Let Degamo be

It is said that if you wish to kill an idea, create a committee to conduct a study. This ploy is common among executives who do not agree and want to scuttle a proposal but do not intend to offend. This excuse, however, already upsets.

Oriental Negros Roel Degamo is engaged in this tactic because he cannot produce enough evidence or argument to oppose the creation of the Negros Island Region. If one reflects deeply on his excuse, one cannot help but conclude he has really nothing to argue. The “study first” ploy is his position in the face of an almost unanimous support of his own officials and constituents to this idea.

In the end he can become irrelevant because the plan will proceed without him. The best approach to this tactic is simply to ignore him. He now even appears isolated.

So, we should just let him be; he might be sincere. He may just be a voice in the wilderness, but unlike St. John the Baptist, people heard Degamo but they don’t believe.

The earlier the supporters of this move just let Degamo be, the faster for them to move on. His proposal for a feasibility study is merely a delaying tactic. In fact, if the news reports are true, his arguments are clearly intended to impede until he probably thinks people will just get fed up and abandon the idea.

Consider his question whether Oriental Negros would be number one in tourism if there is a One Island Region. Who can guarantee that? Can Cebu guarantee that? Or for that matter, can anyone assure that? He knows nobody can and yet he posits the condition just to throw a boot into the mill.

 The officials pushing for this One Island Region should let Degamo bask in his stance. Indeed, it takes guts to oppose the tide of popular sentiment. Let him take pride in the thought that he is the “last man standing.” He refuses to listen, much less accept the arguments in favor of the proposal. It is difficult for him to set aside his amor propio by admitting he can be wrong.

At the height of the communist insurgency in Negros, the late Bacolod Bishop Antonio Y. Fortich who happens to be from Oriental Negros, told me that “if we do not work together, we shall hang separately.”

Similarly, the two provinces of Negros will no doubt progress on their own pace, but if they work together their development will be faster and focused. As it stands today, Cebu thinks first for its own; Iloilo does the same. The rapid growth of the two centers of Region 6 and 7 attests to this “me first policy”.

If the two Negros provinces are together they will have united, coordinated plans and implementation because one is dependent on the other. They can think as one, not two.

Take the infrastructure program for instance. The development of the rural areas of Negros will be enhanced if their road networks are connected to each other. This means a faster flow of goods and services from one to the other. Opening the huge rural potentials of the island with interconnecting roads and bridges will certainly redound to the common good. In brief, planning will be focused, resources will be consolidated and benefits spread out.

The presentation of Edward Du, president of Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry graphically illustrated the condition in that province. The province’ poverty level could not be addressed effectively due to the inequitable allocation of the resources. This is expected when planning is dispersed to several recipients with the dispensers thinking of their own benefits first. 

If there is one Negros Island Region, there will only be two provinces so that a unified plan can be developed and resources equitably distributed because their development depends on each other’s progress.  

Degamo might indeed be prompted by a sincere concern but an adamant attitude can also cloud one’s perception. His arguments, in fact, appear like last ditch efforts to prevent the growing support for the One Island Region movement. It is courageous to stand by one’s conviction but it is more courageous and noble to admit one might be wrong.

Surely the collective wisdom of the political and business leaders and people of Oriental Negros has more merit than the opinion of one, no matter how high the office.*

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