Thursday, October 04, 2007 Wenceslao: Ramil Paican’s firing By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
I AGREE with lawyer Noel Archival’s assessment of the firing of three of five ABS-CBN employees who figured in an altercation with Senior Insp. Jose Liddawa last Sept. 17. It was rather harsh, especially for veteran reporter Ramil Paican, the breadwinner of his family. I heard Ramil’s interviews on radio yesterday and he sounded devastated.
Media people are like everybody else. We are mere income earners, meaning, we are too dependent on our salaries to make both ends meet.
ABS-CBN is a giant network and has a labor union to lobby for benefits so workers there are paid better than their colleagues in Cebu. But being able to live well with that pay depends on one’s situation.
Ramil ticked off the financial woes that hounded him the past several months. He has children to send to school and his wife has just undergone an operation. These are admittedly reason enough for him to be devastated by the decision to fire him. While he can look for other jobs, he may not be able to find one that suits his talent and pays well.
“One false move loses the whole game.” Dismissal was, I say, a high price to pay for that one act of indiscretion although I must admit that I was shocked when I saw the full footage of the exchange of fists played by ABS-CBN last Tuesday. There was Ramil throwing that punch that knocked Liddawa down. There he was chasing the cop’s buddy.
I know Ramil not only as an honest reporter but also as a soft-spoken and friendly person. His action in that encounter was therefore an aberration, meaning not consistent with his real nature. Thus, the network’s management should consider Ramil’s record in his 14 years of dedicated service to ABS-CBN. That’s a mitigating circumstance.
Ramil, though, should put to heart the lessons in this sorry episode. Before doing something drastic, for example, he should pause for a while and consider its consequence, especially to his family. That is better said than done, but he should try doing it. *** A texter, who said we met some years ago, told me that Bombo Radyo’s Arles Labayan, whom I wrote as being from MacArthur in Tudela is actually from Barangay Calmante. The texter also added that not only a ship but also pump boats ply the Mandaue-Camotes route. A big boat is also plying the Pier 2 (Cebu City)-Camotes route.
