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If
someone had suggested getting back at Bambi Harper for
all of the critical fiscalizing that she had done to
preserve Filipino heritage, the cruelest might be to
appoint her to head the Intramuros Administration (IA).
For
those with an astute sense of foreboding, an eye for
symbolisms and metaphorical gestures, an ear for
conspiracy and connivances, and plain and simple dirty
minds, Harper’s appointment to an office literally
sitting on top of a powder keg is an eloquent
declaration of the predicaments she finds herself in.
That the
offices of the IA are in the same building as the
infamous Commission on Elections (Comelec) is not yet an
immediate concern. Never mind that precious artifacts,
ancient maps, lithographs and charts are stored in the
same building where electoral paraphernalia and other
evidence of illegitimacy are hidden from the public.
For
those who would deliberately destroy social and cultural
institutions if only to perpetuate illegitimacy and
dubious political entitlement, there would be no
compunction in torching and burning down a whole
building, Harper inside included.
Miraculously, that has not yet happened. Harper’s saints
arrayed like old sentinels stoically guarding her office
as they wait for a better museum are not on hallowed
ground, but their divine influences have protected her
so far. For the Comelec, however, its lawyers are
brazenly murdered within a few feet from its doors, but
so far the death threats thrown Harper’s way remain
substantially acoustic, meant to harass Harper more than
harm her.
In
Manila, the walled city is perhaps the last remnant of
our past where we can still immerse ourselves in a
living, breathing environment of larger-than-life
relics, indulging in profound nostalgia and
heart-tugging patriotic pride without having to view it
from the opposite and alienated side of a thick plate
glass artificially illuminated by tiny halogen bulbs.
Unfortunately, never in its speckled history—from the
time a special office was created to preserve and
protect its treasures and sites—has a convergence of
external rot, politically backed avarice, internal
intrigue, parochialism and decay assaulted the
organization.
At least
the last dictator that predicated the current curse had
a sense of history. Our present-day facsimiles do not.
Presidential Decree (PD) 1616 creating the Intramuros
Administration was established to administer the
development of Intramuros. By its title alone, the
parameters encompass the expanse of its jurisdiction,
mandating duties and responsibilities, as well as
empowering it.
Of its
charges, that last aspect of empowering is the most
critical today, where the IA under Harper is under siege
from various fronts.
Under
that decree, the IA was placed under the direct control
of a Cabinet-level officer and specifically under a
Cabinet-level department. The importance and the
explicit charge founded on presidential authority cannot
be missed. Intramuros is not a dig within a city. It is
a patrimony rightfully the Republic’s and its people,
whether they live at the tip of the Batanes Islands or
fester in the dank and decrepit shanties barnacled
inside Intramuros.
Never
mind that in recent history, those departments might no
longer exist. Structure and form cede to substance and
objective. The role of the IA cannot be diminished, its
ambits and powers suddenly taken over by a political
division that might be lower, if not more parochial, in
the hierarchy of government.
One of
its powers, vested by the highest executive authority
possible and effectively granting the IA tremendous
responsibilities, as well as devolved executive clout
and license, is the power of appropriation. Harper, the
lady that she is, has used this sparingly, if at all.
Dr. Jaime Laya, a predecessor many administrations
before, wielded it only to preserve structures that may
someday come to rot from both natural decay and the
insidious political kind.
Whether
in measured doses or selectively, for such an important
site now infested by exponentially expanding squatters
and exponentially expanding political avarice underlying
a more sinister kind of decay, those powers invested
upon the IA do not seem to have been exercised enough.
Hence, challenges and attacks from within and outside
the walls inundate Harper no end.
Under
Section 3, Article G of PD 1616, the verbiage is clear,
concise and absent of any doubt, so much that even
morons and those local politicians who now act like them
might understand its meaning and significance. Four
words cannot be more eloquent; Article G invests upon
the IA the power to “expropriate properties within
Intramuros.” Period.
Unfortunately, of all its provisions written in, none
have been as violated by the most powerful and
influential. To appreciate the depths from which these
spawn, according to a former ranking IA official,
specific local politicians from the city’s dynastic
lineages have somehow acquired property and title within
the historic site. It is a matter of fact and can easily
be verified. This explains the political undertones that
constantly fuel, as well as fund, the attacks upon the
IA and the brusque and brawny Draconian violence that
attends these.
Other
than the question of illegal squatters, a sundry list of
the threats ranging from the ridiculous to the severe
pile on top of Harper’s desk. One is a pending House
bill that seeks to amend PD 1616 so that the powers of
the IA are clipped and emasculated, and its authority
over transactions that would have fortified and
preserved our heritage might be filtered through a
parochial sieve held by the city council. This includes
all of the scope of powers and responsibilities vested
by PD 1616, including administrative policies, orders
and resolutions—all, when totaled, not merely
emasculates but virtually castrates the IA in favor of
politicians.
Other
than the political, there are hidden interests that
rally behind the political agenda. One involves
concessions previously granted for night spots, discos
and other nocturnal entertainment joints, despite unpaid
rentals and unsettled financial obligations now running
over 10 years. Another involves rampant drug
distribution and the establishment of drug havens.
The list
is long, and Bambi Harper’s war has just begun. |
