Wednesday, April 16, 2008 Barrita: Pardon By Eddie O. Barrita Small Bites
DEFENSE Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Armed Forces Chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. have endorsed to President Arroyo the grant of pardon to nine junior Army officers convicted of the crime of coup d’ etat.
They’re giving these young officers a “second chance.”
If they failed in the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, let them try and try again.
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No, they’ll no longer be reinstated to the military service and their pardon will be revoked if they commit crimes involving moral turpitude while the pardon is in effect.
Now, they’ll know they can’t pursue and achieve reforms through military adventurism.
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General Esperon said these junior officers were led astray by wrong beliefs but have realized their grave mistakes.
In a tearful plea, they apologized to the President and sought her “mercy and grace” and urged their comrades not to follow their example.
Otherwise, they will also be pardoned.
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President Arroyo said she wants the minimum wages across the country raised so workers can cope with the hike in prices of fuel and rice.
She understands rice must not only be available, people must have the money to buy it.
Wage boards, however, were not known to grant wage hikes that make workers smile.
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I don’t think food riots like that in Haiti will happen in the Philippines.
There’s always the neighborhood sari-sari store that tides us over until the next pay day.
And in communities such as Cabadiangan, one can still borrow from a neighbor a “caltex” (a plastic oil container measuring about one liter) of rice or corn grits.
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A man who woke up from a drinking binge with a perfume canister stuck in his anus, a prank by a male sexual partner, went to a government hospital to have it extracted but ended up with a video on the procedure posted on YouTube.
He plans to sue those who took the video, shared it with others and posted it on the Internet.
He should also sue the perfume maker for not clearly marking the canister “For External Use Only.”
