BY ROMMEL YNION
LEST I be misconstrued as the epitome of parachute journalism, let me underscore that I am no expert in Iloilo City’s history.
My worm’s eye view on the issues in our hometown does not at all represent the absolute truth about them. My opinions are just my opinions. Nothing more, nothing less.
Having said that, let me offer my two cents on one of the issues percolating especially in Iloilo City media: the naming of a bridge between Muelle Loney and Lapuz after Senator Franklin Drilon.
Up to now, I still wonder what the fuss is all about. To paraphrase Shakespeare, what’s in a name, after all?
But if naming bridges after a “person” necessitates an objective appraisal of his stature, I think Senator Drilon is more than qualified to have his name stamped on any major project in our city.
Frankly, I have never been a fan of Senator Frank Drilon. And truth to tell, I even find him too good to be true. But the bad news for his critics like me is: So far, all the good news about him is true!
Now, let me digress a little.
As the phone pal of Max Soliven, I learned early in my journalistic career that facts are facts.
It may surprise many of you that I learned journalism the hard way because it was really hard being the “phone pal” of the greatest columnist of all time.
Twenty years ago, the phone – at my desk at the Philippine Star – rang between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. daily, except Saturdays which was Boss Max’s day-off.
And yes, as soon as I picked up that phone, the same old routine conversation followed.
“Hello, good afternoon,” I greeted the caller whom I expected to be my boss and my idol.
True enough, it was really him.
“Yes, Rommel? Is this Rommel?” Max shot back. “Do you have the copy already?”
Boss Max was referring to the copy of his typewritten column just faxed to the newsroom.
And during that brief phone conversation, he grilled me with the finer points of his column that he wanted me to examine with a fine-toothed comb: the spelling, grammar, syntax, and most of all, the facts.
“Just make sure we get the facts right – always get those facts right,” Max often punctuated our phone conversation with that reminder.
And so, as I cling on to the journalistic principles engrained in me by no less than my “phone pal”, let me sum up – to the best of my knowledge – the facts about Senator Frank’s stature in our city.
Can we, in a nutshell, honestly say that Iloilo City could be as vibrant as we know it today if this Ilonggo senator had not paved the way to where our city is now?
We, Ilonggos, are where we are now because of the Iloilo Airport in Cabatuan without which we could still be stuck in the Stone Age.
Everybody knows that international airport was the brainchild of Senator Drilon.
And because of that modern airport we can all be proud of, investors have flocked into our city, foremost of which is Megaworld’s Andrew Tan.
The P35-billion Megaworld “City” will soon rise in the void that the old airport left behind, generating thousands of jobs for all Ilonggos, and perking up our local economy to levels undreamed-of just a few years ago.
If space permits, it’s easy to roll out a litany of Senator Frank’s achievements; but, sad to say, we don’t have enough space for that.
Suffice to say that without Senator Drilon, Iloilo City could not be as dynamic as it is today.
Let us forget politics for now which has already stifled our progress.
Let us embrace instead unity as the only path to sustainable growth.
Let us, therefore, give credit where it is due for it is in accentuating the positive in each one of us that we can find the seeds of greatness for our city’s future.
After all, what’s in a name especially when the name is Senator Frank Drilon, the man who played a meaningful role in making our city great again?
And if naming a bridge after him is the least we can do to acknowledge the contributions he has made to our city, then so be it.
I have no problem with that./PN
