Monday, October 23, 2006 Nalzaro: Am I that influential? By Bobby Nalzaro Saksi
WHEN car artist, Dante dela Torre, was gunned down by two unidentified men believed to be vigilantes, his live-in partner Mildred accused me of masterminding the kiling. This, after I mentioned the name of dela Torre in my radio program a day before he was killed. I charged and sent dela Torre to jail for burglarizing my car five years ago. The wife later retracted and apologized.
Defense Lawyer Noel Archival also blamed me for the conviction of the mastermind and hired killers in a celebrated murder and attempted murder of two Japanese nationals, saying RTC Judge Olegario Sarmiento was forced to convict his clients because the judge was afraid to be attacked by me.
I and DYSS Reporter Earl Rallos were one of the vital witnesses in the case. The mastermind and one of the hired killers admitted during our radio interview their participation in the ambush.
Now, Alex Tolentino, the beleguered president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu City Chapter, appealed to me to stop attacking him and the IBP on the issue of vigilante killings. Why single me out, Atty. Tolentino sir? I am not only the mediaman who criticized your action. Am I that influential that the IBP president will get wary of my commentaries?
I am only criticizing Tolentino, and I never drag the entire IBP organization into the issue. I have a high regard and respect for the organization.
Our conflict with Tolentino, if we may call that a conflict, is not a question of whether I am pro-vigilantes and he is not. I respect his stand on the issue just like I respect other’s view including my fellow Sun.Star Cebu columnists. The problem with this lawyer is that he is talking too much without thinking of the implication of his pronoucements. Like he was saying that the IBP was investigating the series of vigilante attacks when it was not.
While he is the president of the IBP Cebu City chapter, he cannot just use the name of the organization without consulting the members especially the officers. He was even criticized by some members of the board. He claimed he has already the evidences including the names and pictures of the vigilantes and their mastermind that they can use to file the case in court. But he flip-flopped, saying what he has were only raw information. He also claimed to have submitted the evidences to the NBI. But he lied. That’s where he got the flak. And what can you expect from members of the media like me? Praise him? I even challenged him to resign if he has still what we call delicadeza.
