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Thursday, March 25, 2004
Wenceslao: Joke, joke, joke?
By BONG WENCESLAO
Uh-oh. Will we all end up being had? That worry cropped up when I heard the recent statement of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 Regional Director Reynaldo Esmeralda on the seized pseudoephedrine. He seemed ready to concede that all the brouhaha about the cargo is nothing but hot air. See? The shipment was legal. Ha-ha-ha!
But I don’t think Esmeralda was joking. His point was simple. Coastside Ventures Inc., the supposed consignee, has a certification from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to import so-called controlled chemicals. “Going by that certification of PDEA alone, how can we prosecute that company?” Esmeralda asked. Har-har-har!
There are actually many kinds of exit strategies when you are dealing with a controversy and a vigilant public. One is floating a trial balloon. Listening to Esmeralda reminded me of such a strategy. Consider: He merely said the shipment could be legal. He did not say it was legal…yet. That will be done later--after the preliminaries.
But the shipment legal? So all the fire and brimstone everybody hurled—from government officials to radio commentators and newspaper columnists (including poor Bong Wenceslao) to the public—were based on nothing? I’m scratching my head now. And I could hear Bayani Agbayani in my mind shouting his mantra: joke, joke, joke!
Still, here are some questions. If the shipment were legal, why are the people involved not waving documents now? Why are they hiding inside the skirts of their legal counsels? Frankly, if it will be proven that PDEA, the NBI, the Bureau of Customs and other concerned agencies have taken us all for the ride, then God help this country.
LOOT. That was a mouthful Daanbantayan Mayor Ma. Luisa Loot said recently. Listen: “If they asked for a permit properly, I would have issued it to them. I just wanted them to comply. Is that so hard?” Loot was reacting to criticisms of her order to disrupt a recent gathering using policemen in civilian clothes and carrying high-powered guns.
I would have given Loot the benefit of the doubt had I not read about the resolution passed by nine barangays in Daanbantayan, apparently with her blessings, to prohibit some groups they accused of being communist-inspired from holding gatherings in their barangays. These acts betray a mindset borrowed from the Martial Law regime.
That seminar hosted by the Center for Participatory Governance last Saturday was not illegal—whether it had a permit from the mayor or not. And who has given town officials the right to declare certain groups illegal and banning them from the barangays? Isn’t that the task of the courts? Or is the Daanbantayan of Loot now a police state?
P.S. I received this text message last week from an unidentified sender: “I just received a good news. Verdan was finally rejected by the Civil Service Commission.” The “Verdan” mentioned in the message was Angelo Verdan, whose appointment as manager of the Mactan Cebu International Airport has been rejected by the CSC.
Unfortunately for the texter, it looks like Verdan is not about to step down as airport general manager. Why he so desperately wants to cling to that post only he knows.
Finally, here’s a good question from another Text Reax contributor: “Why is there a proliferation of animal feeds plants in Cebu? Isn’t this one sign of the existence of shabu laboratories here? When you manufacture feeds, the odor is unbearable. Is it possible to use an animal feeds plant as a front for a shabu laboratory?”
(e-mail: khanwens@yahoo.com; text: 0927-4912362)
(March 25, 2004 issue)
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