Tuesday, April 17, 2007 Malilong: Common thread By Frank Malilong The Other Side
MANNY Pacquiao is an elementary school graduate; Virgilio Garcillano is a lawyer; and Ben Ejares is a priest. So where is the tie that binds them?
Nowhere except that like Pacquiao, Garcillano wants to be a congressman and that like Garcillano, Fr. Ben vanished from public view when his name was dragged into a scandal.
Or maybe, there is. The vast difference in their circumstances of person, time and place could precisely be where their common thread runs through.
If Pacquiao were a lawyer or a priest, there wouldn’t have been any boos to greet his entry into the political ring. If whoever it was who said “Hello Garci” on the phone had called a priest or a boxer instead of a Comelec commissioner, there would have been nothing to say sorry for. And if the man who allegedly played with the bra straps of high school girls had been a boxer or a government official instead of a priest, there wouldn’t have been as much public indignation.
Pacquiao is not accused of any crime. Garci was charged with having stolen the people’s will in the 2004 elections. Fr. Ben is accused of having abused the trust and confidence of minors, in the process desecrating the habit that he wears.
Predictably, public opinion has been harsh against all of them. I wonder who would have gotten the loudest boos if Garci and Fr. Ben had watched that boxing show at the Cebu City Sports Center with Pacquiao and been introduced.
But they still all have their chances at redemption. Pacquiao can ride the momentum of his latest triumph in the ring by announcing that he has quit politics and that there is therefore no possibility of an “honorable gentleman from the Congress of the Philippines” being savaged by an avenging Mexican warrior.
Garci can similarly withdraw his candidacy, account for his sudden disappearance when the “Hello Garci” tapes surfaced and explain his role in the 2004 elections. That is where his vindication lies, not in an election victory that will always be considered tainted, even if he doest not do anything, because he is there.
As for Fr. Ben, I have reliable information that he is back in town. He should come forward like a man, face the accusation against him and prove that his gestures had been misconstrued. He could educate us on how a man of the cloth should bring the flock closer to God by laying his hands upon them during confession in a playful and fatherly manner.
