A ctually it was Cesar Torres, a former University of the Philippines professor and now a resident of San Francisco, California, who asked in an online dialogue what Sen. Francis Escudero and his father, Congressman Sonny Escudero, have done for their home province of Sorsogon. Professor Torres hails from Western Samar but he knows Sorsogon Province, as it is the jumping-off point to Samar Island from Luzon. The dialogue came about after Professor Torres posted online queries about the latest typhoon that hit Sorsogon and several adjacent provinces.

Eh anong ginagawa ng mag-amang makapangyarihan na taga UP doon, si Sonny at ang kanyang anak?  Di ba former UP Vet Med Dean, Salvador Escudero was very powerful during the time of his fraternity brod, iyong No. 1 UP alumnus and No. 2 in Transparency International. I think he was Secretary of Agriculture—Prof. Cesar Torres

Since this writer hails also from Sorsogon Province, I answered Professor Torres and the readers can view my replies at the latter portion of this article.

I provided my fellow Internet Sorsoganon buddies with BCCs of my dialogue with Professor Torres. One of them answered by sending to this writer a private e-mail, wherein he requested anonymity: This Sorsoganon said: QUOTE.

“What has ESCUDERO done to his home province in terms of development and poverty alleviation, and the general well-being of his Kahimanwa?

“Well, if you compare him with Dick Gordon and what he has done to Subic and Olongapo, and Bayani Fernando, has done to Marikina, the erstwhile RAPE CAPITAL of the Philippines, Chiz (Escudero) surely pales in comparison . . . even his father, Sonny, also didn't make any dent in terms of making Sorsoganons live better.

“So the answer is: NOTHING SIGNIFICANT.”

This Sorsoganon added a post script in his e-mail: “To the Voters, Consider these two gentlemen, GORDON & BAYANI, you can't go wrong with both.” UNQUOTE.

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a series of articles that attempts to find out what the Filipino presidential aspirants have done to, and in, their respective home provinces. Why? “It is elementary, Mr. Watson,” as Sherlock Holmes likes to say.

* In a message dated 5/4/2009 6:54:38 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, CESAR1185 writes: QUOTE.

Subject: Re: Marami palang namatay sa Sorsogon, sa Albay, at sa Camarines Sur, Bobby

Dahil sa Typhoon Dante. Maraming namatay and property damages dahil sa landslides.

There is another typhoon, "Emong", galing sa South China Sea.  Ito ang balita na mga malakas na klaseng bagyo.  Baka tamaan ang Central and Northern Luzon.

Cesar Torres UNQUOTE.
 

Dear Prof. Cesar Torres:

           OPEN e-Lists

Yes, Professor Torres, a powerful storm spawned big floods that destroyed the concrete bridge at the Cawayan River in Barangay Guinlahong, Sorsogon City, among other damages and injuries/deaths that the people suffered from the typhoon. The bridge was part of the Japan-Philippine Friendship Highway. This was relayed to me last April 30th in a telephone call by my sister in Sorsogon City. But the same bridge had been destroyed before during typhoons and it has been rebuilt several times by favored contractors, usually controlled by top provincial officials. It is like "Groundhog Day," Sorsogon version. In other words, "Same, same," as Erap used to say.

Nowadays, even ordinary monsoon rains create flash floods, as the mountains in Sorsogon Province are virtually denuded because of past illegal logging and kaingin farming. But then every time a typhoon comes, the same results happen and the provincial leaders of Sorsogon Province never learn from their errors and omission, if not criminal negligence.

There is not much that Overseas Sorsoganons can do, except send some financial aid to their relatives. We have proposed to the public officials and to NGOs in Sorsogon Province to undertake massive reforestation for almost three decades but all efforts to plant trees were only done in press releases. Only (by creating) watershed areas along the rivers and mountains can prevent floods from devastating infrastructures, homes and farm lands.

Landslides are not new or unheard of in Sorsogon. We published in October 2007 in the www.mabuhayradio.com this article,

Many Filipino Americans now refuse to give donations to the Philippine National Disaster Coordinating Council and more so to the Presidential Calamity Fund, as donors suspect that some members of the Arroyo Administration just pocket them for their own personal gain.

For instance, the Kalayaan Philippine Independence Committee that I chaired in 2006 donated $2,000 to the Philippine National Disaster Coordinating Council (PNDCC) c/o the Philippine Consulate General. Our check was made payable to the PNDCC but we did not even get any acknowledgment and much more a "Thank you" card from that government agency.

We, writers, can only describe the problems and talk about the suggested solutions but we do not have the resources to make our suggestions operational. As I said, we -- and most Overseas Filipinos -- can only help our kin because of our limitations. After all, charity begins at our ancestral homes.

FYI and as we say it in Sorsogon, "Salamatonon" for your concern, Mano Cesar.

Padayon,

Lolo Bobby M. Reyes

UNQUOTE.

* Professor Torres posted more comments:

In a message dated 5/4/2009 10:10:47 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, CESAR1185 writes: QUOTE.

S orry kung pinalitan ko ang "Groundhog Day" Bobby.  Kahit ako na matagal na sa America, hindi ko ma getz ibig mong sabihin ng term na iyan sa calamity in Bicol, especially in your Sorsogon.

Eh anong ginagawa ng mag-amang makapangyarihan na taga UP doon, si Sonny at ang kanyang anak?  Di ba former UP Vet Med Dean, Salvador Escudero was very powerful during the time of his fraternity brod, iyong No. 1 UP alumnus and No. 2 in Transparency International. I think he was Secretary of Agriculture.

Ngayon, mayroon naman yata silang CDF for the development of Sorsogon.

Cesar Torres UNQUOTE.

* This was my reply to Professor Torres: QUOTE.

D ear Professor Torres:

2.0         It is like "Groundhog Day" when a typhoon hits Sorsogon and/or the Bicol provinces, or for that matter your home province of Western Samar and the other Samar provinces -- as the same results happen over and over again. The provincial officials are unprepared for the calamity, as they do not store any relief goods -- from bottled water to canned foods. They do not even evacuate by force squatters living on the edge of Sorsogon Bay or near the mouth of rivers or any body of water. The floods -- that could have been prevented by reforestation and construction of drainage canals, sea or river walls, etc. -- come and devastate the villages and towns over and over again and again. The public officials and even the people do not learn from the tragedies. The politicians steal the public funds that could have paid for the reforestation or the construction of dikes, etc.

3.0         The Escuderos are typical traditional politicians. They are long on talk and short on performance. The trapos simply issue beautiful press releases and blame everybody else, except themselves for the poverty, the ignorance and the suffering of the people -- principally caused by corruption, waste of scarce government resources and plain stupidity. But then crusading young leaders have almost no chance to be elected in place of the trapos, as the people, while poor as they are, sell their votes during the election. It is a vicious cycle, if not a stupid circle of a cycle of influence, power and greed. As I wrote in 1972 the essay, "The Spirit of Sorsogon," often times the leaders cannot rise above the level of the people and vice versa. The Sorsoganon real life is like "Groundhog Day" reel life and the poor people can blame but themselves for "living the same day (life or existence) over and over again."

         3.1         So, Senator Escudero wants to become President, so that he can turn the Philippines into a bigger version of Sorsogon?

         3.2         And Sorsoganon politicians pay the so-called "revolutionary taxes" to the communist rebels, so that they would not be ambushed or assassinated. So, life becomes a "live and let live" existence. The rebels do not really hate corruption in the government, as they have their own abundant share of it, courtesy of the politicians. Then the politicians in power, the police, the military brass and the rebels are all happy with the "modus vivendi," whereby they all share the profits from jueteng, prostitution, illegal logging, etceteras, etcetera, ad infinitum. Then they donate part of the loot to the clergy, who give them communion during Sundays and other holidays of obligation and bless their heart and even the newly-constructed houses of the politicians' girlfriends, if not paramours

         3.3         Perhaps now you realize why I have chosen to live in exile because if I were in Sorsogon or for that matter living in any place in the Philippines, I would not have been able to write my 1993 political novel, "One Day in the Life of a Filipino Sonovabitch," or compare Gloria Arroyo to Saddam Hussein in an essay or call the former Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Sorsogon as the "modern-day version of Fray Damaso."

                3.2.1          I followed the advice of my editor-boss, Mar de Vera, who told me in 1993 that I should know the difference between a live dog and a dead lion; at least the live dog can still bark (if the drunkards do not turn it first into an "asocena" of a pulutan).

Padayon,

Lolo Bobby M. Reyes UNQUOTE.