PEOPLE’S INITIATIVE. A man installs flaglets on the People Power monument in EDSA, Quezon City which is being spruced up for the 28th anniversary of the People Power Revolution next week. The 1986 revolt started on the night of Feb. 22, 1986 and ended when the Marcoses fled the country on Feb. 25. (INQUIRER PHOTO/Marianne Bermudez)
President Aquino has dropped earlier plans to mark the 28th anniversary of the People Power Revolution in Malacañang and will instead fly to Cebu and Leyte to be with the Yolanda survivors.
A Malacañang announcement said the President will participate in the reenactment of the revolution’s “salubungan” at the Cebu provincial capitol grounds on Tuesday afterwhich he will proceed to Bantayan Island and visit three of the towns that were badly hit by supertyphoon Yolanda.
The “salubungan” which has become a tradition in marking the 1986 People Power revolution in EDSA, Quezon City, reenacts the crucial period when soldiers identified with then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile crossed to Camp Crame from Camp Aguinaldo to join the Constabulary and police forces under then AFP Vice Chief-of-Staff, Lt. Gen. Fidel Ramos.
Executive Secretary Pacquito “Jojo” Ochoa, Jr. and Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino will accompany the President in the People Power rites.
According to Capitol spokesperson Ethel Natera, the President’s visit will send a strong signal that the national government has not forgotten northern Cebu.
Earlier this week, local officials in storm-affected areas in Cebu criticized the national government for the slow response in rehabilitating towns that bore the brunt of typhoon Yolanda.
The local executives had expressed exasperation on the national government during a meeting with representatives of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (PARR).
“I don’t want to pre-empt the President but we hope that since he’s already seen for himself the situation in Cebu, more aid will come,” Natera said.
Philippine Information Agency Director-General Jose Mari Oquiñena said it is not certain yet if former senator Panfilo Lacson, who was named as head of the PARR, will join the President in his visit.
“He will visit there since he wants to honor and thank the nongovernment organizations who helped the victims,” Oquiñena told reporters, adding that President Aquino also wants to check and see the new boats and bancas that were given to the fishermen.
The President and his party will be visiting the towns of Santa Fe, Madridejos and Bantayan.
“The President wants to relay the message that if there is the spirit of bayanihan or volunteerism and unity, then we can achieve something,” Oquiñena said.
From Bantayan island, the presidential party will fly to Palo in Leyte, and Guiuan in Eastern Samar.
Before visiting Cebu, the President will be in Cateel, Davao Oriental which was hit by typhoon Pablo in December 2012 and in Loon, Bohol which was among the towns heavily damaged in the October 2013 earthquake.
Rama’s wish list
If given a chance to speak with the President, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama will present his “wishlist” for the city, foremost among them the request for assistance to build the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) and the Carbon Market Unit II.
He also wants to follow up on a request he made four years ago for the Aquino administration to allow the city government to use the Malacañang sa Sugbo as a museum and the city’s command center as part of the city’s waterfront development project, being a heritage landmark.
Rama said Cebu City has not received any project from the Aquino administration. The last time the city received national-funded projects was during the administration of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
The Arroyo administration gave P60 million for the construction of a city jail facility in barangay Kalunasan in the early 2000 and another P15 million for the rehabilitation of the Plaza Independencia in 2008.
As a matter of protocol, Rama said, he was invited to Tuesday’s gathering, being city mayor. He was a member of Aquino’s Liberal Party but joined the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) of vice president Jejomar Binay after LP chose his political opponent, former mayor Tomas Osmeña, as the LP mayoral candidate in the city.
Rama had shared his wishlist to tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. and Vice Governor Agnes Magpale during yesterday’s World Ecotourism Forum at the Radisson Blu Hotel.
“I shared with them and I wish that they can bring it to the president that Cebu has not been getting from the national government,” Rama told reporters.
He also reminded Health Secretary Enrique Ona of his earlier request for a P1-billion appropriation for the CCMC reconstruction project. The structure was damaged and abandoned following the 7.2-magnitude earthquake which hit Cebu and Bohol provinces on Oct. 15, 2013.
“I called up Secretary Ona and I reiterated to him (about the financial help that we need) kay i-demolish na raba ni,” said Rama.
The city so far raised P11 million from donations for the hospital’s reconstruction that is expected to cost P1.5 billion.