‘Back in business’

A mayor in the Visayas reached out last week to compare notes on the 3rd SONA of PBBM and share his view on the CTalk piece I wrote: SONA & SOMOs. As expected, the mayor was unsure where I stood politically on the SONA but as I stated, it is about positivity and gratitude directed to God and not an endorsement of claims made during the SONA.

What was interesting was the mayor’s story of an informal survey he conducted among the poor people in his area and what they thought about the SONA. When asked about the price of rice, the people yelled “Mahal pa rin” (still unaffordable). When asked about drugs, they loudly claimed “Naka balik na” (It’s back again).

When asked about the exchange rate since many had OFW relatives, they joked: “Malapit ng maging senior citizen” (Nearly at 60 like senior citizens) and the last question about the availability of food and three meals a day, they reportedly claimed: “Ramdam na ng sikmura namin” (We feel it in our guts). All this of course was spoken in Bisaya.

Political comments aside, the claim that drugs are back in their barangay is not an isolated case. In the past week, I have heard from several other individuals living in different localities that drugs and drug use has returned in certain areas and is now a serious concern for ordinary Filipinos.

Some Grab drivers I spoke with volunteered how they now avoid passengers going to or coming from the drug and crime hot spots of the past. While law enforcement officials may be telling the truth that there are fewer barangays considered as hot spots, that does not necessarily mean there is no drug activity or drug use in the area.

If all the reports about drug busts and high value targets being caught are true, then it also follows that there has been an ongoing activity in “the market” or area for drugs. The situation may not be as serious as when president Duterte came into office, when Filipinos wanted extreme measures applied to drug-crazed criminals.

But with president Digong out of the picture, the fear factor and speedy dispensation of “justice” that scared users and pushers out of business is clearly no longer in practice. In fact, that was a bragging point during the SONA that may very well embolden more drug pushers to put up their signs again, saying “Back in Business.”

Let’s all pray, call on national and local leaders as well as support the PNP, NBI, etc. to put a stop to the return of drugs. This should be non-negotiable for every Filipino.

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Nearly a week after the SONA and still people are asking what to believe. Majority of those who ask me, ask about POGO and if the President and his administration can be trusted to keep his word and see that his people follow his orders.

Rather than simply ignore or dismiss President Bongbong’s orders to stop POGO as an episode on “Wish Ko Lang,”many Filipinos are taking the closure order seriously and clearly don’t want to be lied to or hoodwinked. Most of them in fact don’t want to wake up one day to find “the same dog with a different collar” or same dog with the new name called IGL or Internet Gaming Licensee.

The probable reason for this distrust lies in the fact that hours after PBBM’s speech, PAGCOR officials were already drooling with concerns for displaced Filipino workers, financial loss to the government and the limited number of licensed POGOs. In short, the people ordered to stop POGO are the ones actively defending their version of the business.

When PBBM announced the end to POGO, my thoughts were “he simply conceded a game he could not win and ended up cashing in on PR and reputation management.”But now, it has turned into a “to see is to believe” situation and PBBM failing to do so will cost the President, his administration and all his political allies a lot more than they gambled on in 2025.

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After all the flooding that happened in Metro Manila, is it time to restudy the set up at the Metro Manila Development Authority in terms of getting independent, professionals to lead, manage and operate the MMDA?

The question presents itself given the fact that many cities in Metro Manila were once again sunk in floodwaters. The flooding on España solicited a comment that 50 years ago, floodwaters in the U-belt to UST area were knee high and Marcos was the president. Fifty years later, the floodwaters have once again reached ankle to knee high and Marcos is president.

What is ironic is that the Metropolitan Mayors Council whose localities were sunk decides and directs things for the MMDA. How do you make them accountable for the failure of the MMDA to control flooding in Metro Manila? Given what happened in the wake of Typhoon Carina, it is evident that whatever projects or systems are in place, they failed!

Presidential explanations and excuses on the failure of flood control projects have no place in our reality because these projects are supposed to be studied, planned, designed, built and managed by experts and certified professionals and providers. These projects are funded with hundreds of millions of pesos of taxpayers’ money who should get their money’s worth.

Whether it’s urban planning, traffic management, flood control, environmental protection or development management, put the MMDA in the hands of licensed, certified, trained professionals and not politicians or political appointees. It is time to overhaul, revamp, rewrite the MMDA.