Friday, November 07, 2008 Malilong: Dakit settlers won’t threaten anyone with harm By Frank Malilong The Other Side
THERE is a threat to Gerry Carillo’s life but the graduating Cebu City councilor was the last to know about it. Gerry is puzzled why the threatening letter was sent to everyone else in the City Council but him. So are we.
Miriam Defensor Santiago used to say that she had threats for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. But look what happened to her. She’s not only safe and sound but she got elected to the Senate.
Let the police do their job and investigate the threat. In the meantime, Gerry need not fret. In fact, two or three more such letters could earn Gerry enough publicity to make him the frontrunner in the race to become Bando Osmeña-Punfok Kauswagan’s candidate for congressman in the south district.
Whoever it was who sent the threat should be encouraged to send more to Gerry’s colleagues and, for more mileage, members of the media.
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News reports say that one of the angles being looked into by the police was Gerry’s role in the relocation of the flood-threatened Dakit settlement at the foot of the Guadalupe mountains that is being bulldozed to give way to a gated residential village of the rich.
The theory is far-fetched. In the first place, the residents are too busy trying to keep themselves and their belongings safe every time it rains and inevitably floods to find time to engage in such criminal, if frivolous, endeavor.
And why should they target Gerry? He was not the one who brought the muddy waters to the poor residents’ homes.
Of course, the residents are angry. Who would not be? Until heavy equipment started leveling the nearby mountains, they never had mud on their floors even when it rained heavily.
But the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the City and the developer could not see what common sense would have made them see and so they summoned experts to tell us what we already know was the reason for the soil erosion.
The Dakit settlers have the better right but they are, unfortunately, in the overall scheme of things a small and expendable dot. When big business comes knocking and, with it, the promise of big money for the ever empty treasury, the little ones have to go. They will not leave quietly, that’s for sure, but they won’t threaten anyone with harm either.
For their sake, I hope that what the Good Book says about the meek inheriting the earth after the strong shall have devoured each other will be fulfilled.
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So Barack Obama won and yes, he is going to be, as the Daily Inquirer so precisely put it, the first black occupant of the While House.
But so what? Regardless of who is the US president, the nature of our relationship with the Americans does not change. We will still be the “poor brown brothers.” Before we get caught in the euphoria of Obama’s historic win, we should be reminded that America will always act on what is good for America, regardless of the color of the skin or ethnic origin of its president.
I enjoyed following the US elections just as I enjoyed watching the World Series between Philadelphia and Tampa Bay. The competition was entertaining.
By the way, those who miss the amusement of NBA basketball should be happy to note that Basketball TV is back on SkyCable. It’s on Channel 44. As for those who cannot, because of the broadcast schedule, watch the game on TV, you can always listen to the live play-by-play through the Internet by opening the NBA web site.
