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Friday, September 19, 2003
Kintanar: Job well done?
By June Kintanar
I have always held the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in high esteem. Some of my close relatives whom I respect were once with the bureau, and I know they wouldn’t have done so if the agency were of questionable integrity.
A year ago, though, the local NBI office ran smack into a controversy that tarnished its image. I am referring to that incident wherein some regular and confidential agents strafed a van ridden by a group of unsuspecting employees of Plantation Bay Resort. The case is now pending in court.
The other day, however, the local NBI, under regional director Reynaldo Esmeralda stumbled upon a solution to a celebrated case in the course of investigating the loss of two vans loaded with smuggled rice from the Cebu International Port. This became a front-page item of local newspapers and a hot topic for radio and television news and commentaries.
The NBI 7 achievement was so impressive it practically wiped away the dirt it got about a year ago. Some people, though, are taking the apparent success of the NBI with a dose of cynicism. Thus, I reserve doffing my hat to the NBI until a case shall have been filed in court against the suspects in the Lao killing. Abangan.
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Advocates of constitutional amendment through a constituent assembly are still insisting on their proposal to change the form of government from presidential to parliamentary. They may be correct, but the problem is they should do this some other time. In short, they are out of timing.
Deciding on the form of our government is definitely not a priority. It can wait. Now is not the right time to ram this through the people’s throats considering the many other serious problems besetting our country. Insisting on this will only irritate the people.
What the people want these days is government stability through a democratic election. That’s why officials are exerting every effort to neutralize elements that are out to destabilize the government and, in effect, sabotage the present administration and, probably, topple President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from power.
The people are concerned with this and apparently hate to be distracted by a discussion on a change in the form of government. Besides, if the objective of the pro- constituent assembly group is to have their proposal approved before the election in May, they must be barking at the moon. They themselves should know there’s not much time left.
To the people, it’s enough that we will have a clean and honest election next year, period. Any other matter is but an irritant.
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It’s obvious the political opposition is out to “destroy” agencies that it thinks are close to the heart of the President. First, they tried to impugn the integrity of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) by alleging that the agency issued a check for more than a million pesos to the Jose Pidal account.
Because the accusation had no basis in fact, PCSO officials easily rebutted it. All they did was trace the check numbers. It was then found that the check referred to was actually issued to a lotto winner. Another check from another bank but with the same number turned out to be a check paid to charity. The accusation was proven false, but only after it damaged the unsullied reputation of PCSO.
Now, it’s the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) that is being hit with unfounded accusations. Just because Pagcor borrowed money from two government banks, the destabilizers are now shouting from the highest steeple that the firm is encountering financial turbulence, or that it is on the way to insolvency and bankruptcy. It’s good that chairman Efrain Genuino quickly denied this.
But people who know are asking: Is all the noise not because some Pagcor officials are said to be close to the First Gentleman?
(September 19, 2003 issue)
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