The vindication of Delfin Lee

Delfin Lee fields questions during presscon at Prestige, Xevera-Mabalacat on March 5, 2026. Author behind him serving as moderator. 

AS MUCH for Delfin Lee as for the thousands of homeowners in his Xevera developments in Bacolor, Pampanga and Mabalacat City who have kept faith in him is Lee’s full vindication that came with RTC Branch 41 Judge Joel C. Bantasan granting on Feb. 25 the demurrer to evidence that effectively acquitted Lee and four other co-accused of the crime of estafa.

The case stemmed from alleged use of “ghost borrowers” to get ₱6.6 billion housing loans from the Home Development Mutual Fund, or Pag-IBIG fund, from 2008 to 2011. For which Lee was arrested in 2014 and detained at the Pampanga Provincial Jail for four years and a half before allowed to post bail by the Supreme in 2018. 

Lee's homecoming after SC ordered his release from jail in September 2018. 

In a 7-5 vote with two abstentions, the High Court dismissed the petition filed in 2014 by the Department of Justice and Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) seeking the reversal of a Pampanga Regional Trial Court (RTC) ruling in 2013. It also lifted the temporary restraining order it issued in March 2014 that prevented Lee’s release from the jail as ordered by the Court of Appeals.

In November 2013, the CA ordered the Pampanga RTC to terminate the trial of the charges against Lee and recall the arrest warrant against him. But the DOJ and Pag-IBIG filed a temporary restraining order with the SC preventing the CA ruling from being implemented.

That it took all of 12 years – over four in detention – before this acquittal bemoans that travesty of justice delivery gone so trite it has become a truism. That Lee was even taken to court, much less jailed, is even the greater tragedy.

For, everything about Delfin Lee was all too grand in goodness to warrant even an iota of wrongdoing, more so a syndicated estafa scheme. Indeed, everything about Delfin Lee was celebratory in those times, as chronicled in the local media, to wit:  

AUGUST 2008. “Xevera is the best thing that happened to Bacolor, getting richer not just in terms of income but pride and honor as well. This project gives a chance to poor people to own their own houses at a very beautiful site.”

So lauded Mayor Romeo Dungca at the turnover ceremony of the Xevera housing project in Barangay Calibutbut presided over by Vice President Noli De Castro and Globe Asiatique’s Delfin Lee in the presence of Pag- IBIG president-CEO Atty. Miro Quimbo.

JANUARY 2009. “This is a phenomenon. I haven’t seen one quite like this in the whole country.”

Thus, said Oriental Mindoro Rep. Rodolfo Valencia, chair of the House of Representatives committee on housing and urban development, as he toured the Xevera housing project in Barangay Tabun, Mabalacat.

“This (Xevera) should be imitated by other developers,” said Valencia, who himself is in the real estate business.

JANUARY 2009. “Bili na kayo. P5,000 lang a month at walang down payment.”

A jovial President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called out as she inspected three townhouses at the P6-billion Xevera housing project in Barangay Tabun. She first graced the Lakas-CMD caucus at Holiday Inn Resort-Clark before proceeding to the new P70-million Mabalacat town hall donated by Xevera developer Delfin Lee of Globe Asiatique.

“They’re beautiful and affordable,” Arroyo told Lee and Subic Clark Alliance for Development Council (SCADC) chairman Sec. Edgardo Pamintuan as they went inside the two-storey houses costing about P5,000 a month through Pag-IBIG funds.

“Ah, simbahan ya pala (oh, it’s a church),” said the beaming President as she took notice of the Sanctuario de San Angelo.

Arroyo, wearing a red dress, witnessed Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales hand over to Lee a resolution making him “adopted son of Mabalacat for his immense contribution to the development of the first-class municipality.”

APRIL 2009. SCADC chairman Pamintuan described Lee as “a silent developer, unassuming and self-effacing.” He added that as a friend, “Lee won’t forget you.”

Deng Pangilinan, two-time president of the Pampanga Press Club, said Lee is a “decent man who has genuine heart for the poor.”

“It’s a dream come true for the press to have houses of their own. It took a private individual to make that possible,” said Pangilinan.

MAY 2009. Education Secretary Jesli Lapus led the turnover of the P100-million integrated school at Xevera-Mabalacat, bolstering this town’s commitment to provide free quality education.

Lapus, Xevera Developer Delfin Lee, ABS-CBN executive Gina Lopez and other regional Department of Education officials signed the deed of donation for the school named after Asuncion Lee, mother of Delfin.

Lapus expressed elation over the “beautiful school,” saying as if “you are in California when you are in Xevera.”

JUNE 2009. A housing subdivision recently cited by the United Nations and government officials for plotting the template of urban development in the country, was once again mentioned as the number one factor in the 92% growth rate of the housing loan takeout of Pag-IBIG Fund in Northern and Central Luzon.

“It’s unprecedented,” said newly appointed Pag-IBIG Fund CEO Jaime Fabiaña during an interview with journalists at the Developers’ Forum of the Pag-IBIG Fund Home Development Mutual Fund held at the Holiday Land function hall in the City of San Fernando.

Fabiaña, who gave the opening remarks during the forum, said the Xevera housing projects in Bacolor and Mabalacat in Pampanga have greatly contributed to the rise in their housing loan takeout. “Saan ka makakakita ng subdivision na kumpleto?” Mayroon nang eskuwelahan, munisipyo, palengke at iba pa.”

The Pag-IBIG CEO went on to praise Xevera for a having a “buyback” program of five years instead of only two years. He explained that Xevera is classified under window number one where processing is done much less because of its proven track record and reputation.

OCTOBER 2015. Even in jail, Delfin Lee was never wanting in laudations for the good that he has done.

“Delfin Lee is the greatest miracle that has ever happened to my town. See how he transformed the howling wilderness of lahar that is Barangay Tabun, into the bustling, cosmopolitan community that is Xevera- Mabalacat,” hailed Mayor Boking Morales. “There is inherent goodness in his heart, so manifest in his willingness to invest, not only his material resources, but his very self in uplifting the dignity of his fellowmen, most especially the small people.’

 Pampanga 1st District Rep. Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin speaking: “If there is one person that can help uplift the lives of Filipinos by solving the problem of informal settlers in the country, that will be Delfin Lee.”

The scion of Pampanga’s landed gentry could only gush in admiration: “I am also a developer but with what Delfin Lee did to Xevera, he upped the ante, making it a difficult challenge for us to emulate.”

THEN, AS NOW, the question remains: Why did Delfin Lee ever land in jail?

 

 

 

Balik-tanaw: Diwa ng Himagsikan

 

ISANG MADUGONG pakikibaka tungo sa pagbagsak ng naghaharing uri.

Ito ang klasikong bigay-kahulugan sa katagang rebolusyon o himagsikan. Kahulugan na umusbong mula sa pagkalas sa Inang Inglatera ng 13 nagkaisang kolonya ng Amerika noong 1776, at sa pag-aklas sa Pransiya laban kay Louis XVI noong 1789.

Naging modelo rin ng klasikong kahulugan ang himagsikang Sobyet ni Lenin noong 1917, ang digmaang sibil sa Tsina noong dekada ’40 na pinagwagian ni Mao, at ang tagumpay ni Castro at Guevara sa Cuba noong 1959.

Hindi natatapos ang himagsikan sa pagbagsak ng naghaharing uri. Sa kaisipang Marxista-Leninista-Maoista, nakaukit ang pangangailangan ng isang patuloy na himagsikan, kaipala’y upang harangin ang likas na pagnanasa ng mga ibinagsak na makabalik muli sa poder at sa rurok ng pamamahala sa estado. Sa wikang Ingles: the need for a continuing revolution to block counter-revolution by the reactionary forces, both foreign and home-grown.

Ang reaksyonaryong puwersa ang pinakamasidhing kalaban ng himagsikan. Ito ang sagabal na bibigo, sisilat o kikitil sa kaganapan ng tagumpay ng himagsikan: ang pagtaas ng antas ng pamumuhay ng masa. Na matutupad lamang kung ang liderato ng pamahalaan ay manggagaling mismo sa kanilang hanay.

Suriin natin ang ilang aspeto ng kasaysayan.

Hindi natapos ang himagsikan sa Amerika nang isuko kay Washington ni Cornwallis ang lahat ng puwersang Ingles sa Yorktown, Virginia noong 1781 gayong ganap nang naglaho ang tangan ni George III sa 13 nagkaisang estado.

Bagama’t itinadhana ng Declaration of Independence ng mga estadong ito na ang lahat ng tao ay nilalang ng Diyos na pantay-pantay, hindi kasali dito ang may 650,000 aliping Itim, 250,000 aliping bayad-utang, at 300,000 katutubong Amerikano o Indian na noo’y naninirahan sa mga kolonya. Pati na ang mga kababaihan ay hindi sakop ng pahayag ng kasarinlan.

Kinailangan pa ang Emancipation Proclamation ni Lincoln at ang digmaang sibil noong 1861-1864 o kulang-kulang 100 taon mula Himagsikang 1776 upang mapalaya ang mga Itim sa pagka-alipin.

Kinailangan pa ang martsa ni Martin Luther King at ang kanyang talumpating I Have a Dream sa Washington, D.C. noong 1963 o 100 taon na naman mula kay Lincoln upang maging ganap ang pagsasa-batas ng kalayaan ng mga Itim at maging kapantay ng mga Puti sa mga karapatan.

Ang kada-100 taon na mga kaganapan na yaon ang maituturing na milestones in the continuing revolution sa Amerika. (Na masasabing nagkaroon ng sukdulang kaganapan sa pagkahalal kay Obama bilang unang Itim na pangulo ng Estados Unidos noong 2008).

Iba naman ang kinahinatnan ng himagsikan sa Pransiya. Pinugutan ng ulo si Louis XVI at kanyang reynang Marie Antoinette. Ang mga naghahari at nagpaparing uri – monarkiya at simbahan – ay binawian ng poder, ari-arian, pati na rin buhay.

Sa pagkawala ng aristokratang hanay, uring burgis ang namayani, naghari at nang-api sa masang Pranses. Ginipit ang mga unyong manggagawa, sinupil ang karapatan ng mga maliliit at tuwirang nilapastangan ang adhikain ng himagsikan – liberte, egalite, fraternite.

Naghari ang lagim, namayani ang sindak sa reign of terror – na kumitil sa buhay ng daan-daang mamamayan mula sa iba’t ibang sektor ng lipunan. Sumiklab ang pag-aalsa at malawakang kaguluhan na nagbigay daan sa isang golpe militar na nagbunga sa pagbulusok ni Napoleon Bonaparte na siyang nakapagpatahimik sa bansa at nagpanumbalik sa monarkiya sa pamamagitan ng kanyang pagkorona sa kanyang sarili bilang emperador.

Si Lincoln at Napoleon, pati na rin sina Lenin, Mao at Castro – magkakaiba ng pananaw, paninindigan, pamamaraan, at landasin subalit lahat sila’y tinaguriang mga bayani ng kasaysayan dahil sa kanilang kahalagahan sa critical moment sa buhay ng kanilang bansa. Ito ay ayon sa Kanluraning kaisipan na pinasikat ni Arnold Toynbee sa kanyang A Study of History.

Tunghayan naman natin ang sarili nating kasaysayan.

Sa isang talata ng kanyang epikong Bayang Malaya ay ipinaloob ni Ka Amado Hernandez ang kasaysayan ng Pilipinas:

“Nagsuot ng kalmeng bigay ng Espanya,

kalmen nang lumaon ay naging kadena.

At itong Amerika na bagong katoto ang dala’y de-lata,

laya ang kinuha ininom ang bayang parang Coca-Cola.”

Isang naunsyaming rebolusyon ang Himagsikang 1896 dahil inagaw ng mga Amerikano ang tagumpay mula sa ating mga Pilipino.

Sa EDSA noong 1986 ay ipinangalandakan na nagkaroon na ng kaganapan ang 1896. Maliban sa pagkarambol lamang ng mga numero ng mga taon, ito ay isang paglapastangan sa kasaysayan.

Ang pagkakaroon ng EDSA Dos ang malinaw na patunay na wala ngang himagsikang nangyari noong 1986. At wala ring himagsikang naganap sa EDSA nitong 2001 sa pagkatalsik ni Estrada. Hindi dahil sa walang dumanak na dugo. Kundi dahil walang naganap na pagbabago. Lalo’t higit walang pagbuti sa antas ng buhay ng mga mamamayan.

Ang naganap ay isang rigodon lamang kung saan mukha lamang ang nagkaroon ng palitan sa liderato ng bayan. Mula sa isang naghaharing uri, isinalin ang poder sa kanilang kauri. Naisulat ko nga sa likod ng kaha ng sigarilyo matapos ang rurok ng kaluwalhatiang hatid ng EDSA noong 1986:

Wala.

Walang himagsikan sa EDSA.

Kumaripas ng takbo ang lahi ni Hudas,

Pumalit nama’y lipi ni Barabas.

Ano ang nabago?

Mukha.

Hindi prinsipiyo.

Adhika ng liderato: palawigin ang status quo –

Piyudal na agraryo, burukrata kapitalismo,

Bansa’y sakmal pa rin ng puting tsonggo.

Aklas ng bayan, pinagsamantalahan

Trahedya ni Bonifacio muling nagka-kaganapan,

Imbing ilustrado ang nakinabang.

Wala.

Walang himagsikan sa EDSA.

Burgis, uring naghahari pa rin;

Ang masa, sa araw at gabi, inaalipustang alipin.

Ano ang nagbago?

1986. Pinatalsik ng bayan sa panguluhan si Ferdinand Edralin Marcos. 2022. Pinili ng bayan sa pagkapangulo si Ferdinand Romuladez Marcos Jr.

Tatlungpu’t siyam na taon – o isang henerasyon lamang – ang lumipas burado na lahat – hindi na nga ginawang piyesta opisyal – ang araw ng EDSA.

Wala, wala sa EDSA ang himagsikang Pilipino.

Pagtibayin ang puso, tungo sa panibago at pina-igting na pakikibaka.

(BALIK-TANAW sa pinaglumaang yugto ng kasaysayan, hawi sa lukut-lukot na pahina ng dyaryong dating pinagsulatan, petsang Pebrero 19, 2001 at muli’t muling nililimbag ng may mga napapanahong karagdagan. Sinipi - 25 Pebrero 2025)

 

BCDA trashed for waste project

“NGAYON PA lang po ay sinasabi ko na sa inyo, tumututol po kami.”

Vehement was Capas, Tarlac Mayor Roseller “Boots” Rodriguez in declaring his people’s resistance to the waste-to-energy project the Bases Conversion and Development Authority is impacting in Barangay O’Donnell: the constituency’s opposition officially embodied in the Capas sangguniang bayan resolution passed at the committee of the whole hearing on Feb. 18.

 

Gallery erupts in applause as Mayor Rodriguez declares opposition to WTE.

The hearing itself was prompted by an urgent “manifesto of concern” of O’Donnell barangay chair Wendell Mercado over the BCDA “water and dump site project.”

“Para na itong pambabastos sa LGU,” noted Vice Mayor Alex Espinosa of the BCDA equipment already on site without any prior coordination with the barangay or the local government.

                  SP hearing ‘manifesto of concern’

Rodriguez himself took the BCDA to task for its apparent consultative deficiency. “Ang sinasabi naman po sa Local Government Code, it’s clear, whatever the project of the national agency, that will affect the environment and the community, that there should be a prior consultation.”

“What you told us before, it’s not a prior consultation. Inabisuhan niyo po kami noon na itatayo na. So, it’s not a consultation,” the mayor told BCDA representatives during the hearing, referencing to a previous BCDA visit to his office where he was presented with printed Google maps of the site that did not show nearby houses and barangays, and was told they would first secure the barangay chairman’s approval before returning for further discussions.

Apparently, the BCDA reneged on its word as Barangay O’Donnel chair Mercado told the hearing that BCDA personnel have been conducting activities in the area almost weekly despite his calls for suspension pending discussion: “Ang sabi ko nga po sa kanila na huwag munang magde-draining, pag-usapan muna namin pero patuloy pa rin po yung pagde-draining nila, napakakulit po nila.”

Mayor Rodriguez has officially requested BCDA to remove all equipment from the site and halt all activities there to ease the fears of residents.

No permit?

Citing the need for the residents’ acceptance of the project, a representative of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-CENRO Capas disclosed that they have not issued any permit to BCDA for the project, reported the online publication Tarlakenyo.

“Sa part naman po ng DENR, once na meron po silang social acceptability, doon na po kami papasok,” the representative was quoted as saying. “Pero ang unang-una po yung social acceptability of the residents, ‘yun po muna ang ating kukunin.”

To which, the sangguniang bayan reacted that absent compliance with the DENR requirements mandated by RA 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act), “the project is illegal.”

“Napakaliwanag na di porke't pare-parehas na nasa gobyerno, ay hindi na tayo susunod sa mga kakailanganing dokumento na hihingiin ng batas. Sana ay mag-comply po kayo,” one councilor noted.

BCDA inconsistency

Capas municipal environment and natural resources officer Gener Tanhueco raised what he said were inconsistencies in BCDA planning, recalling that at the March 2023 anniversary celebration of the Metro Clark Waste Management Corp., BCDA officials were present when the then-Kalangitan sanitary landfill operator announced they would construct a waste-to-energy project in their area.

“So, how come, after two…three years, biglang pinasara ang Metro Clark? Hindi kinonsider ang waste-to-energy na pino-propose nila. Tapos biglang-bigla, yun nga magtatayo [ng waste-to-energy project] sa Barangay O’Donnell?” asked Tanhueco.

 

                          Kalangitan landfill shutdown

MCWMC’s operation of the Kalangitan landfill ended in 2024 after a contentious legal battle with the BCDA, maintaining that “a sanitary landfill is no longer consistent with the government’s vision of transforming New Clark City into a premier investment and tourism destination.”

While Mayor Rodriguez conceded that the community had already accepted the closure of the sanitary landfill, concerns persist over its long-term impact on the environment.

Asking the BCDA thus: “Ang tanong po namin sa ngayon, doon po ba sa Kalangitan landfill nakapag-submit na po ba or meron na po ba kayong closure plan sa landfill doon? Alam naman po natin na ang landfill kapag iniwan na, 30 years po ang hihintayin bago magiging maayos yung lupa.”

Like much of the queries from the sangguniang floor, Rodriguez’s went unanswered, the BCDA representative identified as one Fatima de Jesus apologizing for the absence of any technical personnel in their team, assuring the council that the concerns raised would be relayed to BCDA management, and requesting of another hearing.

Oblique response

On Feb. 23, five days after the Capas hearing, the BCDA posted on its FB page: WTE GAINS DENR SUPPORT, unleashing a torrent of PRs whitewashing, by happenstance if not by intention, the town’s opposition to the planned facility, to wit:

a)     DENR Secretary Raphael P. M. Lotilla expressed support for the development of the country’s first large-scale waste-to-energy (WTE) facility in New Clark City.

b)     A consultation was recently held among DENR, BCDA, the project consortium, and representatives from the academe to discuss the planned project, which is positioned primarily as a modern waste management solution to address growing solid waste challenges in the region.

c)     BCDA president and CEO Joshia Bingcang emphasizing: “This project directly contributes to the national agenda of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. by strengthening environmental protection, supporting energy security, and introducing modern waste management systems. It demonstrates how infrastructure development can deliver long-term environmental and economic value for the country.”

 

          BCDA foto of top-echelon consultation

Which, in effect, bared more contradictions and infirmities in the actions of the national government on the issue, to wit:

a)     How can Lotilla support the WTE that his own people in Capas said did not have the reglementary social acceptability pursuant to the issuance of a permit?

b)     A consultation was indeed held among the WTE proponents with the academe for obvious cosmetics, but not among the people of Capas, they who shall bear with the social and other costs of the planned facility, that which is mandated in the Local Government Code. This is discrimination, if not classism, of which BCDA is turning to be a master: think of the Aetas in NCC, the shareholders brouhaha in John Hay, and yes, the highhandedness in the case of the Kalangitan landfill.          

c)     While the WTE project may contribute to the national agenda of President Marcos, its pursuit by the BCDA is a total negation of the president’s express policy for government agencies to secure local government unit approval before implementing national government-funded projects, to wit: 

“Dati, ang sistema, pagka may project sa isang lugar, halimbawa, mayor ako        na may project ng DPWH o contractor doon sa lugar ko, magkokonsulta sa local government,” Marcos Jr. had said during the inspection of flood control projects in Tuba, Benguet in August last year. “Hindi lang, ‘pag malaki ang project, hini-hearing ‘yan from barangay to municipal to province. Walang ganoon. Walang ganoon na ginawa dito sa lahat na ito [flood control projects]. We are bringing that back because it was removed in the last administration. We are putting it back since it is one of the best safeguards we have.”  

Is BCDA discarding that “best safeguard” in its pursuit of the P4-billion waste-to-water facility in Barangay O’Donnell, Capas, Tarlac?

                                 BCDA’s WTE artcard  

That, ultimately, is the proverbial P400-million question, so to speak in the Filipino context, rising out of the Capas SB hearing.

(Sources: Sangguniang Bayan ng Capas FB Page, Tarlakenyo, BCDA Group FB Page)

 

 

 

 

 

The farce that was EDSA

                        photograbbed online

FORTY YEARS ago this month, the EDSA Revolt gifted the world with “people power.” The phrase was readily accredited to Cardinal Sin after he went on air to call on the nation “to use your power as a people” initially to “save” the embattled mutineers led by Enrile and Ramos from sure annihilation by the Marcos forces.

I do not mean to pull the rug from under the long dearly departed Sin. In the April 8-14, 1984 issue of The Voice – two months short of two years before EDSA Uno, the phrase already appeared in my column Ingkung Milio, thus titled:

People Power and the Filipino

IN THE annals of political struggles, war included, people power has long claimed its rightful place as the major determining factor in the outcome.

This power received its utmost glorification in the social philosophies of Marx as embodied in his Communist Manifesto and put to empirical application in the Soviet and Chinese revolutions and countless other uprisings in those moulds, as well as in the failed Allende experiment in Chile.

That great Asian, Mao Tse-tung summed up the potency of people power in various quotations in his Little Red Book, most prominent of which was: “The people are the ocean, we are the fish that swim in that ocean.” There too was his stratagem of marshalling the people from the countrysides toward the encirclement of the cities.

With all these leftward tendencies of people power harnessing, populism has come to be identified with the communist prescription of wresting power from the ruling circle.
In its essence however, any move, be it parliamentary or revolutionary, has to mobilize people power to reach its successful or liberating end.

While we have seen people power in the collective anguish and indignation over Ninoy Aquino’s assassination, we have yet to see it in terms of concrete moves directed at our socio-economic and political liberation.

Our history as a people is so replete with the kisses of Judas that they have become part and parcel of the Filipino psyche. The betrayal of the Katipunan, Vicos to Diego Silang, the Macabebe scouts in Tirad Pass and Palanan (as held at that time), the Makapili during the Japanese Occupation, not to mention the American boys and unconscionable cronies, are glaring examples of the quislings who have always sold their country and their people in exchange for personal gains.

More glaring even are the current events related to the coming Batasan polls. The Opposition is united only in name – the first term in its acronym UNIDO. Beyond that, there is not even the finest thread that holds them together.

True, they all have an aversion to Marcos. Truer yet, they all draw “strength and inspiration” from the martyred Ninoy Aquino. Truest tough, there is no clear-cut, selfless, and nationalistic ideological basis for all their actions. Rather, it is a case of everyone to his own selfish motive and ambition. 

                                  photograbbed online

Invoking guidance from the sacrifice of Ninoy, they aspire – conspire may be the apt word – to move the people to exercise their potency for change. Not for the people’s own welfare, in the ultimate analysis, but for the advancement of their personal political ambitions. 

It is Robespierre and his manipulation of the French masses in the 1790s all over again. Nearer home, it is the Tejeros debacle re-staged in a not-totally dissimilar setting.

The fault however does not solely lie in these opportunists. Much of the blame is traceable to the people themselves.

The people, in all naivete and perhaps due to their fatalism bred by colonizers, foreign and home-grown, have been so accustomed to their hapless state that they could not see a power greater than the gun or the peso, even the devalued one. Bonifacio’s walis tingting has yet to form from the countless coconut ribs lying for the picking. For a mere pittance, even those who wailed the most at Aquino’s wake and funeral found themselves like sheep herded to provide an audience to some ruler’s folly.

We will see more of these idiocies until May 14. To impress the greater mass of voters, politicians would pay for every shout of “Mabuhay!”, for every wearer of a vote T-shirt, for every trumped-up attestation of love for a candidate.

People power? In many a Third World country, this is the new order of things. In the Philippines, it is seen more in the powerlessness of the people to rise, stomp their feet, and state that enough is enough. 

Ah, yes, despite all these, there is people power in this nation of cowards, to quote Mansfield. To us that power is the people’s strength in crying out in pain for years, and their power to bear all sorts of insults and injustice. And their powerful refusal too to transform anguish into a fiery zeal for their own liberation. 

Ninoy, you may have been wrong. It seems the Filipino is not worth dying for. (First reprinted in Punto! on February 16, 2008)

                          Photo: Romeo Gacad/AFP

AND THEN came EDSA Uno.

A vindication of Ninoy, his widow in yellow triumphant. Shining moment of the Filipino before the admiring world. Brief shining moment like the mythical Camelot, it turned out. Within 10 years, the Marcoses were back, their northern bailiwick as strong as ever.

A short 15 years after, EDSA Dos came. No, not against the dictator’s remnants, but one petty excuse for a president.

Another Aquino, the BS III in an interregnum of sorts, sampling Pampanga’s Glory-Been in his self-caricature of Mr. Clean.

In another 15 years from EDSA’s second coming, the nation descended to Duterte’s despotism. 

                             photograbbed online 

2022. But one generation removed from the original EDSA, comes the son and namesake of the dictator at the cusp of claiming his birthright to the presidency.

Never again. Never forget. Not ever in the Filipino, alas.

Marx paraphrased: History repeating itself in the tragedy that was Marcos Senior and the farce that is Marcos Junior.

And now Duterte daughter drooling over 2028.

Santayana impacted: Unlearning of the lessons of history, we are a people dumbed, we are a nation damned.

Rabelais dead-on: “Draw the curtains, the farce is played.”

Game over.

 

Connector road to NLEX: Can Vilma do a Geld?

NO GHOST project but something of a white elephant is the San Fernando Tourism Road designed to link the MacArthur Highway in Barangay Del Rosario to the NLEX Mexico toll plaza.

Broad and cemented, the road has been practically completed for some time now, but its eastern phase crossing Calulut Centro Ave. has remained closed, leading as it is to nowhere with construction stopped right at its planned terminus abutting the perimeter fence of the NLEX Mexico toll plaza area. Look up Google Map, better yet watch that YouTube reel of moto vlogger Froilan Does (stills in this article) and get a so-near-and-yet-so-far miserable vibe at the forlorn site. 

That it took the Pampanga Business Circle to call the attention of Mayor Vilma Balle-Caluag and the Department of Public Works and Highways over government obliviousness to this all-too-obvious “a strategic traffic decongestion measure that will improve road safety, mobility, and economic flow in the area” speaks of negligence, if not indifference, or worst, ignorance of the magnitude of the road in the overall traffic scheme of the city.

As PBC senior fellow Rene Romero noted in his letter to the mayor and the DPWH-3 director, once completed and properly integrated into the NLEX access system, the connector road would “provide a direct and efficient approach to the expressway, divert a significant volume of vehicles away from overloaded intersections, reduce congestion along the Mexico-Calulut corridor and nearby junctions, and improve overall traffic distribution and travel efficiency.”

The business leader is precisely citing the very reason for the conceptualization and construction of the SF Tourism Road.

It is almost a decade ago – in September 2016 – since local media reported then-Department of Tourism Region 3 director Ronnie Tiotuico announcing that his agency funded with some P1 billion the construction of a “new convergence road” to be facilitated by the DPWH.

Dubbed as Tourism Road Infrastructure Project, Tiotuico said the road would traverse Barangays Del Rosario, Sindalan, and Malpitic, connecting the FVR Megadike Road to the NLEX-Mexico Exit.

Enthused then-Mayor Edwin Santiago: "Aside from the development bringing us more tourists, makakatulong din ito sa panawagan natin na i-decongest ang MacArthur Highway at mabawasan ang traffic sa ating major highways."

The tourism road, Tiotuico said then, was the third to be funded by the DOT after the Friendship Circumferential Road portion or the "Paning Road' in Barangay Telabastagan and Pandan Road in Angeles City “which are all intended to attract more tourists to the region.”

Tiotuico furthered that the road was expected to be finished and open for motorists by the end of that year, in time for the Christmas season.

That was, again, in September 2016, and indeed the long stretch from MacArthur Highway to the Calulut-Bulaon Road crossing was subsequently opened to motorists.

Less than two years later – in June 2018 – local media again reported that a total of 220 trees, including molave and African Talisay, and Japanese bushes were planted along that operational stretch of the tourism road in observance of that year’s Philippine Arbor Day.

Not much else was reported about the SF Tourism Road thereafter. But for some bikers and motorcycle riders who can squeeze through the concrete and makeshift barricades at the road’s entry going to NLEX, that portion has largely faded from the public consciousness, jolted recently with the PBC letter. 

The window of opportunity for the completion of the SF Tourism Road though opened widest, so to speak, with Mabalacat City’s similarly-situated Atlu-Bola Bypass Road, both being connector roads to the NLEX. 

It is to Mayor Geld Aquino’s credit – to his singularity of purpose and determined action, not to mention respectful but persistent engagements with the agencies concerned, DPWH, NLEX, Toll Regulatory Board, and Pampanga 1^st District Rep. Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin Jr. – that in less than six months the Atlu-Bola Bypass Road materialized from conception to construction, and in two more months to completion.   

As with the Atlu-Bola Bypass, so with the SF Tourism Road. Mayor Caluag may very well take a page from Mayor Aquino’s playbook… Uh-oh, guess I just shoved my foot in my mouth there. 

How insolent of me to even think of propounding that to the honorable Mayor Vilma Balle Caluag, gloriously hailed as “The Most Influential Filipina Woman in the World” by that most prestigious Foundation for Filipina Women’s Network. 

Aye, when her mere kembot on Tiktok will do the trick. 

Google Map photograb/Road photos: Froilan Does/Photos: CSFP-CIO, Mabalacat City News 

 

Persistence pays for Mayor Geld, Atlu-Bola Bypass Road constructed

 

MABALACAT CITY – Dogged determination defines Mayor Atty. Gerald Guttrie “Geld” P. Aquino, if only for his resolute pursuit of solutions to his city’s traffic problems, which – at least in one instance – has yielded spectacularly immediate – in the scheme of things infrastructural hereabouts – most favorable results.    

The case in point here is the Sta. Ines-Atlu Bola Bypass Road. Aquino’s singularity of purpose well documented in local news platforms and Punto! foto stories datelined Mabalacat City, chronologically, to wit:  

Aug. 26, 2025. NLEX, LGU IN TRAFFIC TALKS

Mayor Atty. Geld Aquino has engaged the assistance of the North Luzon Expressway Corp. to develop a comprehensive analysis of the city’s traffic situation as well as the harmonization of projects to ease traffic flow and mobility. Among those discussed in a meeting at the NLEX head office in Balintawak on Aug. 26 was the Sta. Ines-Atlu-Bola Bypass Road eyed to provide direct access to the NLEX Exit in Sta. Ines and ease traffic flow to and from the city proper.

Nov. 13, 2025. BYPASS ROAD TO NLEX

Mayor Atty. Geld Aquino and NLEX Corp. president Luis Reñon lead a site inspection for the proposed Mabalacat Bypass Road that will connect NLEX Sta. Ines Exit to the barangays of Mangalit and Atlu-Bola to alleviate heavy traffic flow to the city proper and its contiguous areas. Joining the inspection are NLEX Corp. AVP for business development Vic Apuzen, city engineer Rod de Leon, and city planning and development office chief Rosan Paquia. 

Prior to the inspection, the group met with Toll Regulatory Board executive director Atty. Jose Arturo Tugade in Clark Freeport to review project alignment, required documents, and project impact on the community.

In the past months, Mayor Aquino had consultative meetings on the bypass project with TRB, Department of Transportation, and the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp.

JAN. 23, 2026. BYPASS ROAD TO NLEX APPROVED

Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon, on Jan. 23, HAS confirmed to Mayor Geld Aquino the approval of the Atlu-Bola Bypass Road which will provide an alternative route to the NLEX Sta. Ines Exit, the Mabalacat City Information Office said.

Jan. 29, 2026. PLANS FOR BYPASS ROAD FINALIZED

Technical details, implementation timelines, and inter-agency coordination were focus of the discussion towards the finalization of plans connecting the Atlu Bola Bypass Road to the NLEX Sta. Ines Exit among Mayor Geld Aquino, NLEX president Luis Reñon, NLEX AVP Vik Apuzen DPWH Assistant Secretary Suzanne Marie Ramos-Liwanag, and DPWH Region 3 director Arnold Ocampo along with their technical staff. Approved earlier by Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon, the project aims to ease traffic, improve expressway access, and boost Mabalacat City’s long-term economic growth.

Jan. 31, 2026. BYPASS ROAD TO NLEX GOOD TO GO

There is no other way but all-systems-go for the Mabalacat Bypass Road that will connect NLEX Sta. Ines Exit to the barangays of Mangalit and Atlu-Bola to alleviate heavy traffic flow to the city proper and its contiguous areas.

This, after the high-profile inspection of the site by Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon, NLEX Corp. president and general manager Luis Reñon, Pampanga 1^st District Rep. Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin Jr., and Mayor Atty. Geld Aquino.

Expressing bullishness over the prospect of bypass roads greatly contributing to the efforts of Mayor Aquino to make Mabalacat City the premier industrial-commercial hub of Central Luzon, Dizon said the DPWH is also looking into the funding of the Dolores Connector Road and bypass road to the Clark-Mabalacat-Angeles Road in Barangay San Joaquin connecting to the Pampanga Technopark being developed by AyalaLand in Barangay Tabun.

Feb. 13, 2026. ‘3-BALLS’ BYPASS ROAD UP FOR COMPLETION IN 2 MONTHS

Exactly 13 days after the Jan. 31 high-profile site-inspection by Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon, NLEX Corp. president and general manager Luis Reñon, Pampanga 1st District Rep. Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin Jr., and Mayor Atty. Geld Aquino, materials testing and concrete pouring are already being undertaken by the DPWH on the construction of the Sta. Ines–Atlu Bola Bypass Road connecting NLEX Sta. Ines Exit to the barangays of Mangalit and Atlu-bola to alleviate heavy traffic flow to the city proper and its contiguous areas. The project has a timeline of two months for completion.

LESS THAN six months from consultation to construction – seeing completion in the next two months. No mean feat there for Mayor Geld Aquino. Not without, of course, the DPWH and NLEX Corp. finding common cause to bring it all about. In fine, a confluence of will, purpose, determination, action with Aquino as catalyst.