Featured Post

MABUHAY PRRD!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

THE LITTLE-KNOWN PROFILE OF RONALD LLAMAS

Ronald Llamas is PNoy's political adviser.

What is his background and what are his leanings?

Is he the "right" architect for the country's future political landscape?

Are his strategic moves congruent with national security interest? What might the military think of him?

Is PNoy a "trusting passenger" or the driver of the country's political and national security journey?

As a guide in appreciating Llamas' trajectory, it would be useful to read about Eurocommunism and Antonio Gramsci.

Ronald Llamas, current Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs

Ronald Llamas
Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs

Ronald Llamas is a prominent Filipino activist and the current political adviser of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. He is also the president of the Akbayan Citizen's Action Party, which is a coalition partner of the Liberal Party (LP).

Prior to his appointment in his current position, he was already a key adviser of President Aquino and LP president and former senator Mar Roxas. Aquino also earlier appointed Llamas as member of the board of directors of the Development Bank of the Philippines.

As student activist

Llamas took up journalism at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Faculty of Arts and Letters (AB) in 1978. It was there, while the country was still under Martial Law, when he wrote for Hudyat, the official newsletter of the UST Journalism Society; The Flame, the official student organ of the AB; and became features editor of The Varsitarian, the official student paper of UST.

After witnessing a violent demolition of a squatters' area in Tondo, Manila during his college years, he realized that he must start making a difference in the lives of the impoverished and marginalized sectors of Philippine society.

In a special issue of The Flame, he wrote the article “Confessions of a Butcher,” a satire about then President Ferdinand Marcos and his erstwhile defense chief and now senator Juan Ponce Enrile. Soon, the UST administration warned the Varsitarian against publishing articles deemed critical of the Marcos regime, compelling Llamas to give up his editorship.

In 1981, he became the first president of the AB Student Council when it was revived upon the lifting of Martial Law. Llamas wrote the first student constitution in UST, primarily to counteract the meddling of the school administration in student affairs. It created a domino effect as other colleges followed suit. Later, the Central Student Council was established.

Llamas was also instrumental in the organizing of the Youth for the Advancement of Faith and Justice (YAFJ), an intercollegiate student youth movement that gained prominence and influence in student politics in the university-belt area.

In the labor movement

Upon graduation, Llamas became active in trade unionism and organized labor and other sectoral groups. He also became active in the campaign for the approval of the party-list law.

Akbayan

In 1998, the the Akbayan Citizen's Action Party was formally established. In its founding national congress Llamas was elected president. In that year's national elections, Akbayan won one seat in the Philippine House of Representatives. In 2004 Akbayan won three seats in Congress, which were occupied by Representatives Etta Rosales, Risa Hontiveros and Mayong Aguja. Currently, Akbayan has two seats in the House of Representatives through Representatives Walden Bello and Arlene "Kaka" Bag-ao.

Interesting anecdotes

  1. Llamas managed to personally hand over to Pope John Paul II a letter expressing the Filipino students' dissent against the Marcos dictatorship, when the Polish Pontiff first visited the country in 1981.
  2. According to journalist Ellen Tordesillas, the following repartee transpired between Llamas and Alex Magno, renowned University of the Philippines political science professor and Philippine Star columnist, when they chanced upon each other years ago: Magno, upon seeing Llamas: “Hello, the last of the socialists.” Llamas' response: “Hello, the first of the opportunists.” Llamas replaced Magno as board member of the DBP when he was appointed to the position in late 2010.
  3. Last October 2011, he figured in a scandal involving high-powered firearms. Google: [ ronald llamas ak 47 ]

Reactions from the left

Llamas's partymates in Akbayan welcomed his appointment as presidential adviser. In a statement, Akbayan said that the appointment “attests to the government's pluralist and democratic character of governing.” Secondly, “it showed that President Aquino can actively go beyond partisan ideological politics and extend its hand of solidarity to forces of change.” And lastly, that it “also displays that the democratic left is a serious and relevant political actor.”

Partido Lakas ng Masa Chairman Sonny Melencio, on the other hand, remarked that “Akbayan seems to have found its final resting place...Its fortunes are now completely tied to the rise and fall of President Noynoy.”

Melencio raised the “problem of cooptation” into a government that “is now the chief administrator of an unabashedly pro-capitalist neo-liberal program,” and that is “still...elite-dominated and pro-capitalist.”

Melencio ended his statement with a reminder to the left of the challenge to present a genuine alternative to the “system,” and that “a truly social, socialist alternative...can best and (only) be developed today from without the system, including the 'Aquino system,' rather from within.”

Reference

No comments: