
Originally Posted by
eezychair
If the position does fit the credentials and the objective aligned with an objective of DILG, that should work out fine. As clarified by someone who commented in the inquirer news:
1. He's not a classmate or personal friend of Noynoy. Other than being jailed for being jailed during Marcos' time for being an activist and community organizer and serving as commissioner for the urban poor (PCUP) for three years, he has no links to the P-Noy administration. @estor_boot still thinks the guy is still KKK due to the Osmena connection, but that's just him.
2. He's been an urban poor community organizer for 30 years. He helped the slum and middle class communities for lot acquisitions, livelihood projects, and capacity-building. We actually benefited from one of the projects he led so I can attest to this.
3. He advocated pro-poor policies when he was city administrator in Cebu. Although Cebu is among the top cities for doing business, the city has remained pro-poor. During his time, a "no eviction without relocation" policy was implemented, urban poor vendors could easily visit the office of the mayor air their problems, urban poor communities were assisted in their lot acquisitions, etc.
4. Some specific events that you could easily look search at Google: (i) He threatened to sue -- and successfully stopped -- the University of the Philippines for banning squatters from rebuilding their shanties after they were destroyed by a fire. (ii) Just two years ago, he sued the new mayor of Cebu for evicting squatters at a river bank without giving any financial assistance. As retaliation, the current mayor of Cebu has banned him from city hall.
5. He has accepted the DILG post mainly because he believes that the 60% of the population (the poor, those living on minimum wage) needs a voice in the DILG.