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Friday, August 08, 2003
Maxey: Gringo and Ping; two peas in a pod
By Ram Maxey
AFTER hearing that the American-owned JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia was car-bombed last Tuesday, a bell instantly rang in my mind: Did Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi do it?
In the next instant I dismissed the thought as rather preposterous and simply a knee-jerk reaction to the much-ballyhooed reputation of the Indonesian bomb expert and escape artist who disappeared from his cell in Camp Crame some weeks back, bringing along with him two Abu Sayyaf fellow-inmates.
Surely al-Ghozi is not the only bomb expert in the Indonesia-based terror organization called Jemaah Islamiyah, reportedly linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network. Anyway, there has been no sign that al-Ghozi has left the Philippines for parts unknown.
If that were so, Philippine National Police chief Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. shall have failed to fulfill the mission President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gave him following the escape. Jun Ebdane would be out of a job by now for sure.
Despite calls to GMA from various sectors to fire Ebdane, she instead told the PNP head to find al-Ghozi - dead or alive. Her reason: "Ebdane is the best man to find al-Ghozi." How Ebdane could be the best man to do the job is a mystery to me, after all it was during his watch that the bomb expert literally walked out of his cell to freedom. That makes him the "worst" jailer around.
*****
Didn't you notice Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson's low profile following the Makati mutiny that exposed fellow-senator Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan's alleged involvement in that short-lived caper?
Lacson has announced his intention to run for president in 2004, which would have been compromised, had the mutineers succeeded and put in place a 15-man junta to run the government. Guess who would have headed it? Gringo Honasan, that's who, thereby shooting down Lacson's Malacaņang bid.
The two senators, both graduates of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), have been like two peas in a pod since they appeared on the political horizon, supporting each other's work in the Senate and their opposition to the Arroyo administration in various ways.
But sharing the same ambition to be top man on the totem pole of the Republic (as president or junta head) could mean a parting of the way for the two hitherto inseparable comrades.
While it appears that Gringo will never become president of the Republic because of his involvement in a series of failed coup d'etats, Ping can continue to dream. At least one of the stumbling blocks (Gringo) to his dream to become president is practically out of the race.
However, as president, Ping could one day grant Gringo executive clemency if and when the latter ends up in jail for his failed adventures.
But first things first. Will Ping Lacson become the next Philippine president? What a big, big "BUT" that is.
(August 8, 2003 issue)
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