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‘APC”
is, of course, Aber P. Canlas, Marcos-era construction
czar who supervised the building, mostly in record time,
of some of the country’s modern landmarks. He passed
away a week ago. He was 77.
I
visited him just a few days before he died, and even as
he smiled and called out my name, I could not help but
hold back tears seeing him lying almost helpless in his
hospital bed. He was no longer the man-on-the-job,
“workaholic” Ka Aber most of us who got to work with him
during the Marcos years used to know. He was a mere
shadow of his firm and driven self.
Upright
in more ways than one and self-effacing to a fault, Ka
Aber was then First Lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos’
“go-to” guy—the “miracle man” who could muster men and
resources to build buildings and infrastructures to
satisfy, as some critics charged, his boss’s every whim.
It was
through his untiring efforts that such edifices as the
Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and all others
within that now-busy destination complex—Coconut Palace,
Folk Arts Theatre, PICC, Design Center, GSIS and, yes,
even the Philippine Plaza (now Sofitel Hotel) and the
Film Center—to name a few, were built. To date, all of
these structures, save perhaps the Film Center, have not
only endured as monuments to the Filipinos’ skills and
creative gifts as a people but have actually served the
country in good stead.
As most
of the critics now acknowledge, were it not for Imelda
Marcos’s vision for the performing arts and her
insistence in pushing “APC” and his crew to the limits,
we would not even have looked at the reclaimed area, the
whole stretch of Roxas Boulevard from the port area to
Bacoor, as a whole “new city” we can all be proud of.
Indeed,
by making those dreams of not too long ago—of preserving
our heritage and of Manila and the Philippines as the
kind of renaissance center for the arts and humanities
this part of the globe—come true by building on the
restored “Old Manila,” using the CCP complex as the
nucleus, Ka Aber inscribed his mark among the country’s
best builders.
But more
than building structures, he had an unvarnished penchant
for building friendships and elevating people. Hundreds,
maybe thousands of the country’s best engineers,
capatazes and even handymen owe their present
standing to his untiring work and iron discipline.
At his
wake, I had time to talk with one of his “boys” who rose
through the ranks at the Department of Public Works and
Highways to occupy a key position, but has since chosen
to become a builder himself by going into housing
development. He has nothing but praises for Ka Aber,
whom he credited for thoroughness, a “can-do” spirit
and, best of all, an iron discipline.
He would
not have reached his life ambitions, he said, had the
“old man” not intervened and jabbed him for wasting his
days away when he got assigned to a big project and
started doing some “other things.”
I was
told that even construction legend F.F. Cruz, who rarely
delivers eulogies, could not back out when requested and
had nothing but good words as he recounted his deep and
abiding friendship with the fallen Ka Aber. Of course,
those of us with whom he shared more time after his
retirement from public service in 1986 can only affirm
the warmth of his friendship, his optimism and zest for
life. He will surely be missed.
We will
surely miss and warmly remember dreams and moments
shared with another fallen colleague, Ka Leto Villar,
the original Mr. Piston, who passed away just weeks
before Ka Aber himself, and give our respects to Mr. P.
O. Domingo, Mr. PNB, whose ideas on overseas Filipino
workers’ remittances, small and medium enterprises and
microfinance helped us understand “banking for the
common man” even better, and the mother of former
governor Chippy Espiritu, lawyer Erlinda A.I. Espiritu,
who had gone to her well-deserved rest. The cycle of
life moves on.
. . .
And into other life passages
And so,
as we fondly remember and pay our respects to those
going ahead into the great beyond, we move back and
bring to proper attention those which impact on our
lives, here and now.
I refer
in particular to the continuing problems of power and
waste bedeviling our people. It should be good news if
it is true, as reported, that the Energy Regulatory
Commission (ERC) has ordered the National Power Corp.
(Napocor) to refund P10 billion in overbillings.
For
once, the ERC is quick on the job. But the agency better
make sure that its decision on this one is premised on
solid grounds, as we are being told that the power
company is insisting this was merely a rate reduction on
its part, citing improved earnings and efficiency
savings, which is contrary to what ERC Chairman Rodolfo
Albano is saying.
Albano has been quoted as saying, “Napocor was directed to expedite
the filing of its application for the remaining period
of January 2007 to March 2008 to further help moderate
the plight of consumers who are already burdened with
high prices of commodities. . . .”
It
appears that Napocor has chosen to take its time as far
as the refund on overbillings are concerned, and, worse,
making it appear that it was a “rate reduction.”
In any
event, what is important is for the refund, for whatever
reason, to be implemented as soon as possible and for
that to be immediately passed on as well by the
distribution companies wherever they may be. Otherwise,
this will be another charade among these power brokers,
as some critics have come to describe them, to the
detriment of all consumers.
Still on
another good news. Montalban Mayor Pedro Cuerpo’s offer
to reduce the “garbage-disposal rate” in the
municipality’s dump by close to 30 percent is good news
for Metro Manilans. Not only are they assured of a dump
should the Rizal provincial government continue with its
threat to ban the disposal of Metro Manila waste in its
own dump in Montalban, the local governments can use the
savings from this initiative for other services.
Or,
simply to have a better and more efficient
waste-collection system. The question is, will
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman
Bayani Fernando, who has supervision over the discharge
of Metro Manila garbage to the different dumps, take
Cuerpo’s offer and stop discussing any options with the
Rizal government?
If his
interest is the people’s, then he does not have a
choice. But if his interest lies somewhere else, then
that is a big problem. In which case, the people will
now finally realize they have been had, and how! Tsk.
. . Tsk. . . . |
