Former president Fidel V Ramos says Tagaytay City has deteriorated

Former President Fidel V Ramos, in a recent Manila Bulletin column, wrote about how he and his family celebrated the holidays last month in Tagaytay City, per tradition, because they thought it was the best place to be during the merry season.

This was his headline: “Tagaytay City: Sad example in nation-building.”

“Last week’s sortie to our favorite mountain city, however, was a frustrating and disappointing experience largely because of massive traffic jams along the long stretch of the Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay road both ways, and related difficulties in reaching the People’s Park in the Sky (PPIS) which is supposed to be Tagaytay’s ‘crown jewel’ on top of Mount Sungay,” he wrote.

Ramos’ lament didn’t end there.

He basically slammed former Tagaytay City mayor and ex-Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chief Francis Tolentino and his family for being responsible for what happened to the city.

“President Aquino III’s appointment of former Tagaytay Mayor Francis Tolentino as MMDA chairman created waves of protests from responsible Tagaytayans – concerned residents, taxpayers, voters, and tourists/visitors. It will be recalled that Francis Tolentino and his successor – brother Abraham, together with father Isaac Tolentino – have been among the most durable, authoritarian political dynasties in a major Philippine city, lasting some 40 years to-date,” he explained.

Ramos then cited a report from The Philippine Star, wherein the ex-MMDA chair’s former executive assistant, Ronald Tan, alleged in a four-page complaint that the Tolentino brothers “amassed some PHP500 million by way of unabated graft and corruption and abuse of power and authority ill-gotten wealth in the form of real estate properties, business, vehicles and bank deposits, which in no way can be justified as having been acquired legally through their earnings as public officials or even their private business ventures.”

Meanwhile, Rigoberto “Bobi” Tiglao, who served as presidential spokesperson under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, discussed Ramos’ Tagaytay rant in his own opinion column in The Manila Times. Though he agreed with Ramos’ observations about the city not being as great as it was before, he pointed out that Ramos seemed to be singling out the Tolentinos.