Friday, September 21, 2007 Wenceslao: What if Liddawa died? By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
I DON'T know whether this happened or not, but this story always provided laughs during gatherings. A traffic enforcer accosted a motorcycle-riding media person for a violation. Expecting special treatment, the media person told the traffic enforcer: I am with (media outlet). Traffic enforcer: Maayo nuon. Makadakop na gyud kog taga media.
Despite the glamour, media people are human beings also. Outside of coverage or the office, we go through ordinary routines and situations. Our being with the media does not exempt us from anything much. That is why in the 15 years that I have been in this profession, I have not flaunted my being a media man except when coverage requires it.
That encounter between an ABS-CBN news crew and Sr. Insp. Jose Liddawa was basically a traffic altercation. The Subangdaku police station chief’s Hyundai sedan collided with the Nissan Frontier of the ABS-CBN news crew near the Super Metro in Barangay Maguikay, Mandaue City. Liddawa was drunk and that was the main problem.
I watched the report of that Tuesday midnight incident on TV Patrol and what the police official did was deplorable. The video footage showed him at probably his worst, like when he accosted the ABS-CBN news crew and let go of his fist in some instances. He was not utak pulbura---he didn’t brandish a gun---but was obviously utak alcohol.
In Sitio Kawayan where I grew up, you meet all kinds of drunks. Liddawa was, for me, the kind who lost it. He had difficulty balancing himself and he looked like he was in a trance. Why he still drove was a good question to ask.
Drunks like him pose a danger not only on other people but also on himself. He was on the verge of collapse.
It’s good that the Police Regional Office 7 acted swiftly by ordering Liddawa’s relief and conducting a probe. What Liddawa did was not flattering to the police, whether or not the victims were media people. Driving under the influence, hurting people—those acts were not that of an officer and gentleman.
My problem with the ABS-CBN report was the vacuum in the story after Liddawa went “wild.” The footage got cut off after Liddawa boxed again cameraman Joel Noel (another cameraman) was holding the videocam. What was shown next was an unconscious Liddawa picked up from the road where he fell and brought to the hospital.
Unfortunately for Liddawa, he too could not recall what happened to him, which was not surprising. The first time I got really drunk, I also forgot a few things. After a drinking spree in a “boarding hut” near the then Sudlon Agricultural School in Lahug, the last scene I remembered was me vomiting on the bridge. I didn’t know how I got home.
I doubt, however, if Liddawa’s act constituted an assault on media. It was done not as a result of coverage but was an offshoot to an accident. And in the state of mind he was in, I do not think Liddawa could have differentiated a media person from a dispatcher. He could not have intentionally hit the ABS-CBN vehicle.
In the end, the incident should be a lesson for other police personnel who go “maoy” when they are drunk. As for the ABS-CBN news crew, they can learn something from it, too, especially on dealing with drunks. They could have called law enforcers, for example, to pacify or arrest Liddawa, instead of reacting. By the way, what if Liddawa died?
