“At Plaza Miranda he was already in the Liberal Party following in the footsteps of his father, Jose J. Atienza, Sr., who was an original LP member. Lito Atienza could well be the last Plaza Miranda Liberal still in active politics.”
by Ducky Paredes
August 21, 1971 was a game-changing day for Philippine politics. That was the day that the Liberal Party (LP) chose to proclaim its senatorial candidates at Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, Manila. The LP seemed a spent party then. A former Liberal, Ferdinand Marcos had defeated Liberal Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal and Marcos was the first ever President re-elected. In the middle of the rally, two hand grenades were thrown onto the stage. The blast killed nine people and injured more than 90 others.
Among the survivors was Lito Atienza, then a neophyte politician having started his political career when he organized the Democratic Youth Movement in 1968. At Plaza Miranda he was already in the Liberal Party following in the footsteps of his father, Jose J. Atienza, Sr., who was an original LP member. Lito Atienza could well be the last Plaza Miranda Liberal still in active politics.
During Martial Law, Atienza was arrested twice for exposing human rights abuses under the dictatorship regime of President Ferdinand E. Marcos at that time. He remained with the opposition even under constant threat of incarceration for opposing Marcos. Lito was first elected as Member of Parliament for the Congressional District of Manila then encompassing the districts of Paco, Pandacan, San Andres Bukid, Sta. Ana, Santa Mesa districts under the Batasang Pambansa in 1984 until Marcos was peacefully ousted during the People Power Revolution of 1986.
Under the administration of President Corazon Aquino, Atienza was appointed General Manager of the National Housing Authority in 1988 and he promoted low-cost housing for teachers and policemen.
Atienza ran as vice-mayor in Manila and won in 1995. In 1998, when Mayor Alfredo Lim ran for President of the Philippines, Atienza was elected Atienza was again re-elected in 2001 and finally on 2004. Throughout, Lito has always been a Liberal and considers himself a Liberal up to the present.
While having two claiming to represent the LP has muddled the status of the Liberal Party, it was actually Lito who invited former Senator Franklin Drilon to join the LP. Lito endorsed Drilon for the post of Chairman. Drilon, then, went against Gloria Arroyo, daughter of the last LP Philippine President Macapagal, which effectively split the party into two.
Rulings made by the Supreme Court and the Comelec ordered the two LP wings to have a joint convention, which would have chosen the officials of a unified Liberal Party. Instead, Drilon who was allowed to stay on as an interim President by the Comelec, expelled Atienza from the Liberal Party.
Is Lito Atienza still a Liberal? He considers himself one but, as long as the convention ordered by the Comelec that would unite the two factions of the LP has not happened, he remains a Liberal but Lito does not recognize the present leadership of the party.
How many true Liberals think as Lito Atienza does? Senator Mar Roxas, presumptive present LP president and his LP’s presidential candidate may be in for a rude awakening.
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Energy Secretary Angelo T. Reyes answers concerns that have been raised against Coal Operating Contract (COC) 143 that was awarded to Monte Oro Resources & Energy, Inc. and the small-scale coal-mining permit (SSCMP) (no. 2008-018) issued to Policarpio M. Torres.
According to Sec. Reyes, “these contracts were well above board. Monte Oro’s exploration project, which was initially awarded in 2005, was specifically for exploration only. I think these activities were misinterpreted to be actual mining.
“A COC which is at the exploration stage does not require an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) yet. The ECC will be issued before actual commercial extraction begins.
“On the other hand, on the matter of Mr. Torres’s application for the small scale contract, it is patently false to say that he didn’t secure or consult with local officials. In fact, he was issued a certification in connection with his application for a SSCMP by San Miguel’s Barangay Chairman (Jose J. Rima) on July 2, 2008 and Panganiban Mayor Gregorio E. Angeles on June 16, 2008 respectively. Mr. Torres has not commenced any mining operation since the issuance of his permit.”
“With regards to the contested area (also known as Area 10) of 8,000 hectares covering Caramoran, Panganiban, and Viga, Catanduanes, no proposals were made in the last contracting round of June 8, 2009.”
That makes all the hullabaloo brought up by NGOs in Catanduanes even more suspicious as merely a mercantilist NGO activity (which was the topic of yesterday’s column). How can persons living in Catanduanes not know that there were no plans to go into commercial production when Monte Oro had made its final decision on this as early as a year ago?
How can the NGOs and even the bishop say that there were no consultations when the local governments (down to the barangay level) issued permits for the activities of the small-scale miner.”
“Vigilance is a good thing but further research and investigation should be made before anything else. However, getting our facts straight is an altogether important matter that we should not neglect.” Sec. Reyes points out.
As I warned in yesterday’s column: Watch out for mercantilist NGOs who will do what they do only for the purpose of extracting a few donated dollars from foreign sources. Perhaps, we ought to have laws restricting the solicitation and receipt of foreign funds by our local NGOs as they have in other countries.
Non-governmental organizations (NGO) are fine as long as their real purpose for being is as they state and not as Dr. Sam Vaknin writes:
“Many of them live in plush apartments, or five star hotels, drive SUV’s, sport $3,000 laptops and PDA’s. They earn a two figure multiple of the local average wage. They are busybodies, preachers, critics, do-gooders, and professional altruists
“Always self-appointed, they answer to no constituency. Though unelected and ignorant of local realities, they confront the democratically chosen and those who voted them into office. A few of them are enmeshed in crime and corruption. They are the non-governmental organizations, or NGO’s.”
If we could be rid of these types of NGOs, the Philippines would be a much better country.
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hvp 08.20.09)
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