The regional transfer: wanting in strategic planning

(Published in Zamboanga Today on February 5, 2008.)

If the national leadership refuses to figure out what being ready to be the regional seat means, then Zamboangueños who are employed in the regional offices will have no choice but to bear the unreasonableness in implementing a law so harsh and seemingly inconsiderate of reality.

The ordered transfer of the regional center from Zamboanga City to Pagadian City may be welcomed by those in the province of Zamboanga del Sur, specifically by Gov. Aurora Cerilles and Congressman Antonio Cerilles, but Executive Order No. 429 mandating said transfer is certainly causing anxiety if not anguish among the greater majority of employees of the regional government.

The law was signed by former Pres. Corazon Aquino in 1989 but was never enforced by former presidents Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada owing to the fact that Pagadian City was not then ready for being Western Mindanao’s seat of the regional government. Twenty years since its date of effectivity, Pres. Gloria Arroyo this time is enforcing the law—the matter of Pagadian City’s being ready, or not, is hardly a concern.

Whether or not this law is made for the Filipinos in Zamboanga Peninsula, or especially for those in the province of Zamboanga del Sur, one cannot say. It would seem however that, with the trend in the implementation of the transfer, the affected Zamboangueños were employed to bend to the law.

One wonders how the impracticability of the transfer has not dawned nor has it been considered by the national leadership. Those who come from Zamboanga del Norte and Isabela City in Basilan have a longer way to travel should they need to do business in any of these regional offices. Efficiency in delivery of government service to the people has always been wanting and many perceive a worse quality of public service once the transfer is completed.

Pagadian City is actually at the crossroad of the cities of Iligan and Ozamis in the East, Zamboanga Sibugay Province in the West, Dipolog City in the North, and Cotabato in the south across Yllana Bay. The greater majority of the employees live in Zamboanga City, which is far west of Pagadian City—after Zamboanga Sibugay.

The national leadership has not even provided alternative programs for development specifically in public works and highway improvement. Local business enterprises and real estate developers have yet to accommodate the thousands of employees affected by the transfer. It will take decades for its air and sea ports to be at par with that of Zamboanga’s.

The city’s water problem is another factor to consider. Maybe the national government has to provide a better solution as well, especially with the coming summer season when water supply is at its lowest at hilly Pagadian.

What could be the political scenario behind all these is for one to ponder on. President Arroyo has won significantly in said province and city during the last presidential elections, where she finished a mere third in Zamboanga City. But a true Filipino leader should have the greater majority’s welfare in mind, rather than personal vindications. One cannot say though that this is the case with Mrs. Arroyo’s decision. No one really can tell, except the fact that there is this law and, if still pushed through come hell or high water, this is one case when man was made for the law.

This is not a question of Pagadian’s not being as beautiful as Zamboanga. Isabela City in Basilan, Dipolog and Dapitan Cities in Zamboanga del Norte, Ipil town in Zamboanga Sibugay, Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur, and Zamboanga City, are all beautiful places. The issue however is the logic and practicability in enforcing a law created twenty years ago, at the expense of incurring greater costs that could be better spent in helping poverty-afflicted and conflict-affected provinces such as the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

As the order does not seem to be founded on strategic plans, we can only hope that this will not turn out to be another blunder by the president. (Frencie L. Carreon)