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Thursday, January 29, 2004
Espinoza: Ortiz should turn over his son to cops
By Elias L. Espinoza
FATHER. It’s normal for a father to protect his child no matter what it costs. It’s a tradition that most parents, especially Filipinos, value. The case of Insp. Ramon Ortiz is no exception.
Ortiz’s son, Ramon Jr., said to be a member of Tau Gamma Phi fraternity is accused of taking part in the shooting to death of Romulo Romero, Akrho provincial vice president, last week.
While Inspector Ortiz can always claim he doesn’t know where his son is, the police have the inkling that he does. Ortiz, was a classmate in the College of Criminology. He was reassigned to Bohol upon the intervention of Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
Murder in the new law is now a heinous crime and as such, it is not bailable. Any parents for that matter can’t allow their son to languish in jail especially if they believe their child is innocent.
Overwhelmed by his emotions, Ortiz probably did not realize that aside from being charged administratively, he can also be held criminally liable for keeping his son from the police.
As a police officer, the older Ortiz has the solemn obligation to the public and the state to enforce the laws without fear or favor regardless of relationship. By compulsion of law, Ortiz should give up his son to the police.
This will not only save his job, it will also show he is a true and dedicated police officer. As a parent, his immediate concern is to look for a good lawyer, who can defend his son well.
SPECULATIONS. As the election day nears, speculations run high on the fate of our nation if the elected presidential bet turns out to be professionally unprepared or, as political spin-doctors will put it, “unqualified.”
Unseen hands are doing every possible means and even resorting to unorthodox ways just to put down the presidential bid of movie king Fernando Poe Jr. or FPJ without realizing that it will only draw sympathy from the masa.
To ordinary folks and a simple man like me, it is incomprehensible to blame FPJ’s candidacy for the decline in the country’s economy. It is as if the nation’s economy was in a pink of health after the so-called Esda II that removed president Estrada from Malacañang and the controversial Supreme Court installed Arroyo.
Tell it to the marines, as the saying goes, will probably be the answer of those in slum areas if told that FPJ’s candidacy is the cause of the country’s ailing economy.
The issue here is for the business sector, especially the Makati business tycoons, to be honest to the public and not use their expertise in adding confusion to the already mystified public.
SILENT? In Cebu’s political scene, it is quite amazing that after the last visit of Arroyo during the Sinulog on Jan. 18, the guns of the warring camps within the administration were suddenly muzzled down.
Gov. Pablo Garcia, who still pledged his canine support (so to speak) for Arroyo in the May polls, is unexpectedly keeping his tirade against the camp of the Martinezes as well as Vice Gov. John-john Osmeña, whose runningmate for vice governor, compañero Adie Sitoy, is the anointed administration candidate.
During Arroyo’s last visit here, Garcia was among the local officials she met with in a closed-door conference. Can Garcia’s silence be understood that they have reached a modus vivendi of the situation in the provincial elections?
Garcia’s daughter, Gwen, is running for governor while former agriculture undersecretary Junie Martinez is also joining the gubernatorial race. Both Garcia and Martinez belong to Lakas-CMD, the administration party.
The understanding between the local Lakas leaders and Malacañang for the provincial elections (whatever that is) is simply itching. Consider that the last day of substitution of candidates on Jan. 15 has been extended.
This is another guesswork. The possibility is not remote that the local Lakas-CMD leaders will join forces and gang up on Vice Governor Osmeña, who is running under NPC but his running mate, Sitoy, is Lakas-CMD’s official vice gubernatorial bet.
(January 29, 2004 issue)
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