Monday, December 22, 2008 Editorial: Lying through his teeth
IT HAS gotten more excruciating for the public to watch Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)-Northern Mindanao Regional Director Mustapha Gandarosa desperately cling to his position -- a public office, by the way, that is not beholden to a theocratic government as Mr. Gandarosa seems to believe.
It must have been excruciating, too, for the beleaguered official because as days go by, he looks more of a lonely, unwanted bureaucrat trying to resist the inevitable.
But the latter is the least of our concern; it is the public that is inconvenienced by the turf war at the BIR, following Mr. Gandarosa's defiance against the order of the BIR commissioner for him to vacate his post for another position in Manila.
Was it Gandarosa who said he "welcomed" his reassignment because, to him, it meant a sort of promotion? No sooner than the transfer order landed on his rubbish bin, Mr. Gandarosa went to his home turf in Lanao del Norte to question his reassignment.
It can now be safely assumed that the whole thing was just a show, a face-saving make-believe in response to the severe beating he got from local traders who protested against the alleged shakedowns at BIR.
Was it Gandarosa who described Cagayan de Oro Revenue District Officer Esther Palala as "Mabait ang babae na iyan." Days later, he accused Ms. Palala of hatching the plot to overthrow him-as if he were some Divine-appointed dictator-and called the latter "corrupt." Now it can safely be assumed that to Mr. Gandarosa, a person's character is relative-you are only as good as your last act-or charade-of loyalty to the boss.
Now his subordinate, BIR Assistant Regional Director Alberto Olasiman, is leading an insurrection that further undermines Mr. Gandarosa's alleged authority. Mr. Gandarosa says the any order emanating from Mr. Olasiman, who has now assumed as acting BIR-Northern Mindanao director, is above the latter's pay grade, and therefore, null an void.
Using the same logic, why is Mr. Gandarosa resisting his transfer when BIR Commissioner Sixto Esquivaz IV was well within his pay grade to order such?
Mr. Gandarosa repeatedly says only God can remove him from his current post. To say this in a secular democracy is a great aberration; to insist on it is an insult to the public from which civil servants like Mr. Gandarosa owe their positions. It is shameful as it smacks of blasphemy.
