“We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” –Buddha

This is a tribute to the late lawyer and philosopher Ernesto ‘Ernie’ Dayot, whom I wrote about in my previous column.
Known as the “Socrates of Iloilo,” he was an avid objectivist and a one-time deist, or somebody who believes God created the universe but allows it to self-govern. If Salvador Laurel became president following the EDSA Revolution instead of Corazon Aquino, Dayot would have been named National Historical Commission of the Philippines chairman.
“[Or] Ernie would have been given an ambassadorial position,” the late Atty. Joselito “JT” Barrera once told a group of journalists.
Barrera was one of the few Ilonggos privy to Dayot’s closeness with Laurel, who was installed as vice president after Aquino assumed the presidency. He said Laurel was “most impressed” with Dayot during a Nacionalista Party (NP) event with the latter revealing his intellect and photographic memory of historical events. When Laurel served as Department of Foreign Affairs secretary from March 1986 to February 1987, he would invite Dayot and other Ilonggo NP officials for private dinners.
“Politics was mentioned occasionally during the private dinner,” Save Our Nation Movement founder, Atty. Pascual Espinosa, Jr. said in jest. “We talked mostly about our girlfriends.”

Supremacy
“Ilonggos have always strove to regain their economic supremacy,” Dayot stated. “In the past, when the port of Iloilo was at its busiest, that time, Iloilo City was dubbed the ‘Queen City of the South.’” However, he called patronage politics, which refers to the appointing or hiring of individuals based on partisan loyalty, a “major stumbling block” for Filipino politicians.
“Delayed construction of infrastructure like roads and bridges has taken a heavy toll [on] the viability of other economic projects, government or private, [which] could [accelerate] the gears of production for the ultimate progress of Iloilo,” he explained.
Dayot said there is a connection between economic growth and the political power and the development of a province or city is incumbent on the management abilities of the powers-that-be.

Ilonggos
He often cited various achievements by Ilonggos.
Some examples included Molo being called the “Athens of the Philippines;” Victoriano Mapa and Ramon Avancena serving as chief justices for the Supreme Court of the Philippines; Raymundo Melliza sitting on the Supreme Court of Cuba; Delfin Jaranilla’s appointment to an international tribunal that tried war criminals; Rodolfo Ganzon, Esteban de La Rama, and Jose C. Zulueta elected to the Senate; Fernando Lopez, another former senator, who also served as vice president; Oscar Ledesma; Ruperto Montinola; former Panay and Romblon Governor Tomas Confesor, who penned a letter of reply to the Japanese Imperial Army suggesting they surrender; the revolutionaries that fought against Spain in 1896; Gen. Martin Delgado of Sta. Barbara, Iloilo; Gen. Adriano Dayot Hernandez of Dingle, Iloilo; and a host of other generals and officers in command.
Following World War I, Sergeant Ramon Sobejano of New Lucena, Iloilo was named the most-decorated soldier fighting in Europe. Following World War II, Captain Jose Calugas of Leon, Iloilo was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Dayot also noted, “[Iloilo] was a beehive of several local and national daily newspapers that projected the burning issues of the day.”
He named Flavio Zarragoza Cano, known as the “Ilonggo Cervantes” and one who former Senator Claro M. Recto had the profound admiration and respect for; Ezequil Villalobos of the Manila Bulletin; Rex Drilon, a political scientist, writer, and the first Filipino president of Central Philippine University; and Stevan Javellana, whose book “Without Seeing the Dawn” has been translated into several languages.
“Ilonggos today, wherever we are, can look back with great pride of our legacy of greatness,” Dayot concluded.

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Alex P. Vidal, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo./WDJ