Friday, October 26, 2007 Malilong: Ayala’s worry, Trillanes’ queer claim By Frank Malilong The Other Side
I HOPE the officers of the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) will remember who Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio is and find it in their hearts to forgive him.
You see, the man they call Among Ed is only a priest and at most, a half-baked politician. Therefore, it is understandable that he hasn’t heard of amnesia all his life.
If only he had plunged early into politics and not wasted the better part of his life trying to save souls, he would have already known that it is natural--–even inevitable--–for a politician to forget the truth when it is most convenient.
Such was what happened in the case of the money that the LPP distributed to selected governors in Malacañang some two weeks ago. Panlilio complains why it took league officials Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar and Joel Reyes of Palawan 13 days to tell the truth.
Father, they simply forgot. That’s all there it is to it.
My theory is that after they withdrew the money from the bank and gave them to the governors who were summoned to the Palace that day, Evardone’s and Reyes’ memory of the event suddenly vanished. There is a scientific term for this phenomenon: selective amnesia.
Thus, for 13 days, the two governors stared at newspaper reports and television newscasts on the controversy as a child would stare at a scorpion: completely clueless and innocent. Then, on the fourteenth day, their brains swung mightily again. That was when they realized that the money that many people were heatedly talking about in fact came from them. And being absolutely honest people, they immediately came forward to tell the truth.
Any other theory could only be malicious.
***
Speaking of theories, the police appear to be favoring the one that says the Glorietta 2 incident was caused by an accidental gas explosion rather than by a terrorist attack.
Ayala Land, which owns and operates the mall, is naturally aghast and agitated. A terrorist attack can at least be justified as something that cannot be foreseen or even if foreseen is inevitable. On the other hand, an explosion caused by the accumulation of gas in the basement suggests gross negligence.
That would not only be damaging to Ayala’s image, it could also open the floodgates to huge claims for damages from the families of those who died, the injured and the tenants and guests whose properties were destroyed.
The evidence, says the police citing American bomb experts, favors accidental explosion. Ayala, of course, disputes that, finding support from Antonio Trillanes IV, who, speaking from behind bars within hours of the blast, claimed that the military was responsible for the carnage.
Much as they would like to establish that the explosion was terrorist-initiated, Ayala cannot find comfort in the company of the likes of Trillanes. As Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. has pointedly asked, who, in fact, were the people who planted bombs in the area in 2003?
Trillanes’ claim was indeed queer, to say the least, but it wasn’t only he who behaved strangely in the aftermath of the disaster.
A mother, who lost a son in the blast, made a show about refusing the financial assistance given by President Arroyo but appealed in the same TV interview for help in raising the son of the deceased. It turned out that she was a candidate for barangay councilor. Guess whose party she’s running under.
