By Mortz C. Ortigoza
IT HAD been more than three years that I did not visit the abode of five-time Speaker Joe de Venecia at the coastal village of Bonuan Binloc in Dagupan City when his Missus’ woman Friday Gypsy Baldovino told me to be there at 2 P.m last Saturday.
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| Speaker Joe "JDV" de Venecia receives U.S President and Mrs. George Bush at the House of Representatives where President Bush honored the invitation of JDV for Bush to address a joint session of the Philippines Congress. (Global Filipino) |
Upon
stepping in at the wide veranda I saw the de Venecias’ matriarch exchanging
pleasantries at a round table with several news hens. I went to her where we exchanged
notes. Manay Gina - a former congresswoman -- is running for the seat to be
vacated by her last term (nine years) son’s Pangasinan 4th District
Rep. Christopher.
“Binabasa ko lately iyong binigay pa
ni Speaker na libro (Global Filipino (404 pages authorized biography of Jose de
Venecia, Jr. the visionary five-time Speaker of the Philippines by Brett M.
Decker), he was responsible pala sa by the skin of the teeth victory of Tabako
(Fidel V. Ramos) in the presidential election. I read there how during the
early stage of the campaign (for the May 1992 election), Ramos, the Speaker,
and others secretly left in a private jet the Philippines for Switzerland and bound
for Libya,” I told
Manay while sipping the Spanish cortado coffee her staff gave to me after I
requested it instead of acquiescing to her pleading to partake the sumptuous
food (that included “lechon”) she prepared for the members of the Fourth Estate
that came earlier for the “Kamustahan with the media”.
“Kasama
ako doon!” she exclaimed to me on that secret Libya’s trip.
“O’, e di totoo iyong sinabi ni Decker
na pagdating sa Tripoli, Libya, sumakay kayo uli ng isang eroplano para
makarating sa Sirte kung saan nag-aantay si Qaddafi.
“Oo,” she retorted.
Unknown to
many Filipinos, that covert trip in that country in the Maghreb region of North Africa and meeting with Libya's Strongman Moamar Qadaffi so
he could intercede for the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Chieftain Nur
Missuri to conclude a peace talk with the government to end the internecine
combats. That encounter was brainchild by the prescient Speaker Joe as the silver bullet for a Ramos presidential victory.
That
victory gifted the huge Pangasinan’s province with a President from Asingan town
and a House Speaker from Dagupan City who collaborated in passing vaunted laws
on Comprehensive Tax Reform Program, Build Operate Transfer, Special Economic
Zones, Bank Liberalization, and others.
“Pati iyong BGC (Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City) si Speaker din nag initiate na mabenta ang part ng Villamor (Air Base),” my son Z.J who was with Migz Trinidad - his college classmate at Centrol Escolar University in Makati -- butted in. The duo is the P.R writers of the de Venecias.
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| Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadaffi meets in 1992 with then Congressman Jose de Venecia and former Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos in Sirte, Libya a few months before Ramos's presidential victory (Global Filipino). |
Manay was
thankful that Speaker Martin Romualdez – of all the House Speakers that succeeded her
hubby – repaid the feats of the latter by building and opening January this
year the first Jose de Venecia Jr. Building and Museum at the Batasang
Pambansa Complex in the House of Representatives in Quezon City.
They Secretly Left for Europe and Libya
Let’s go
back why the Speaker, Ramos, Manay, and entourage went to Libya.
“In February
1992 Ramos’s ranking in opinion polls worried his political strategists. He was
either in second or in third place – within distance of pacesetting Miriam
Defensor Santiago. A ninety-day campaign for the presidency was grueling. Now
de Venecia thought that Ramos had to try ‘something dramatic” to build momentum
and win over the undecided segment of the electorate,” wrote by Decker who
was the editor for the Wall Street Journal, editorial page editor for the Washington
Times, and has written for publications ranging from the New York Times and USA
Today to National Review and the American Spectator.
A week
into the campaign, Ramos – a four –star general and a former Defense Secretary
of President Corazon Aquino – abruptly left the hustings without any explanation
and flew out of Manila. The journey in
Zurich, Switzerland was shrouded in secrecy. He was with de Venecia and spouse
Gina, Rudy Lar, specialist on Libyan affairs, and Apolinario Lozada, Jr., a
young foreign service officer to meet the top brass of the Brussel-based
Christian Democrat International (CDI). Lakas NUCD was affiliated with CDI, and
it was seeking the counsel of one of Europe’s biggest alliances of centrist
political parties.
“After
arriving in Zurich, there was not time for a respite, though, the party boarded
a light chartered plane parked on the tarmac, waiting for the Filipinos. Its
destination was Tripoli, Libya’s famed capital,” Decker wrote.
Anyone familiar with the Muslim insurrection in Mindanao -- second biggest island of the Philippines which I grew up and lived in a Cotabato town for 15 years -- knew Tripoli and the Strongman who ruled Libya. That country had been a sanctuary for Filipino Muslim separatists fighting to create a Bangsa Moro republic in Mindanao.
“The fountainhead of
the rebellion, spiritually and materially, was Moamar Qaddafi, Libya’s strongman
and one of the most influential voices in the Organization of the Islamic
Conference (OIC). The Philippines armed forces under two presidents tried but
failed to end the rebellion. The war, already on its third decade, had exacted
a heavy price. Now peace had to be secured through other means”.
Growing up
with a military father, I saw at military camps seized FAL (Fusil Automatique
Léger in French) Light Automatic Rifles made by Belgium and donated by Qaddafi
to Moros there. My Muslim high school classmates in the town of M’lang proudly
called it FAL Jet that could shame the American M-16s bought by the Philippines
military from the United States because of its 7.62 mm bullet.
“In this context, Ramos’s journey to Libya took on significance. Although not yet president, he, together with de Venecia, was undertaking a unique mission for peace. Peace was more than an election issue, de Venecia mused; it was at the heart of uniting a nation fractured by decades of internecine war. War was holding back economic development. The Philippines was the only nation in Asia fighting insurgencies on three fronts – the separatists in Mindanao supported militarily by Qaddafi, the Communist New People’s Army and the military reformist segment. Later there would be a fourth murderous Muslim insurgency: the terrorist Abu Sayyaf, which thrived on kidnapping and ransom, largely operating in the offshore islands of Basilan and Sulu. Ramos, in war the soldier’s soldier, was not soldiering for peace. Peace was to be a defining goal of his presidency,” the British writer penned.
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| U.S First Lady Hillary Clinton in Manila with Gina, Joe, President Ramos, and President Bill Clinton before she (Hillary) addressed the 12,000 Filipino women leaders and praised Gina de Venecia's "Haven" project. The "Haven for Women", with a nationwide branches, has already treated 17,000 abused women; the "Haven for the Children" is taking care of abandoned drug-dependent street children of Metro Manila; the "Haven for the Elderly," for senior citizens neglected by their families, is completing its transfer to the hills of Rizal; and the "Haven for Mothers," who have lost their children (Global Filipino). |
As the
plane hurtled toward Tripoli, de Venecia thought that Ramos presidential run –
a child of historical necessity – was a leap of faith, just like this journey.
Landing in Tripoli, the Filipinos quickly drove out of the runway and into
another airstrip, where a Libyan government plane was now preparing to take off
with them, accompanied by a Libyan Air Force's General, for the short flight to Sirte,
Qaddafi’s hometown on the North African Mediterranean coast, Decker narrated.
Winning the Hearts and Minds of the Moros
As Ramos
and de Venecia explained carefully the Mindanao peace plan, Qaddafi grew
attentive. Misuari, however, was hostile
to even a preliminary cease-fire and in later statements would declare that
Muslim secession remained the MNLF’s main goal. The Muslims could not forget
how the government of President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. bamboozled the Tripoli Agreement,
signed in 1976 that should give the Muslims autonomous administrative areas for
their communities, including an autonomous government, a judicial system for
Sharia law, and special security forces.
“The Ramos-de Venecia mission ran into a dead end; there would be no dramatic breakthrough to boost Ramos in the poll ratings, nothing to merit bolds news headlines. Qaddafi promised them however to take up the peace proposal with Misuari, but the situation for the immediate moment seemed hopeless”.
With
Qaddafi's promise, Lakas leaders gained a platform and the confidence to persuade
Muslims in Mindanao to support Ramos's candidacy. The meeting with the Libyan
strongman was quietly leaked to the Muslim leaders, most of whom were admirers
of Qaddafi and now supportive of Ramos. Muslim Mindanao would eventually go for
Ramos, the margin he built there big enough to make the difference in his slim
victory.
On that presidential derby Ramos, Santiago, and Danding Cojuangco – who got the
endorsement of the bloc voting Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) – garnered 5,342,521 (23.58%),
4,468,173 (19.72%), 4,116,376 (18.17%) votes, respectively. Their other
opponents were Speaker Ramon V. Mitra, Marcos’ widow Imelda, and Jovito Salonga
who trailed them.
Without
the invitation of Gypsy Baldovino, I would not know that Manay Gina was on that
historic trip in Sirte, Libya that resulted for the narrow 874, 348 (of the
total 21.9 million votes) victory of the late President Ramos – who loved to
read my political columns whenever he was in Pangasinan. He asked for my
imprimatur then to include my amusing op-ed article’s FVR Irks by Benguet's
Guv Long Speech in one of his authored books.
I digressed son of a gun! My apology.
READ MY OTHER BLOG:
MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA
I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.
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