Saturday, September 09, 2006
'Anti-terror expert' loses contract with city
By Stella A. Estremera
DAVAO CITY -- After the alleged airplane "suicide bombing" caper, there is little likelihood that Mayor Rodrigo Duterte will be continuing the services of self-proclaimed anti-terrorist expert Samson Macariola.
"I will not pay him," Duterte said when asked about the contract between Macariola and the Davao City Government.
Duterte was interviewed Wednesday by Pastor Apollo Quiboloy.
Under the contract, which names Macariola as the "consultant on firearms and ammunition management services" of the city, he was to receive P10,400 a month "chargeable against the appropriation of the City Mayor's Office.
The contract was supposed to cover the period from July 1 to December 31, 2006.
This is the second contract for the year, the first one having covered the first half of 2006 for the same service.
Duterte, however, clarified this will be if Macariola doesn't show up and explain what happened.
If he does show up, Duterte said Macariola will first "get a slap from me and then we can start a conversation."
"The reason why I'm outraged is because some people want me to explain the declaration of this guy. We have explained the truth, so he has to explain his lies," Duterte said in interview.
Neighbors of Macariola at Lopez Street in Karuhatan in Valenzuela City were interviewed over GMA-7 television Thursday and they said they have not seen him in the neighborhood since the news item hogged the headline.
From interviews with neighbors, they claimed only Macariola's wife and children were in the house.
The mayor said he could not fathom what prompted the man to tell his story to a newspaper reporter although he can see three reasons: first is he craves recognition, second is he wants to set standards for airports, and the third, "pure hubris" or "hinambog".
The mayor insists, Macariola, or whomever the national newspaper reporter interviewed, only brought into the plane a "play dough" and not C4 as he claimed in the newspaper report.
Macariola even presented the set-up to him, Duterte said, and when shown the malleable stuff, Macariola himself said it was not real and when the mayor sniffed it, he said it smelled just like "play dough."
Thus, the mayor said, he is perplexed why in the interview with the newspaper reporter, it was made to appear that the substance brought in through the "suicide bomber's" shoes was indeed C4, a military plastic explosive. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
(September 9, 2006 issue)
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