Andaya and Salceda
NEWLY appointed Secretary Rolando G. Andaya, Jr., erstwhile
representative of the first congressional district of Camarines
Sur, had it right when he said at the formal opening of the
Palarong Bicol 2006 that if only our politicians would deliver
their mandates fair and square like our young athletes do, then
this country of ours would go nowhere but towards greatness and
fame where everyone is a victor and there are no sore losers whose
obsession is to senselessly grab for power.
Andaya who admitted that having guested the Palaro opening was his
first public appearance since his appointment as cabinet member
only a few weeks ago said he is proud to be in an arena of healthy
sports competition which is a fertile ground for our region to
discover new talents among local athletes and foster camaraderie
and sportsmanship among Bicolanos from the 6 provinces and 7
cities of the region.
Though there was nothing new in his speech as in the case of
similar addresses in every regional sports competition where
regional development and national solidarity through sports are
the usual themes, the young Budget Secretary somehow exuded
renewed hope among fellow Bicolanos who thirst for more government
funds and assistance for the region’s priority edevelopment
projects. As budget chief, Andaya becomes a powerful member of the
President’s official family. He teams up with another Bicolano,
Rep. Joey Salceda of Albay, who now chairs the powerful House
committee on appropriations that Andaya had ably handled before
his Cabinet appointment. Incidentally, Salceda was the guest of
honor of the commencement exercises of the University of Nueva
Caceres in Naga City on the same day that Andaya was addressing
the young Bicolano athletes.
The duo made their early impacts during the separate occasions
when confronted by local newsmen in their respective press
conferences.
Andaya when asked about the significance of his new appointment
wittingly replied by paraphrasing a favorite saying that “charity
begins at home” which means that under his term Bicol would have
preferential allocation of government resources to uplift the
Bicolanos’ living standards.
But Salceda made himself bolder and more daring when he said that
while he is pressing for an international airport in Daraga, Albay,
as in fact funds for which have been allocated to finally see the
light of day, he at the same time underscored he would rather that
Naga be made the regional administrative capital, vice Legazpi
City which is under constant threat of volcanic eruptions. Of
course, an airport in Albay would not be spared from rampaging
lava, but restoration or rehabilitation of the same would
relatively be easier than important papers and irreplaceable
documents buried in regional offices after an eruption. On that
instant, we admired Salceda, a true-blue Albayano, for his candor
as he spoke on a regional perspective and with great amount of
common sense, thus displaying his being an unselfish and
true-blooded Bicolano.
Both Andaya and Salceda are interesting people to watch. Let us
see if their actions match their words, a kind of a healthy
competition between the two in the next few days.
