Bayambang: A Town of Miracles

(I just I have to step out of my moment of deep grieving just to put in a good word for two special people who are relentlessly maligned and slandered for doing good. The nonstop defamation hurts me so much when I personally know how good they are, whether as public servants or as persons or human beings.)

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Bayambang: A Town of Miracles

A new page on FB asks, "Bakit ka proud maging Bayambangueño?" (Why are you proud to be Bayambangueño?)

The innocuous-sounding question made me stop for a moment. "Will I approach the query historically, anthropologically/culturally, sociologically, politically, or generally, as in in terms of current events?"

I've been volunteering nonstop for the town's continuous culture mapping project ever since it started, so this means I have handled the first three aspects ad nauseam.

Part of my creative process is praying to the Holy Spirit for knowledge, wisdom, and understanding because I know I am not as smart and quick-witted as I would like to be. And next is devoting time for sleep, so I prayerfully slept over the question so that my brain could sort things out while on detox mode. "Maybe I should answer the question differently this time?"

Again, why should I be proud? Should I be, in the first place?

I didn't even have to go on a silent retreat to search my heart for the answer. Before, the answer would have been a steely and resounding no, for so many reasons. But today, it would be a big fat yes!

I am proud because, if only people had seen what came before in this town, they could easily tell the difference. The word 'leapfrog' comes to mind, when you consider how this town has changed at an unbelievable pace in an unprecedented way. But the word 'miracle,' often associated with religious apparitions and stuff, is even better.

I am not kidding. I only use hyperbole for comic purposes, not when I am serious.

I can never forget when I came back here from Manila in August of 2016. I was hired by renowned businessman and philanthropist Dr. Cezar T. Quiambao as his PIO when he was elected as a most unlikely mayor and a hesitant election candidate. I didn't know him from Adam, but I had heard only good words about him. ...Foremost of which is that he was "the local boy who made good," in the words of a former president.

One of the first things I noticed when he assumed office was this: He was a workaholic. He 'out-worked' all of us in the LGU, even people half his age of 70-ish years old.

When Mayor Quiambao discovered the amount of the 20% Development Fund earmarked for barangay infrastructure projects, he was so surprised there was even such a significant financial resource. The first thing he did was to order the construction and renovation of core local access roads, farm-to-market roads, eskinitas, covered courts, barangay halls, police precincts, talipapas, stages, drainages, and even waiting sheds in all 77 barangays. A 911-like emergency response system was established for the first time. ...Together with a fleet of never-before-seen responder vehicles including aluminum boats and a shuttle bus. (...Not to mention, on the side, the construction and renovation of chapels and private homes using his personal funds.)

No one can contest these claims--I was his official documenter, and every single one of them was documented and reported on social media and other platforms.

For the first time, residents saw and felt their local government en masse instead of in bits and pieces, here and there--and in an apolitical way too. I have no idea how the municipal engineer at the time managed to survive everything.

Why would a successful Bayambangueño businessman from Indonesia responsible for BOT projects as the Skyway do this? He's not even a politician. What's in it for him? Detractors insist it's all about business, a predatory desire to turn the town into his own business hub for personal gain. This claim has struck me as odd from the get-go. He was already rich long before that, he doesn't need the additional wealth. As far as Maslow (1934) is concerned, he was already on payback mode of self-actualization. Much later, this would be confirmed when I heard him say during a forum, "Hindi naman lahat nabibili ng pera."

But wait, wait, wait. What's wrong with business? With being entrepreneurial? Is it innately evil? My own mother ran a humble sari-sari store; would she be the evil incarnate? Ah, could it be that what they were saying is that it is wrong to be a politician and a businessman at the same time? But then there are rules and requirements to abide by when it comes to that, and he certainly did.

The fervid infrastructure development in what was once dirt road country was just the start. Up next were other big projects that would be of great benefit to the pullulating hoi polloi: an air-conditioned events center that doubled as basketball court with Tarraflex rubber flooring, a tricycle terminal cum bagsakan (public market drop-off point for goods in bulk), a proper bus terminal, a major renovation of the public market, an extension of the market called Bayambang Commercial Strip, four additional rural health units, municipal bonery, new municipal compound facilities, a new garbage truck, ambulance, children's playground with the quality of those found in Manila's malls, new municipal library, new municipal annex building, municipal warehouse, municipal motor pool, municipal hatchery, municipal soil laboratory, farm machines, fishery equipment, goat farm, carabao milk production facility...

With his reputation, he was able to convince various government agencies and functionaries and even NGOs to give the town additional ambulances, a new firetruck, a brand-new fire station, irrigation facilities, 30+ housing units for the most indigent residents...

To tag him as elitist at this point is most puzzling. Quiambao may be rich, but he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He started out small: as office runner and like my own father, even worked on the side as jeepney driver, for Pete's sake. And his parents were of equally humble station all along: they were public market vendors.

Not content with infra projects and with his wife Niña Jose's (yes, the artista) full support, Quiambao sought to change the LGU from within by making institutional adjustments and changes.

He reconstituted the BAC and set business-level standards, and transparency and self-auditing mechanisms using the full benefits of ICT. He created new necessary departments and units, and reconvened and reconstituted dozens of special bodies for participatory governance, with NGOs and CSOs serving as watchdogs. He updated the Comprehensive Land Use Plan with the help of world-renowned urban planner Palafox Associates--who would have thought this could happen in a mere backwater town?

Then he launched an ambitious (because multi-dimensional) anti-poverty plan of action and actually acted on it, unprecedented not just in the annals of the town but also in the country, according to the National Anti-Poverty Commission, no less.

With these initiatives, he was able to increase the LGU's budget, revenue, and number of businesses to unprecedented levels.

And yet, what would some say about all this? Among other things, that he was a landgrabber! By this time, the accusation was head-shakingly laughable even though it sure hurt, both personally and politically.

Focusing especially on education, he surprised everyone by donating his annual salary to the Special Education Fund, the fund used for all sorts of educational needs and services. Is there another mayor who does this crazy thing? Tell me.

Imagine aspiring great, because real, change for your town, and be cut down to being an opportunist pest out to grab other people's real property. How inspiring, right? And yet, even though much aggravated, even perturbed, he bore the cross and the thorn of Christ (the original innocent one accused) and trudged on in his fight against poverty.

To his dismay, Quiambao found that local government resources are much too limited. He had to resort to personal resources to make other things happen beyond the LGU's pathetic means. In terms of jobs-generating tourism, Bayambang had almost nothing. He had to contrive or devise something together with wife Niña and tourism officer, Dr. Rafael Limueco Saygo. It is to then private citizen Niña's credit that the idea of building the tallest supported bamboo sculpture in the world came to fruition. It was eventually built at record speed in honor of St. Vincent Ferrer, the patron saint of builders and himself a renowned miracle worker--no padded bills, no ghost employees, no questionable procedures. The area is now a pilgrim magnet and to quote Saygo, "breakfast capital" for vacationers traveling this side of Luzon. At the time, I was, in fact, incredulous, laughing, shaking my head. "A 50+-foot statue made of bamboo? Why in the world? And how?"

Soon, he would have other previously unthinkable big-ticket projects rising before our eyes like a sleight of hand--none of which was a ghost project. Additional events place (Pavilions I & II at St. Vincent Ferrer Prayer Park). Post-harvest complex by AILC. A tertiary hospital named in honor of a beloved departed son, the Julius K. Quiambao Medical and Wellness Center. A proper theme park, Blue Sky. A new business hub and town center, BYB Metro.

And because education is key to stamping out poverty, a new college too for underprivileged students, Bayambang Polytechnic College (BPC). I couldn't believe what was happening in my little old town. For instance, where would you be able to find anyone willing to shell out P20,000,000 annually to cover the tuition fees of around 1,000 students of BPC?

Dr. Quiambao was noticeably into so many other 'firsts,' big and small. He had this habit of pioneering a lot of things just to test the waters, and he delivered the goods: traffic lights, Broadway-level theater production, official anthem, tourism jingle, official social dance, a permanent municipal museum, an institutionalized municipal accolade (Matalunggaring Awards, the highest accolade), a 3D LED screen, hoverboards, Seal of Good Local Governance for Barangays, unique and marvelous Christmas shows (all for free), musical extravaganzas featuring the biggest names (again, all for free), ISO certification, a farmers' app called E-Agro that helps deliver an assortment of assistance to farmers at one's fingertips, and so on. Niña's Cafe, a new café that he and his wife put up in 2017, ushered in a thriving coffeeshop culture in town. You will know where the heart of a public servant lies, even from the little things.

Still, he was not yet happy with all of these. His dream is to see the town, even the country, reach the level of Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan... To realize a full-blown business zone employing workers by the thousands. ...To see full-on industrialization that is mindful of the environment. I wonder whether this dream strikes other people negatively as well. Because there are those who claim that his desire for socioeconomic progress is displacing the poor from their own land. Where is the evidence to back up this claim, which strikes me as odd because CTQ is foremost a philanthropist long before he was a public figure? He is known to secretly extend an assortment of help to his friends and the needy, including hospitalization, benefiting even non-constituents and most especially kabaleyans who might not even have voted for him (oh, the irony).

In 2020, he decided not to finish his term, but instead fielded his wife, another non-politician, into the messy world of politics and public service. Of course, tongues kept on wagging, this time about his wife, another unlikely town chief.

Perhaps people were expecting a 'mayora' to be like those they have grown to love before. This one proved shockingly unorthodox to their taste. They were too unprepared for a stunningly beautiful, statuesque, and glamorous celebrity mestiza with her own ways and personality. Kind but not naive; in fact-straight-talking if needed. They often judge her as bratty and fussy (maarte)--they probably expected someone matronly or perhaps schoolmarmy.

But they never ask what triggers her temper. If only they tried, they would have known it's mostly negligence in service, dishonesty, inaction, corruption. Considering her young age...who is not like exactly that at that age? As for 'maarte,' show me a person who has no 'kaartehan sa katawan' and I'll show you a person who is not in a good place; fussing over oneself is a sign of healthy self-regard.

Going back to my main point, what are the odds of her being mayor? It's already a miracle that someone like Dr. Quiambao would rise as a politician when it didn't even cross his mind. How much more someone like Niña Jose from the showbiz world--that's right, from PBB--who of course would go on to make history as Bayambang's first female local chief executive, Mayor Niña Jose-Quiambao? What a ridiculous turn of events in Bayambang's history. But yes, it actually happened. We all saw it with our own eyes.

And these two miracle workers have just begun. Because the work is far too extensive for just one leader leading within a limited time frame.

And yet others have the gall to think they are power-hungry when it would have been much more convenient for them not to care. Frankly, I don't understand a lot of my own people anymore. I hope all of those who have benefitted from their multitude of assistance and donations in one way or another would come out in their defense.

I don't understand all that creatively varied accusations and non-stop animosity being thrown at the town's first couple--election time or not. I am proud of many other things about my town, but in my book, what I am proud the most today as a Bayambangueño is this: the continuous work output of these two instruments of God's love and mercy for His people, everything they have been doing for the sometimes undeserving and ungrateful people of Bayambang.

I appeal to those who are too hungry to serve right now to please allow the Quiambao-Sabangan team to finish their grand project first and cooperate instead with their good works. Criticism, if valid, is welcome, but outright slander is another story. Please wait for your turn, but first please prove that you can achieve even a tenth of the good governance breakthroughs these two 'miracle workers' have achieved through good intent and action.

Better yet, let us thank God for blessing us with such a rare, undeserved gift, one that comes only once in 400 years. Let us thank God for showing us, through them, the meaning of grace.