ENDEAVOR
About 20 years ago, I sauntered from a hotel lobby to take what I had planned to be a leisurely half-hour, early morning jog and walk that offered scenic views along the banks of the Singapore River. I returned more than an hour later after completing a round trip of the city-state’s awesome skyscape and infrastructure.
In 2015, I glimpsed a similar view in a most unexpected place: Iloilo City. On the eve of the celebration of Philippine Independence Day, President Noynoy Aquino and his delegation were given a tour of the city. Just like nearly 100 ambassadors and spouses who were invited to join the traditional vin d’honneur following the flag-raising rites on Freedom Day, we were literally swept off our feet by what we witnessed. The centerpiece was the Iloilo River Esplanade, a nine-kilometer urban linear park that stretches on both sides of the river, the longest linear park in the country.
In 2016, the new Iloilo City Convention Center was the venue for ministerial meetings that preceded Manila’s hosting of the APEC leaders’ meeting at the PICC. New hotels, BPO call centers and other business buildings have mushroomed as major property developers worked to meet robust demand.
Iloilo, the legendary Queen City of the South had been transformed after painstaking efforts undertaken by local and national officials led by former Senate President Franklin Drilon.
In 2018, Iloilo City received the Galing Pook Award for excellence in local governance given by the Ford Foundation and the Local Government Academy of the DILG, for its exemplary river redevelopment project. More than 50,000 residents from 35 riverside barangays were benefited, including informal settlers who were given new homes. The project effectively resolved decades-old problems of siltation, water pollution, encroachment and illegal cutting of mangroves. It brought about “improved health, ecological sustainability, and sense of security and livability” as a result of collaborative efforts among national agencies, NGOs, academe, and civil society.
Former Senate President Drilon also continues to monitor closely the progress of the Jalaur River Multipurpose Project that he also initiated and shepherded, with significant financial support from the Korean Export-Import Bank. Recently, President Marcos and the NEDA Board approved an additional P8.4 billion outlay. The project is a pioneering initiative in the Visayas, as most large-scale irrigation projects are in Luzon. Ongoing is the construction of a 109-meter high dam, a 38-meter afterbay dam, a 10-meter Alibunan River catch dam, and the 80.7 kilometers high line canal (HLC) that will traverse nine municipalities of Iloilo province.
According to latest reports, the high dam is at 99 meters, while two other dams are substantially completed with the afterbay dam already at 38.5 meters and the catch dam at 10 meters. Almost 50 kilometers or 60 percent of the target length, of the high line canal is already covered. Project managers foresee that the dam will be operational by mid-2025.
As a member of President Aquino’s Cabinet, I witnessed the vision, perseverance and determination of then Senate President Drilon in steering the Jalaur project. When President Aquino visited South Korea in October 2013 as the first head of state to be received by then newly elected President Park Jeun-Hye, Drilon joined the delegation and conducted high level discussions to firm up the financial arrangements for the large-scale project. During and after his last six-year Senate term from 2016 to 2022, and well into the present Marcos administration, he stayed focused on his role as project champion.
I have known Franklin Magtunao Drilon since the early eighties when we were both active members of the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP). Through the years, I was privileged to witness his remarkable career as a leading labor and corporate law practitioner, a seasoned Cabinet member, and eventually as a senior leader of the nation.
He entered public service in 1986 as Deputy Minister of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), following the clamor of the private sector for balanced administration of labor and employment policy in the post-EDSA turmoil. He served as Secretary of Labor from 1987 to 1990, then Justice Secretary in 1990-1991 before he served as Executive Secretary to President Aquino until the end of her term in 1992. He was named by then President Ramos as the Justice Secretary from 1992 to 1995 before he ran and won as Senator in 1995.
All told, he was senator for 24 years, holding the distinction of being the only Senator to be have been elected as Senate President, Senate President Protempore, Senate Majority Leader and Senate Minority Leader. He has been hailed as the leading advocate of the Senate’s independence and constitutional mandate, leading the Senate in opposing moves by the House of Representatives purportedly to amend the Constitution and create a unicameral legislature.
Among his distinctive achievements as a Senator was the sponsorship of the law that created the Governance Council for Government Owned and Controlled Corporations (GCG) to ensure fiscal responsibility, and establish their accountability, fiscal responsibility, and financial stability. He also steered the enactment of the Sin Tax Law that he proudly calls the “anti-cancer law" for he firmly believes that the law would discourage the people from smoking cigarettes so that they will not suffer lung cancer.”
Former Economic Planning Secretary Gerardo Sicat wrote in the UP School of Economics journal in June 2014:
“It helped a lot that Iloilo politics got a steady hand to help manage the process at the national level. This is in the person of Senator Franklin Drilon who provided steadfast support from the national scene. As the senior leader from the region and from the city, he has succeeded in melding three aspects of political influence that are helpful to fill the city’s needs – national influence, regional economic rationale, and the imperatives of local development.
“It helped that the local politics was characterized by cooperativeness and not by internecine combat among local interests. There was more grounding in collective action. The city’s congressman, Jerry Treñas, and the city leadership, Mayor Jed Mabilog, could work together. And Drilon called the tune as well as gave support…Thus, in Iloilo, there is economic synergy in the work of the local and national leaders.”