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Sunday, February 23, 2003
Cabaero: Closure
By Nini B. Cabaero
Beyond 30
Relationship experts, like psychologists and confidants, say that for one to overcome a painful past, there must be closure to that phase.
When an abusive husband and father finally leaves his family, it does not mean that all will be well for the wife or that his absence will lead to a return to normalcy for the children. No, the experts would say, absence does not mean the end of that painful phase for the wife and children. Silence does not mean closure.
The story of Acsa Ramirez, the bank employee wrongly tagged as a suspect in a tax scam last year by President Arroyo and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Reynaldo Wycoco, is one still in need of closure.
Ramirez was the Land Bank of the Philippines cashier who was presented to President Arroyo in August last year as a suspect in the P203-million tax diversion scam. Ramirez was in fact the whistle-blower on the scam and had expected the President to congratulate her. She was surprised when Wycoco pointed an accusing finger at her in the presence of Arroyo.
Instead of Arroyo and Wycoco apologizing for the mistake, they ordered that the investigation on Ramirez go on for violation of Land Bank procedures against fraudulent accounts.
The Ombudsman decision last week clearing Ramirez of the charge gave the bank cashier some relief, at the least. Ramirez told a Manila newspaper about how her life had changed after that incident in August. She could not live anymore in her house and her two-year old daughter and three-year old son had to stay with relatives in the province. She said she and her husband could not stay long in one place and had to be mobile most of the time for security reasons.
It was a situation no sensible person would wish on another. What Ramirez and her family went through cannot be compensated enough by a decision of innocence, or payment of damages that is not even forthcoming. What could provide closure to Ramirez and her family would be an admission of the mistake of naming her a suspect and of insisting on her investigation after the first mistake was discovered.
The Ombudsman decision clearing her of involvement in the tax scam, Ramirez said, showed there can be justice in the country for even a mere bank cashier. When asked if she would demand an apology, Ramirez gave a statement that the Manila newspaper said she had rehearsed with her lawyer. “I did not ask for forgiveness then. What more now when I have justice?”
The absence of closure in the Ramirez case is bad not only for Ramirez and her family. It is bad for a public too that has become wary of government leaders who can mistake a whistle-blower for a suspect, who would insist on their mistake to save face, and, when finally decided by a higher body as having been a mistake all along, would ignore calls for an apology.
Mr. Webster apparently does not live in the homes of these government leaders. The last time I picked up a dictionary, the word “sorry” was there.
(Ms. Cabaero can be reached at e-mail address ninicab@ sunstar.com.ph)
(February 23, 2003 issue)
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