So I See... Konting Pananaw... LITO BANAYO: Panawagan kay Kabayan

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Panawagan kay Kabayan

Para sa isang pamilyang Pilipino, pinakamalaking mithiin na siguro ang magkaroon ng sariling bahay. Ito’y patuloy na pinag-iipunan, at maraming ibang pangangailangan ang sinasakripisyo upang magkaroon ng sariling bahay.

Ano ngayon ang proteksyon ng ordinaryong mamamayan na nagpunyagi upang magkaroon ng bahay, at matapos na makapaglagak ng malaking puhunan para rito, ay madaya, o maiisahan lang pala ng nagtayo ng bahay, o nag-develop ng subdivision? Ito ang dahilan kung bakit may mga

ahensyang itinayo ang pamahalaan, tulad ng HLURB, at iba pang sangay ng HUDCC o Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council na pinamumunuan ng pangalawang pangulo, si Noli de Castro.

Lumiham sa atin si Ginang Bea Mendoza, isang kumuha ng housing unit sa Mahogany Villas sa Barangay Looc, Calamba, Laguna. Ang developer na binilhan ay ang Malate Construction and Development Corporation (MCDC) na ang tanggapan ay nasa Filinvest Center sa Alabang.

Sila na kanyang pamilya ay nagpa-take-out ng bahay na hindi pa tapos at kulang-kulang sa pamamagitan ng pag-utang sa Pag-IBIG, ang ahensyang nangongolekta ng kontribusyon para sa murang pabahay, at siya ring nagpi-finance ng low-cost at socialized housing.

Nagbayad sila Ginang Mendoza ng bayad sa metro ng kuryente, pero hanggang ngayon ay wala pa rin silang metro, subalit sinisingil naman sila para sa kuryente. Kung ano ang malinaw na basehan sa paniningil, ay hindi ko maintindihan. Napakahina naman ng kuryente sa kanilang

subdivision kaya’t nagkasira-sira na ang kanilang mga appliances dahil sa pabugsu-bugso ng daloy ng kuryente. Ito’y kanila nang inireklamo sa

opisina pero wala namang nangyayari. Ang iba namang bahay sa subdivision nila ay ni walang kuryente, bagama’t may mga naninirahan na roon. Tuloy ay nangangamba ang marami na nagsipaglipatan na bagama’t kulang-kulang pa ang mga batayang serbisyo, sa pag-asang hindi naman magtatagal ay maaayos din ito.

Nais na nga nilang ipagbili ang kanilang unit, ngunit sino nga ba naman ang bibili kapag ganito ang kundisyon ng pamumuhay sa naturang Mahogany Villas? (Ang galing ng mga developer sa pangako, pati na rin sa pagbibigay-ngalan sa kanilang mga sundivision at housing units. “Villa” pa manding itinuturing, pero umangat lang ng kaunti sa barong-barong.)
Lubhang nakakaawa ang mga kababayan nating umaasa sa mga kumpanyang binilhan ng kanilang minimithing kabahayan.

Abante, Agosto 19, 2008

Lito Banayo

Lito Banayo’s involvement in Philippine politics began with a chance encounter with the late Benigno Aquino, Jr. in the spring of 1981, at the Washington Hotel in Washington D.C. Ninoy Aquino was then on exile, after having undergone heart bypass surgery. That started a series of week-end visits to Ninoy’s home in Boston.

In the fall of 1982, Lito decided to come home to the Philippines after two-year stay in the United States, and as he bade goodbye to Ninoy, he was asked to help the then fledging political opposition in the country.

Lito Banayo asked Ninoy who he would report to, and was told to see Doy Laurel. Banayo was quizzical, for the Laurels had been Marcos’ political padrinos in the past. Ninoy told him however that Doy Laurel and he grew up together and were almost like brothers. Thus did Lito Banayo enter the world of a political technician, his description for the kind of work he has been doing since.

He helped Doy Laurel and Eva Estrada Kalaw organized the United Nationalist Democratic Organization (UNIDO) which became the major coalition against the Marcos regime. At a time when media was controlled and Marcos’ monolithic political party, the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) was all over, UNIDO put up a difficult but nonetheless successful struggle.

In the 1984 Batasang Pambansan elections, the UNIDO coalition won 60 of 180 seats, with an overwhelming majority in Metro Manila and key capital cities. Lito Banayo was deputy spokesperson and deputy campaign manager of that national campaign, working under Ernesto Maceda, who later became Senate President, and Alfonso Policarpio, Ninoy’s publicist.

When Ninoy Aquino returned to the Philippines after years of exile, it was Lito Banayo who, along with Erik Espina, coined the welcome slogan “Ninoy, Hindi Ka Nag-iisa,” a welcome greeting that eventually became a political battlecry after the latter was assassinated at the tarmac of the international airport.

When Cory Aquino, Ninoy’s widow, and Doy Laurel, his childhood friend, later challenged Ferdinand Marcos in the historic “snap” elections of February 1986, Lito was one of the major campaign technicians in an effort that drew many volunteers from all walks of life.

He was appointed Postmaster-General after the Edsa uprising that resulted in the downfall of Marcos and the ascent of Aquino. At the postal office, he initiated major systemic reforms, and initiated its transformation from a budget-dependent office under the transport and communications department into an autonomous government corporation now called Philippine Postal Corporation.

He has become political consultant to various names in Philippine politics – Senator Orlando Mercado, Senate President Marcelo B. Fernan, and now Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson. He was consultant too of Speaker Ramon Mitra, Jr., Ronaldo Zamora, Manuel A. Roxas III and Hernando B. Perez, all congressmen at the time.

In 1992, he was campaign spokesman of the Mitra-Fernan presidential tandem. In 1995, he handled the campaign of Senator, later Senate President Marcelo B. Fernan. In 1998, he was in the campaign team that helped Joseph Ejercito Estrada become president of the land. His erstwhile principal, Mercado, was named campaign manager. During the term of President Estrada, he was Secretary-General of Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, the political party of the then President.

He served as General Manager of the Philippine Tourism Authority from June 30, 1998 to November 3, 2000. He was also concurrently appointed as Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs with cabinet rank, by President Joseph Estrada. Although he resigned from the Estrada cabinet earlier, he was with the deposed president until his last hours in Malacanang.

In 2001, he was campaign manager for then retired PNP director-general Ping Lacson’s difficult but highly successful run for the Philippine Senate. He also helped Ping Lacson as a contender for the presidency in 2004, as well as Manila Mayor Lito Atienza in administrative matters at City Hall during his term.

Lito Banayo finished Economics at Letran College, then undertook graduate studies at the Ateneo Business School, as well as the University of the Philippines College of Public Administration.

He is native of San Pablo City, Laguna, and Malolos, Bulacan, but his family has moved to Butuan City in Agusan del Norte since the early sixties, although he himself has lived in Manila throughout most of his life. He is married and is blessed with three children.

So I See... Konting Pananaw... LITO BANAYO

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Panawagan kay Kabayan

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Lito Banayo

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Lito Banayo

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So I See... Konting Pananaw... LITO BANAYO

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Panawagan kay Kabayan

0 comments:

Lito Banayo

Blog Archive

Lito Banayo

Email

Web Links

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