Friday, March 30, 2007 Maxey: Lucky Chavit By Ram Maxey Bar None
ILOCOS Sur governor and senatorial candidate Luis "Chavit" Singson may be out of the so-called Magic 12 in an earlier survey of senator-wannabes in the May 14 elections, but his assistance in persuading a hostage-taker to release 26 young school children from a bus in Manila last Wednesday after a 10-hour standoff with authorities, may have earned him enough pogi points to boost his stock.
In the bizarre drama, known attention-seeker civil engineer Armando "Jun" Ducat, 56, armed with two grenades, an Uzi machine pistol and a .45 caliber pistol, held hostage pupils of the Musmos Day-Care Center he operates, threatening to blow up the bus unless his demands for better housing and education for children.
Singson, a longtime acquaintance of Ducat, who happened to be campaigning in Manila at the time, was summoned by Ducat in mid-hostage and in no time at all showed up and interceded for the hostages, even going aboard the bus and succeeding in persuading Ducat to hand over to him his weapons, including the two grenades whose pins had been removed. With the pins replaced and the guns in his possession, Singson finally convinced Ducat to release the kids (5-7 years old) and surrender peacefully to the police.
The televised hostage-taking must have been seen by millions of people throughout the country. They will not soon forget Singson's part in resolving the crisis, which certainly had an element of danger, considering that two grenades with safety pins removed meant a matter of life or death to everyone aboard the bus. And Chavit was there for all to see doing a heroic thing.
I can hardly wait to see the results of the next survey. It was a master stroke for his image what Singson did. Not surprising, if one recalls the storied political rivalry of the Singsons and the Crisologos for supremacy in Ilocos Sur decades ago. I remember that Floro Crisologo, then the political kingpin of the province, was gunned down while attending mass inside a church. But that's history. Chavit seems to have a charmed life, surviving those days of guns, goons and gold.
Let's see if he can "survive" (win) this campaign.
