Cebu Daily News / Opinion

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COLOR OF WATER Color of Water : Presidential temper By Malou Guanzon-Apalisok Cebu Daily News Posted date: August 28, 2008 Finally, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will start the ball rolling for the construction of the bridge project in barangays Canduman and Cabancalan in Mandaue City. It had to take direct orders from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to summon DPWH officials to attend to the project at once. The bridge project is one of 6th District Rep. Nerissa “Nerry” Soon-Ruiz’s pet proposals and her closeness to PGMA had made it possible for the infrastructure to be included in the DPWH 2008 program list. But as the presidential visit in Cebu has shown, approval and funding do not necessarily mean the project will take off. The lawmaker in the district also has to have the ear of the President. Still, Nerry needed to handle the situation evenly, lest she antagonizes top officials in the implementing agency. The timing to bring the problem to President Arroyo’s attention presented itself when she came to Cebu last Sunday for the inauguration of the new Sacred Heart School campus. Since the bridge site is located near the exclusive school, Nerry was able to convince the President to visit the site as the project would address traffic congestion near the new campus. In any event, when PGMA issued the instruction to DPWH officials, led by Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane, to start the bidding process “tomorrow” to emphasize her impatience over slow-footed Cabinet officials, did media colleagues expect the President to scold her underlings during the on-site inspection? The famous presidential temper came to the fore, once again, during the taping of a speech over the Mindanao situation in Malacañang last Aug. 18. It was a mild controversy that immediately placed the President in the radar screen of critics. Reports were sketchy as to who made a mess of the taping, whether it was Radio TV Malacañang people or an undersecretary. The whole incident created a ruckus among Malacañang beat reporters, who, in filing their reports, virtually chewed on how PGMA blew her top that day. As a media worker, I have witnessed how the President can sometimes lose her cool in situations where her staff botches up on their assignment. This happened during the campaign for the 1998 national elections when she ran for vice president. At the end of a press conference held at a restaurant in the reclamation area, I noticed that PGMA was talking sternly to one of the members of her staff. The issue must have been serious for she was quite unmindful of the presence of the media and political supporters. After a few minutes, she regained her composure and even gamely posed for pictures with us that day. PGMA’s “kasungitan” or “katarayan” (bad temper) is a hot topic even in the video sharing site YouTube. Many think she does not know how to check her emotions, but I think she has all the right to exact the minimum requirement from her staff, which is to deliver well on their tasks since they work for the holder of the highest office of the land. Having said that, didn’t Ebdane deserve a tongue-lashing after delays in the bridge project caused its price to escalate by at least P20 million? The project estimate in 2007 was placed at P48 million. Assuming the project will start in October, it will cost the government P20 to P25 million more. * * * August will be over in a matter of days and as a visitor to the northern hemisphere, I noticed that nowadays evenings have come earlier although it’s weird to see the sun still up at 9 p.m. During peak summer months, dusk does not come until about 10 p.m. However, as the transition from summer to cold winter nears, there’s a chill to the late evening breeze and in the outskirts of Paris where I’m temporarily based, the trees have become brown and leaves are starting to fall. In a couple of days, it will be autumn in this part of the world, but it’s good to think that before the autumnal weather, that season in temperate countries associated with melancholy feelings, we pass through August, the month when the Catholic Church celebrates two important Marian feasts. Last Aug. 15, we celebrated the Assumption of Mary and a week after we honored the Queenship of Mary with another celebration. Why do these great feasts happen in August? Why not in springtime when the gardens are abloom, or during summer when everybody looks forward to fun and frolic vacation? The Rev. Dr. Peter Mullen, Rector of St. Michael’s, Cornhill in London looks at the mystery, as it were, in a lovely poem: The fields are all rust after the spring rain, And the sky descends heavily, compressing the light In which only the early insects are at home, Silent, moist, flickering towards nightfall. Should not spring be Our Lady’s season, The Assumption of Mary In April’s bright showers All that blue, rainbows and new lambs; Sharp shadows rushing across the limestone? In the courts of heaven it was put to Our Lady, This matter of her Feast Day. She said, “No, not that cold spring With its bright nails, Love lifted up against the cruel sky: Give me Our Father’s harvest ripening, And grace descending in the August rain, Even as I rise.”