Thursday, December 25, 2008 Malilong: Cory’s public apology By Frank Malilong The Other Side
SINCE this our last issue before Christmas, please allow me to greet everyone--–relatives, friends, neighbors and others--–a very Merry Christmas! I wish you all to survive Christmas eve in one piece, no missing fingers or badly burned lips from wayward firecracker explosions.
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We know that former presidents Cory Aquino and Erap Estrada are now on the same side of the fence but did she have to publicly apologize to the latter for her role in the People Power uprising that led to his ouster?
It is one thing to be sorry that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is now the president, another thing that Erap isn’t. Many of us do not approve of the way Arroyo is running the country but we have no illusions that Erap could have done any better.
Even if Cory looks at Arroyo as the devil incarnate (which is unlikely considering her religiosity), it does not even by comparison make Erap look like Michael the Archangel. Just because the successor is worse doesn’t make the predecessor good.
Cory’s revered place in Philippine history is already assured. I wish that she does not do anything to stain our memory of her. We can tolerate her being in strange company as a necessity in the fight against a corrupt regime but please don’t insult the people who fought in Edsa 2 by implying that they were wrong in deposing a leader whose tenure has been associated with debauchery.
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Gov. Gwen Garcia called last week to explain why she was hurt by a column regarding her attendance in this paper’s Christmas party. The governor said she was a guest and expected to be treated as such.
“I went out of my way to honor your invitation despite my hectic schedule because I wanted to show my appreciation to Sun.Star. I did not plan to speak but when I was asked to, I obliged because I didn’t want to offend my hosts,” she said.
That is why when she read the column, she felt betrayed, she said.
I told the governor I was sorry that she felt that way. But in our business, we write about what we hear or see unless we are warned that it is off the record.
What distinguishes Sun.Star from most papers, however, is that our readers can complain about what we wrote about them and be assured that their side will see print, if not in the concerned columnist’s space, at least in the page for readers’ views. We have institutionalized the right to reply without Congress having to tell us to.
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Cebu Park Lane Hotel owner Manuel Ting is asking if there are no regulations to safeguard the safety of the public against trucks carrying container vans. Maning said that on his way to the airport recently, he was frightened to see a van that swayed so perilously that he thought it was ready to topple over from the trailer anytime. “From where I sat, I saw that the van was not properly secured,” Maning told me.
I asked my friend, Boy Mayol, currently the vice president for operations of Gothong Southern Shipping, and he said that trailers are required to be equipped with twist locks---four for 20-foot vans and eight for 40-footers--–to securely fasten the vans that they are carrying. If any of the locks are not engaged, the truck is not safe to travel.
Maning told me that both the truck and the trailer were old and dilapidated and that the container van was not painted yellow. When I relayed the description to Boy, he heaved a sigh of relief. “Definitely, not ours,” he said.
