Point of View

It’s not enough that TESDA secretary Augusto Boboy Syjuco had ceased the airing of the “Lumaban Ka” TV commercials with Sarah Geronimo — he should refund the entire amount spent by TESDA for the singer’s talent fees and airing costs.

This was the assertion made yesterday by Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada who had long chastised Syjuco for the “extravagant and unnecessary” TV commercials which he described as “nothing more but political propaganda to deodorize his rotten image.”

Mejorada said Syjuco has also not been forthright about revealing the details of his contract with Sarah Geronimo.

“The P6-million talent fee isn’t just for the production of the TV commercial but also for staging concerts around the nation with him as special performer,” Mejorada said.

Mejorada said it is apparent that TESDA funds are being used to “market” Syjuco as a senatorial candidate in this year-long concert tour of Sarah Geronimo in which he would make a “guest appearance”.

Syjuco, he said, did this in Geronimo’s Bacolod engagement last month. However, Syjuco was unable to come during her performance at the University of San Agustin two weeks ago, with Geronimo telling her audience that “Tito Boboy can’t come because he is sick,” he added.

Similar appearances took place in San Fernando, Pampanga earlier this year, and more were scheduled in the months ahead, he said.

“This is the reason Syjuco made it appear that the contract hasn’t been fully fulfilled, and that he is asking for Sarah Geronimo to either reduce the fee or do other work for TESDA,” he said.

The amount of P6 million is much too big for a TV commercial such as the TESDA ad, he said.

Mejorada described the production and airing of these “Lumaban ka” TV ads as “shameful, wasteful and sinful.”

“Syjuco tried to steal public funds by making the government pay for his early campaigning through television, and he should restitute the entire amount spent for this project,” he said.

Yesterday, Aug. 27, I spoke before the Asian Congress for Media and Communications which was holding a national convention at the Sarabia Manor Hotel. I was just supposed to give a welcome message in behalf of Governor Niel Tupas, Sr., but I took the opportunity to express my thoughts on its theme of “Cultivating Social Change in the Youth.” The audience was mostly composed of masscom professors, students and young media professionals. I am sharing these thoughts about the youth, the Internet and politics through this post.

The explosion of Internet networking sites like FaceBook, Twitter and Friendster, as well as blogs and YouTube, provide the youth an opportunity to articulate its voice on current issues affecting the nation. However, the Filipino youth today is a far cry from the fiery activism of the youth of the 70s. The youth seems detached from the problems confronting Philippine society. Indifference seems to be the dominant mood among them. This is rather unfortunate, and this national conference should craft the strategies to rekindle that fire in the youth.

This is the age of the citizen-journalist as enunciated by Sheila Coronel of the Columbia University School of Journalism. We have to motivate the youth to rise above the mere social networking that FaceBook, Twitter, Multiply, Friendster and other sites had originally intended. These can serve as discussion boards for issues of paramount importance to the nation. Let’s encourage the youth to articulate their ideas and give their collective voice an effective platform to reach a wide audience.

In the past, activists used placards and walls to express their beliefs. Today, they don’t even have to resort to vandalism to convey their message. With a few taps on their computer keyboards, they can communicate their beliefs and ideas to a far bigger audience than was possible before.  This is a golden opportunity that cannot be allowed to be wasted. Our nation can definitely grow stronger, and our people become politcally mature, once this happens.

The top leadership of the Liberal Party in Iloilo province has condemned the “utter disregard of the rule of law” and “use of brutal force” in the demolition of the house owned by provincial administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada at Sitio Balogo, Barangay Pajo, Alimodian, Iloilo last week.

Gov. Niel Tupas Sr., LP provincial chairman, said the demolition carried out by Ireneo Mondero, an employee of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) was both illegal and immoral as it was done without legal sanction and perpetrated only to achieve the selfish political ends of TESDA secretary Augusto Syjuco.

“You cannot just physically remove a house and get rid of a political rival that way,” Tupas said.

Barotac Viejo municipal mayor Raul “Boboy” Tupas, who is running for governor under the Liberal Party  next year, also deplored the malicious motive behind the demolition, which he said reminds him of the brutal Marcos tactics during martial law when the regime trampled upon human rights with impunity.

The younger Tupas said the action was blatantly illegal as Mejorada clearly had a vested right in that house, and its construction was made with the consent of Mondero.

Mejorada put up a house on a lot owned by Mondero in Barangay Pajo sometime in February this year when he started developing a small vegetable farm in the area.

Mejorada said he had agreed to buy that piece of property from Mondero for a consideration of P60,000. He made a down payment of P10,000 with the balance due in one year, he said.

When Syjuco learned about Mejorada’s house in Barangay Pajo, he ordered the hiring of Mondero at the regional office of TESDA and began to pressure him to throw out the provincial official from the premises, he said.

“Iren (Mondero) admitted to me that he was under immense pressure from Syjuco to eject me from the property,” Mejorada said.

“Syjuco must have known that it would take a protracted court litigation for Mondero to force me out of the property, which is why he ordered his subordinate to physically destroy the house,” he added.

Mejorada said he had already registered as voter of the barangay in April this year. He is convinced this is the reason why Syjuco is desperate about getting rid of his presence there, he said.

Mejorada said he was “shocked” and “pained” when he went to the place last Friday, Aug. 21, to visit his farm and found the house gone.

He said he confronted Mondero about it afterwards and learned that the latter had led the workers who knocked down the house.

“He (Mondero) admitted he had personally led the demolition of the house without my knowledge and consent,” he said.

“When I asked him why this happened, he only looked at me with sad and tearful eyes, and shook his head,” he added.

Mejorada said he understood the message that Mondero’s sad expression and silence conveyed. “He was telling me it was upon orders of his employer,” he said.