Sunday, October 22, 2006
Cariño: A man named Braulio
By Linda Grace Cariño
Paradigm shift
LET ME today accede to many a request to write about our good mayor but not about him. Yes, I am asked to write about Baguio City Mayor Braulio Yaranon, but not deal with his being the mayor. There are those amongst us whose pleasure would be served to read a piece on the man, not the mayor. This column now obliges.
I grow up calling him Uncle Raul because he is, like my father and grandfather, a Liberal Party stalwart. Many a party caucus is held in the houses I grow up in, and Uncle Raul is a fixture in these gatherings. As is his wife, Auntie Lily. These in a day and age when political parties and platforms actually matter, the 60s and early 70s.
So we understand, at least partly, why as a politician, the good Braulio is a stickler for issues and basing decisions on them. More significantly, the man is a lawyer with a razor sharp mind ? not even his detractors will disagree with that. Many of us have seen it at work and appreciate how it deals with issues and what is relevant to them. A healthy number of us have had the pleasure of having had the good Atty. Yaranon represent us in court.
A friend of his has this to tell. Years ago, she chances upon him in a quandary over a title that he owns by way of attorney’s fees. So she asks the retired judge why he is in such a state. He tells her that he has just discovered that he had never transferred the title to himself. This is how immune to material matters the Judge is, so now he has to pay the accumulated penalties on the capital gains tax.
Whereupon this friend of his offers to go to the BIR to find out if there is any solution to the matter, this because if Judge Yaranon has to pay the taxes and penalties on the property, said taxes and penalties would cost more than the title. Fortunately, the law on capital gains is not yet passed, (yes, Virginia, that long ago), so the matter is simple. The BIR asks him to execute an affidavit to the effect that he had forgotten to register the title under his own name and is now only doing so. Again, fortunately, the BIR people allow him to pay just current gains.
The end of the story is of greater consequence than how the material world hardly affects the Judge. After the title is transferred to him, the judge’s friend proceeds to sell the property for him. When the sale is consummated, friend asks him to undervalue the sale, this to save on capital gains tax payments. To her dismay, the Judge refuses to undervalue the sale, saying “Saan yo ikaskasta iti gobierno, ta nu saan tayo agbayad iti buwis tayo, saan nga tumaray iti gobierno tayo. Ikan ka laeng iti sobra nga tandang mo, angem di tayo kiskisayan iti para gobierno.” I was there when these words were uttered, and that’s Uncle Raul for you.
Further, columnist sayeth naught.
(October 22, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
