Sorsogon Governor Jose Edwin “Boboy” Hamor is the epitome of an elective public official and public servant, even in the light of the Philippines’ money politics.
The farmer’s son-turned-contractor and politician is undefeated in his native town and province, with his wife, a former judge, now mayor of Sorsogon City, and a daughter now mayor of Casiguran where the couple served as chief executives for 19 years.
While it may be argued that being a public works contractor is the main ingredient of his successful political career, it is the way that he conducts himself in public and how he uses his wealth to benefit his constituents that is the difference.
He started the Pasalinggaya event when he was mayor of Casiguran town and he has reaped untold dividends from it in terms of unqualified support from the voters.
The Pasalinggaya entertainers are college students recruited as scholars of the LGU and in turn they serve the public with their talents.
As one inside claimed during the governor’s two-day visit here last week, Hamor doles out about P1.2 million a week to constituents visiting his office to seek help.
Not only that, this Christmas season, the provincial government utilizes its nine buses to fetch children from the barangays and brings them to the sprawling capitol grounds where a Disneyland-like display has been erected, complete with a 37-minute show on a giant screen.
As the governor disclosed during his spiel in the Virac Pasalinggaya, he has found no need to buy votes during elections because every day he helps needy constituents.
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Just in the past month, the well-connected Hamor managed to score two big projects for his province.
Sorsogon is the only province of Bicol that does not have an airport. What passed for a runway a few years back was like a wide dirt road that could accommodate only small planes.
Concerned at being left out of the reborn tourism industry, the governor and his allies in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan crafted a proposal and brought it before the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Acting Director General Capt. Manuel Antonio Tamayo and the board.
In an impressive Powerpoint presentation and seeking only permission from the CAAP board to build an airport, Gov. Hamor left with a solid commitment from the agency to allocate P220 million for the facility.
He told CAAP that he would stake his political career on acquiring through eminent domain the more than 30 hectares of land required for the new airport.
In another display of political savvy, he managed to convince the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) to discard plans to build a new port at a nearby town in lieu of the congested Matnog Port.
The new Sta. Magdalena port was to be built within a marine protected area, something which the governor vigorously opposed.
Instead, the PPA aboard agreed to Hamor’s proposal to reclaim land for the port expansion, which would cost P550 million instead of the enormous expense of establishing a new port.
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The Pasalinggaya was not entirely at Gov. Hamor’s expense.
Gov. Cua chipped in half of the cash prizes and the ferry ride while Mayor Laynes took care of the Sorsogon contingent’s ARDCI Corporate Inn stay, the meals and other costs.
In Catanduanes, the Pasalinggaya has been held in Virac (thrice), Bato, San Miguel and Viga.
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THE PERIOD. A kindergarten class had a homework assignment to find out something exciting and relate it to the class the next day. When the time came to present what they’d found, the first little boy the teacher called on walked up to the front of the class, and with a piece of chalk, made a small white dot on the blackboard and sat back down.
Puzzled, the teacher asked him what it was.
‘It’s a period,’ he replied.
‘I can see that,’ said the teacher, ‘but what is so exciting about a period?’
‘Darned if I know,’ chirped the little boy, ‘but this morning my sister was missing one, my mother fainted, my dad had a heart attack, and the boy next door joined the Navy!’