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Saturday, November 19, 2005
Nalzaro: Councilor Pe's conduct
By Bobby Nalzaro
IS hanging out in a nightclub using a government service vehicle part of the official function of an elected official? I ask this after a GMA 7 news team caught Cebu City Councilor Agustus Pe Jr. having a good time with friends inside Pump Restobar along Archbishop Reyes St. at around 1 o’clock dawn last Wednesday. A police patrol car was parked beside his service vehicle outside the bar.
When sought for comment, Pe, who is fond of acting like a police officer, arrogantly answered, “I am a councilor 24 hours a day and seven days a week and I am entitled to use my car anytime.”
Santisima, Councilor Pe, are you fooling the Cebuanos? We are not questioning your presence inside the bar. You can even sleep inside the place if you want. What is questionable was your use of that government service vehicle. Is it proper for an elected official to use his/her service vehicle for personal acts?
Where is Pe's delicadeza? Can’t the Ombudsman look into this matter and discipline this arrogant city official?
***
I was flooded with e-mails from our readers here and abroad reacting to my column last Saturday entitled “Vigilantes should be commended.” Some of them lambasted me for supporting vigilantism, while others favored my stand.
Lawyer Erwin James Fabriga criticized me and called me ignorant of the basic principles of human rights. He said that maybe I was absent when my college teacher talked about the value of human life. But William Muller expressed his support. “Go, go vigilantes and keep up the good work,” he said.
Well, we are in a democratic country and everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. All I can say is, thank you for making Sun.Star Cebu and me a part of your day.
***
Ivan Anthony Henares, Dionisio de la Serna and Fred Sese, members of the Upsilon Sigma Phi, a fraternity exclusive for University of the Philippines students, clarified a point in my column “The shattered image of fraternities” that came out at the height of the conflict between Alpha Kappa Rho and Tau Gamma Phi last month.
In that column, I mentioned some fraternities with good standing both in the campus and in the community. And one of those I mentioned was the Upsilon Sigma Phi. I said former strongman Ferdinand Marcos and the late senator Benigno Aquino Jr. were members of the said fraternity but because of their intense political rivalry, Marcos changed the name of Upsilon Sigma Phi to Upsilon Phi Sigma.
The letter-writers said I got the wrong information. Upsilon Sigma Phi is still using its original name since it was founded in 1918. I stand corrected.
(bgnalzaro@gmanertwork.com)
(November 19, 2005 issue)
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