BOHOL EXPERIENCE . . . In Honor of Maj. Rustico Luga

THE BOHOL EXPERIENCE

The Bohol Experience, were people are empowered to govern,
was an illusive dream that our forefathers and their descendants
continued to fight for . . . for generations.

"We the veterans, are already old, but before we die, there is only one wish that I am asking from God. Even though we have no money to leave behind because we are poor, we do wish that before we go to our final resting ground, we can see that you who are left behind can enjoy the fruits of the freedom we have been hoping for."

GEN. MATEO NORIEL LUGA

IN HONOR OF MAJOR RUSTICO LUGA

[Maj. Rustico Luga with children on his 94th Birthday]

Maj. Rustico Luga is the son of Gregorio Luga, the cousin of Gen. Mateo Noriel Luga, who together with Manalo organized the Katipunan in Cebu and Bohol when Gen. Mateo Noriel Luga was sent to Cebu by the First Philippine Republic as the military adviser of the Philippine Government in Cebu and Visayas, per se. Gregorio helped organized the Katipuneros and the Philippine Military in Bohol. He and his family settled in Hininobanga after the Fil-am War. He regularly visits Gen. Mateo Noriel Luga in Sagay, Negros Oriental after the war and even after Mateo left the Philippine Scout because he cannot accept the U.S. foreign policies being imposed in the Philippines by the United States. Gregorio, later settled at Hinobanga, Bohol, then left for Davao. While Mateo joined the Register of Deeds for the titling of lands in Negros under the Torrens System, he did not enriched himself despite the position he held. Mateo settled in Sagay , Negros Oriental, he has three children with Ruperta Valdez Luga, Maria, Jose and Emilio, Senior. On the other hand, Gregorio settled for a while in Bohol, it is where most of his lineage can be traced in Hinobanga, Bohol. Some are from Tanjay and San Carlos, Negros Oriental, where he usually stay and regularly passes by, whenever he visits Mateo. He has five children in Bohol many of whom, however, migrated to Davao, Jimmy Luga are some of Greogorio's grandchildren. Gregorio has five children in Bohol, the youngest was Rustico Luga, who joined the Philippine Army and when our country was invaded by the Japanese Imperial Forces, Rustico joined the guerilla movement after US fled the Philippines. He helped organized the Marking's Fil-American Forces as G-3, the one in charge of operations. Their mission is to identify placements of Japanese Forces and its assets and to conduct sabotage operations to pave a way for the Liberation of the Philippines. The Markings, Fil-Am Forces was so succesful that when the US Forces landed in the Philippines, the Japanese Imperial Forces were already neutralized in Bicol Region and the Southern part of Luzon.

It is but fitting to honor MAJ. RUSTICO LUGA for the heroism he displayed for the Freedom of our country from the Japanese Imperial Forces. Recently, Maj. Rustico Luga, celebrated his 94th Anniversary with his love ones and relatives. It is but fitting to honor one of the forgotten Hero of World War II, who played an important role, together with Fil-Am Forces, to Liberate Bicol, the entire Region V and Southern Luzon per se from the Japanese Imperial Forces - for his deeds to live in the hearts and minds of our future generation . . . [The offsprings of the "Ybanag Tribal Warriors", from Isabela, Negros, Bohol, Davao and the United Sates of America honoring Maj. Rustico Luga, the "Markings Fil-Am Forces, USAFFE, WW II. NOTE: The person in yellow at farthest right [Roland, a doctor, came with his father and wife. We haven't had a chance to take the pictures of their family because their arrival was delayed because of traffic. They came in all the way from Pangasinan, pardon us . . . ]. The 3rd person from far right of Ronald , beside Engr. Tony Luga, are the Luga Clan from Pangasinan, the father of Ronald is the offspring of Manolo Luga who was with Gen. Mateo Noriel Luga and Gregorio Luga, during the Spanish American and Fil-American War. It was Manolo who made it back to Luzon after the Fil-Am War. Manolo settled in Pangasinan, where most of his descendants can be traced, others are now in Cagayan Valley and Ilocos Region.) [Maj. Rustico Luga with daughter, Carol Luga Tsaousis and son, Spiro and Pastor Mar.]

[After the Grand Reunion of the Luga Clan during the 75th Death Anniversary of Gen. Mateo Noriel Luga, Engr. Tony Luga, the offspring of Vicente Luga, brother of Mateo Noriel Luga, representing the Cagayan, Ilocos Region and Luzon; Roy, the 4th generation direct descendant of Mateo Noriel representing the Mateo Noriel Luga side with Maj. Rustico Luga; and Jimmy Luga, representing the offspring of Gregorio's descendants in Mindanao, once again met. The person at far right in the son of Engr. Tony Luga]

P-Noy's MC No. 1

Whoever recommended to His Excellency, President Benigno Aquino III, to sign Memorandum Circular No. 1 may have been in a hurry by the fact that the said MC has been amended thrice. For whatever reason? Is a question best left for the decision makers to ponder.

It can be recalled that the first major blunder committed by then President Estrada was when he issued Executive Order No. 1. After signing E.O. 1 (which makes the term of office of all those coterminous with FVR's administration to end on June 30 1998 - without regard to the hold-overs and despite unwritten agreement for the hold-overs left behind - to properly turn over the projects and people down the line), there were persons immediately coming in with papers claiming that they are authorized by Malacanang to take over the positions of so and so, even before Pres. Estrada took his oath of office. It, however, appears that even before the said E.O. was signed - it seems that there were already those with appointments already prepared or have already been signed by then President Estrada (in some cases, there were double appointments). The people within the circle of President Estrada's camp might have already cooked something without President Estrada's knowledge. Whether then President Estrada was aware of it or not, however, is another issue.

What matters is that - then President Estrada was placed in such a dangerous situation. It also appears that the people who were appointed by then President Estrada thereafter, maybe qualified, but without extensive government experience or have not been exposed into the ins and outs in government service. After a year, war broke out in Mindanao, allegations of corruption started to erupt, different factions from within the Presidency silently moves into different direction from within the circle of the Presidency, all powerful. Political unrest then erupted. In less than two years - President Estrada was ousted in Office.

What was the intention of those who did it? What is the motive behind? Was it an attempt to perpetuate power, to destabilize the government or the group where the said order emanates has the propensity to build a turf to control the bureaucracy? This should have been looked into carefully by then President Estrada. As someone or many has said, the Presidency and/or Malacanang is a very lonely place to live.

What is dangerous in this precedent is not the legal or technical implication. The dangers behind is failure in intelligence. In case if government function is disrupted or penetrated by individuals whose interest is tainted with biases or prejudice or greed for power, to the extent that the natural flow of communications down to the tinniest details from the field is corrupted by partiality or that the upper layers of communication receivers put in place - are beholden to the one who recommended the appointee and dictates upon the source to report only informations pleasing to the ears of the receiver up to the highest level - then there exists failure in intelligence, which might blossom into factionalism, turf building, favoritism and soon . . . chaos, as what has happened during President Estrada's incumbency.

It was providential that His Excellency, President Benigno Aquino III, heeds to reason. It is providential too the He has inner circle of experienced and seasoned senior officials with varied government experience, whose credibility spanned to more than six Presidents, even prior to His mother's incumbency and whose loyalty to the flag and the Republic endured generations. By the fact that MC No. 1 was revised and now extended - it seems that the situation is being taken care of - at least, the damage done is being controlled.

BOHOL EXPERIENCE & CSC's Road Map for Good Governance . . .

(The men and women of the Office for Legal Affairs, Civil Service Commission)

It was more than two years ago that we advocated for the intercession of the Divine for our country to unite towards a common goal in the POWER OF YOUR LOVE, where we prayed for a day to come for our country to unite towards a common vision for a peaceful, well balanced and environmentally sound development of our nation and its people brought about the decaying moral fiber in our society and lack of sense of patriotism. In our post, WHAT AN IRONY, we expressed how we suffered so much because of the catastrophe brought about by Typhoon Ondoy and Peping because of poor strategic planning and how we should move as one to help those who are in need in "The Sprit of Volunterism". Prior to that, we advocated on how a simple person, a driver at that, could make a difference in the lives of our fellowmen within and without the government. We also advocated for IT intervention of CS Examination to facilitate effective, efficient and speedy administration of CS Examination. In support of the Gender Advocacy movement: we advocated for Anti-Smoking Campaign where talked about how smoking affects our economic growth and as early as May 2009 has been advocating for transparency in government transaction through IT intervention. In support of the advocacy against violence on women, we advocated to be vigilant on crimes against human trafficiking. We are thankful that our advocacy are being heard by policy makers.

Lately, days after our post on human trafficiking, the newly installed US Ambassador Harry K. Thomas, Jr., brought forth to our attention the problem on human trafficking in a column of Rina Jimenez-David at the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Experts, however, agrees that the key area that could solve the problem in our society is "POVERTY", which we are now advocating through "GOOD GOVERNANCE". We hope that the good US Ambassador recommends to their government to re-channel the P 11.4 billion non-humanitarian and non-trade assistance to address poverty issues thru good governance and allocates some to address issues concerning prosecution of offenses involving human trafficking and empowerment of witnesses, including corrupt prosecutors and magistrates - rather than warning us to lose the same merely because our country is at "Tier 2 Watch List" in the current edition of the US Department's "Trafficking in Person's Report" (as if interfering with our sovereignty) - with utmost due respect to the good Ambassador.

It was through the leadership of the person leading these individuals that motivates these group of men and women (of different background and experience) to move from within and without the bureaucratic system to support the government's drive for good governance and to extend whatever help they can muster, without fear or favor, from within and without the system (legally), whether they be recognized or not.

After zeroing in their backlogs . . . what else could others ask for? The measurement of an Office's performance should be compared to other offices doing similar functions outside its own bureaucratic framework within the entire bureaucracy and should not be based only or the observation and assumption by one or two offices, which does not exercises the same nature of work. It is by comparing the output and outcome of the system adopted with other offices in other agencies doing similar functions in the entire bureaucracy that we can conclude with certainty the improvement of the systems being adopted. There must be stability in the system, which improvement should not become the very reason saturate the level of capacity of its workers. Isn't it more appealing to the morale of our people? Which the hierarchy adequately addressed for others to be influenced.

Let us say, human resource development in the aspect of selection, maintenance , personnel development, benefits and privileges within an office as compared with other agencies. Isn't it more appealing?

Nevertheless, if not for the leader who stood behind these people - these individuals could have not been empowered and further developed their skills aside from their ordinary work to move as one either from within or without the bureaucratic framework with the end of in view of attaining a common goal.

Next . . . the CSC's ROADMAP.