‘General Lina’ and a city’s soul

I first encountered the now retired police general Lina Sarmiento when she represented the Philippine National Police in a forum on women and peace. Her intervention, on the role of women in the PNP and Armed Forces, was succinct and to the point. Women would not be credible as peacemakers within the establishment, she said, if they shied away from “the field.” At the time, she was the director of the “high security” branch, responsible for assigning police security to high-ranking visitors and high-risk individuals requesting police escorts.

I got to know her better a few months later when we both became part of a delegation of Filipino women visiting Colombia to share experiences on peace-building and networking, since both countries were on their way to forging peace agreements with various insurgent groups.

Interacting with Sarmiento, I realized that no matter her trailblazing accomplishments—she is the first female two-star police general, having joined the force as an analyst of the Crime Lab—she is able to interact with her counterparts in government and ordinary people and victims of human rights violations, listening to them, asking insightful questions, and sharing her own life experience in the discussions.

Upon our return, and after hosting the visit of our counterparts from Colombia, the Filipino delegates—who represented varied sectors like business, academe, rural women, religious communities, indigenous people and youth—decided to organize in order to look further into the issues of peace and development in the country, and plan activities to strengthen our advocacy. We called ourselves “Bai de Paz,” the house of peace.

So you can imagine my joy upon learning that “General Lina,” as we call her, had been appointed head of the Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board, which will oversee the distribution of some P10 billion as compensation to victims of martial law.

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But General Lina’s appointment has not been met with universal joy and acceptance. Activist groups and partylist representatives are against her appointment, saying a former senior PNP officer has no business heading a board that seeks to provide help for human rights victims.

Yesterday (Tuesday), there were reports that Malacañang had issued an appeal to critics to give General Lina “a chance to prove herself” as head of the Claims Board.

Apparently, those objecting to her appointment cannot get over her police career; they think her work experience will color her approach and response to victims of abuse by state forces, including the police, during martial law.

But we must remember that General Lina’s road to her position doesn’t follow the traditional route of most other police officers. She had to break down doors and crash through glass ceilings to overcome the barriers put up by the “boys’ club” that was the PNP officers’ corps.

That experience shows her gumption and daring, but it also speaks of her sympathy for the underdog, her knowledge of what it takes to challenge the “establishment.” And her background as a police investigator can be put to good use in verifying the victims’ claims for compensation, unless that is the reason activist groups don’t agree with her presence in the board!

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One of the big—and I daresay it will be the biggest—issues being raised against Arthur Celeste, mayor of Alaminos City, Pangasinan, is that he is a “stranger,” having been born and raised in Bolinao, a town about an hour’s drive away.

True, he had been the congressman in the district which encompasses Alaminos and Bolinao, but the main objection to him is that he is not from Alaminos, although he won the mayoralty in the last elections.

But the issue can very well be raised against him anew if his plans for the town’s main plaza push through. Like most Philippine towns, Alaminos grew around the central hub in the “poblacion,” consisting of the parish church grounds, the City Hall, and a public plaza (in Alaminos, this is bisected by the highway leading to nearby towns). Recently, it was revealed that the city council, upon the urging of Mayor Celeste, had voted to release funds for the construction of a building, an extension of the nearby City Hall, on the central plaza.

When I met him on a recent visit to Alaminos, I asked about this plan and while he didn’t answer directly, Mayor Celeste said he planned to convert the motor pool at the back of City Hall into a playground. This doesn’t bode well for those who love the Alaminos of old, since he may have been referring to the public basketball court in the plaza, which is the focus of most town celebrations.

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Let me now appeal to Mayor Celeste directly, and to the good citizens of Alaminos, my mother’s hometown, to reconsider this plan.

The “church, plaza, town hall” plan is the classic arrangement of most Philippine towns and has been, for more than a century, the scenery that greets visitors upon entering Alaminos. If he succeeds in destroying the plaza as we know it, Mayor Celeste can very well revive criticisms that as a “foreigner,” he has no love lost for the Alaminos of beloved memory that many of its families and children have loved for generations.

Mayor Celeste has many other plans for his “adopted” city, foremost of which is the rehabilitation and upgrade of the prime tourist destination of the Hundred Islands and of Lucap, the jump-off point. Among these plans is the construction of a “five-star” hotel in Lucap and the introduction of water sports in the bigger islands.

But if he destroys the city’s soul, then Mayor Celeste’s grand plans will all be for naught.