Friday, June 20, 2008 Wenceslao: Allegation against the mayor By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
BROADCASTER Bobby Nalzaro, who writes a column for Sun.Star Cebu and Sun.Star Superbalita, just added another entry to Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s “Why I Don’t Like Bobby Nalzaro” list with his column about the mayor’s recent caper in the street around Fuente Osmeña. No, the mayor didn’t do a Vicente Beltran Bosque but something milder.
If Bobby’s source does not have an eye problem or can pass a lie detector test, then I say barangay tanods are not the only ones who should undergo training on responsible gun handling. You don’t use a gun to knock on the doors of vehicles, even if these are illegally parked, or what are knuckles for? The mayor should be told that.
But again, that point is dependent on the reliability of Nalzaro’s source, whose identity he won’t divulge, like what journalists often do. Was the mayor drunk? No one is saying for sure. When I was with the City Hall beat, we had a way of knowing when Osmeña was drunk: he wouldn’t stop talking. That was when we would interview him.
The mayor being “armed” and “drunk” while apprehending traffic violators is an act as illegal as a man jaywalking in Colon then outrunning menacing traffic enforcers. Often, the enforcers let go. Here’s how a Sun.Star source in the Ombudsman phrased it: “If the mayor is enforcing the law and carrying a gun, he is actually just doing his job.”
That’s why the import of Deputy Ombudman Pelagio Apostol’s talk about docketing the recent Osmeña caper is comparable to what the Lakers’ coach Phil Jackson said of their Game 4 loss that gave the Celtics a 3-1 lead in the recent NBA finals: “This is not over. The series is not over.” Of course, it was effectively over at that point.
Apostol may docket the case all he wants, but the movement of the said issue screeched to a halt after Osmeña denied it. Let’s put it this way. The Ombudsman source laid down conditions for the case to prosper, like having a complainant and a witness. That’s like looking for sane guys who relish banging their heads against a brick wall.
In situations like this, saying the opposite is easier, which makes it difficult for Bobby’s “source” to prove what he said. Basak Pardo Barangay Captain Dave Tumulak, who was there during the incident, said he did not notice the mayor holding a firearm. And I am sure the dispatchers milking taxi drivers in Fuente nightly are saying the same.
Being legalistic about the allegation can therefore be as effective as hoping the mayor would let go of his stranglehold on the South Road Properties. In the end, though, the whole fuss would become a ghost, like the barbecue stomping story years ago. I mean this has a way of haunting the mayor, although I doubt if he will give a damn about it.
***
While I was writing this, the country’s topnotch billiard players led by Efren “Bata” Reyes, Django Bustamante and Alex Pagulayan invaded the Sun.Star newsroom. They are here for the 1st Senate President Manny Villar Cup-Sun.Star Superbalita 9-ball Challenge. I’m a fan, so I was as thrilled as the others upon seeing them in the flesh.
Meanwhile, I still have to see Dr. Potenciano “Yong” Larrazabal III in person, having known him only in reports as, aside from being a good medical practitioner, the husband of singer Donna Cruz and an international marathon participant. Doctor Yong recently treated my mother’s eyes, which had developed cataracts. Thanks.
