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Looking at the record of Rufus Rodriguez—the
youngest commissioner of the immigration bureau, outstanding lawyer
and former spokesman for the detained former president—he should
be running for a national office. But this Mindanaoan is not.
Instead, he is running for
congressman to represent Cagayan de Oro City—the very same place,
which produced political superstars like Sen. Nene Pimentel, Bono
Adaza and Ruben Canoy of the Mindanao Alliance of Marcos years. In
his new constituency, Rufus’ main concern will be local politics,
which really means the day-to-day life and welfare of the people.
That is why we had to adjust to
the new Rufus who now talks about his health, education and
employment plan for the city. Expanding the J.R. Borja Memorial City
Hospital, building the P.N. Roa Memorial City College and setting up
more vocational schools may not be interesting to the national
scene. But these projects, and more, are definitely important to the
new constituency of Rufus. In local politics, your victory will be
determined by service to the voters, and not on bombast and press
releases.
Local politics will not only be
his concern in Congress. He will definitely be an advocate for
Mindanao interest, just like former Vice-President Tito Guingona and
Senator Pimentel.
In his campaign materials, Rufus
stresses that “while Mindanao businesses and residents contributed
17 percent of annual tax collections, they get in return only 9.6
percent of funding for social services and development projects.”
“Maniningil na si Rufus,” on
behalf of Mindanao. Expect this UP-trained lawyer to talk in
Congress—not just about the plight of Cagayan de Oro—but also
the interest of Mindanao. (By the way, with the exception of Nasser
Pangandaman of agrarian reform department, we know of no Mindanaoan
in President GMA’s Cabinet).
I think that Rufus Rodriguez is a
necessary addition in our House of Representatives. I predict that
when Rufus joins the chamber, he would be one of most quotable
persons there. Rufus can help make the debate in the House more
substantial and insightful.
China broadens
ties with RP parties
Henceforth, the Chinese vanguard
party, which leads the state and government in Beijing, will not
limit its dealings with the local communists. The CPC policy now, it
seems, is that, the Chinese party will relate with as many parties
as possible.
This means that China shall not
limit its ties with its ideological counterpart here—the Communist
Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army.
Right now, there is a four-man
delegation from the Chinese party making a swing across Indonesia
and the Philippines, carrying a clear message from CPC Party chief
Hu Jintao. Party-to-party relations from hereon will be both
“substantial and diversified,” according to CPC’s Ai Ping.
Unlike in the past—in the late
60s and 70s—when the CPC message carried undiluted communist
ideology, Mr. Ai now speaks the language of a modernist China. He
talks of more trade between the two countries arising from more
interaction between leaders.
Ai and his group had already met
with a number of parties like the Lakas CMD, the Liberal Party and
the Nationalist People’s Coalition. I was told that the group had
an interesting discussion with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who
is one of the more interesting local leaders from the Philippines.
I am not sure whether this new
policy of China precludes Beijing’s material support to the New
People’s Army. But I was told that the local insurgents no longer
rely on China as support base, unlike in the early years of the
revolution against Marcos.
The modern China has new
demands—a modern army, economy and strong state. Its current
national interest is no longer the promotion of world revolution,
unlike during the time of Chairman Mao. There are some elements
within the Chinese party that wants China to help our local
insurgents. But they have become a minority within the party.
We should, therefore, expect that
come October 1 on the occasion of China’s national day banquet at
the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Speaker Jose de Venecia
will sit at the Philippine table. The CPP representative will also
be there, but he will sitting at a different table.
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