that we abolished the pork barrel permanently because if that money were given to many important projects… this nation can truly prosper. Today, too many people enter politics for the wrong reasons… and that wrong reason is the pork barrel, which a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate can “earn” P60 million annually or P200 million for a Senator. It is for this reason why there is no logic when politicians spend millions to earn a seat that pays a measly P30,000 a month. Surely by now… the majority of the Filipino people know this.

Meanwhile, here’s an email I got about Sec. Robredo, “Hi Bobit, Tell me, if Malacañang and the Legislators are all praising him to high heavens, why was Jesse Robredo never confirmed as Secretary of DILG? Until his death, he was just an acting Secretary. Now, they are even giving him a State Funeral, ordered flags at half-mast, and declared several days of mourning for the nation. Fantastic! Bobby Tordesillas.” Indeed this is food for thought. Now the Commission on Appointments (CA) and those who opposed the confirmation of Sec. Robredo must be hiding their red faces away from the media for not confirming a man that the nation has mourned.

At this point, I heard that the CAAP would once again stop the operations of Avia Tours to investigate the cause of the crash. This is the problem when an agency is tasked to regulate aviation and then becomes an investigative body. If you didn’t know, there is only one Piper Seneca II in Avia Tour’s stable of aircraft… so suspending their operations is the wrong way to go, because no other aircraft is under any threat of crashing.

So what if last Mar. 1 an Avia Tour Cessna crashed in Camiguin? As I’ve already said, this is the risk for flying schools, as they have to allow their student pilots to handle the aircraft on the air, which sometimes could result in an accident especially if the flight instructor fails to correct a student pilot’s error while on flight. I heard this is what happened in Camiguin.

I have written time and time again, suggesting to Congress to propose a law creating the National Transportation Safety Board of the Philippines (NTSBP), which is an independent body that investigate air, ship or bus crashes. But those columns have always fallen on deaf ears. I dare say for Congress to prioritize this bill so that Sec. Robredo wouldn’t have died in vain. Let me point out that small planes do not have a Blackbox (it’s actually colored orange), which could trace the final moments of the aircraft. So investigating a crash like the Piper Seneca can only be checked if the wreckage is raised from the bottom of the sea so that the engine can be inspected.

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