Of Mar and NOT (Mar Roxas, wrong man to become the next president II)

Below is the partial exchange of ideas I had with a fellow blogger, Wawam. The first entry is my reaction after watching the two videos posted above and lifted from Wawam’s blog, of Mar Roxas. In the first video, Mar Roxas, in a rally in Makati, innumerated the defects of this country and was caught shouting “putang Ina!” towards the end of his speech to express his disgust to the Arroyo administration. In the second video, he was saying “I am not sorry” in his speech in the Senate.

JP Anthony Cuñada said

January 28, 2009 @ 10:51 pm

Mar Roxas does not know what he is talking about. Any body can narrate the problems of this country much more can shout the “putang ina!” he did shout during the rally. But no body, especially Mar, has ever proposed a workable solution. Mar’s only solution to the very problems he narrated was his “putang ina!”.

I do not blame him for being so desperate. These are desperate times calling for desperate measures to catch attention and to win media mileage. But the true story remains that he has done nothing to alleviate the lives of at least a town he represented in Congress in his stint as a Congressman, and even now that he is a Senator. My town, Pilar in Capiz, an hour ride away from the City named after his family name, situated between mountains that produce sugar, rice, corn, fruits and other agricultural products, and the sea that bears fish of all kinds still has an eerie feeling of dryness, loneliness and hunger.

It is impossible that he does not know the corruption in that part of the country. That he has not done anything about it does not surprise but pisses me off. In him I smell the stench of a clogging drainage of a wet market.

wawam said

January 29, 2009 @ 9:52 am

perhaps we should look at what mar roxas’ role is as a senator in fighting corruption or the problems the country face. roxas is a senator, his mandate is to write laws.

there are government agencies like the dept of justice, the police, the NBI, the ombudsman who are responsible for stopping crime and punishing criminals.

there is also the president who is supposed to uphold the laws of the country.

if there are barangay-based or city-based problems, then there are the barangay officials, the mayor and the governor. roxas is not expected to solve these, instead it is the barangay, city, provincial and national leadership who are supposed to fix these.

JP Anthony Cuñada said

January 29, 2009 @ 11:52 pm

Thank you, wam, for your response. I have these for your consideration:

Actions prescribed by law or inherent in official functions are not always the most effective means of deterring a criminal act or acts detrimental to the welfare of the people. It is because of this observations that the Katarungang Pambaranggay Law was enacted. Parties must settle their differences before the baranggay level first before they can proceed to courts.

The baranggay officials, charged to help the conflicting parties, exert effort and influence for the parties to arrive at a common ground to avoid litigation that take up so much time and money and also add to the congestion of cases in court.

Writing laws is a Senator’s official mandate. But that is only half of his duties. As a member of one of the equal branches of our government, Senators may exercise their power judicially such as writing bills or extrajudicially by exerting their influence. Influence by itself is not a product of stature or position. It is earned by living a life worthy of respect and emulation.

A Senator’s way of life as a weapon to influence public officials is only one in his arsenal. His most potent weapon is the millions of pesos in tax payers’ money called pork barrel.

I agree with you, but only in part that “(R)oxas is not expected to solve (the problems of the local government), instead it is the baranggay, city, provincial and national leadership who are supposed to fix these”. Because he has all the power and the influence to make the problems go away.

The state of affairs of a community reflects the kind of leader that community has.

As a president, Mar Roxas will need more of his influence to make the necessary change for this country to prosper. So far, I have not seen that influence exercised to make changes even in a little town called Pilar, Capiz.

Permit me to post our discussion in my blog. Thank you.

wawam said

January 30, 2009 @ 9:12 am

to JP :

i think a big part of what is wrong in our national life is that there is no accountability on the actions or non-actions of our leaders. something more extreme to that, which is also true in our country, is that no small or big crimes or mistakes committed by government and elected officials are punished. that is more extreme but its related to accountability. we often get this : “it’s everyone else’s fault except mine”.

we think accountaibility is important not just for the purpose of assigning blame but more importantly for reform. change and improvement. correcting things wrong and improving things begin in knowing who among our leaders are doing their job and who are not. knowing these is the only way we can weed out those doing our communities and country harm.

in your capiz example – i think it’s important that the people of capiz understand the difficulties they are encountering in their daily lives is first and foremost a failure of local governance. they need to seek redress from the local officials or do not vote them again in the next election. capiz citizens must hold their local officials accountable for making their local lives a misery.

the budget, the plans, the responsibility and duty to make the local lives of citizens of capiz a good one is controled by the local officials, not senators.

JP Anthony Cuñada said

January 30, 2009 @ 12:34 pm

Wam, thank you for your thoughts. I hear you.

Majority of the people in Pilar worry the least about politics. They have more immediate needs to meet, like food for the next meal, and next, and the next. But for sure, election is much awaited because during this time people do not need to toil in the fields or in the sea to earn money. All they need to be is a registered voter.

Majority of the voters live on the land they do not own. Under this situation, the freedom to choose who to vote comes at the price of the freedom to insert in the soil the columns of their house.

We understand that when the stomach is empty and the future is bleak we do not think about seeking redress and holding our local officials accountable for making our lives miserable.

To insist that the “difficulties (we) are encountering…is first and foremost a failure of local governance,” and that “the budget, the plans, the responsibility and duty to make the local lives of citizens of capiz a good one is controlled by the local officials, not senators” is a conclusion that denies the fact that by representing the whole country, he is representing the little town. What kind of a representative he is if he cannot effect change in the people he represents for?

Mar Roxas should realize that if he dreams of changing the whole country, he has to start with his little town.

Mar Roxas is too young to become the next president but he is old and capable enough to demonstrate the concrete change he dreams for this country. Then, I might even campaign for him.

wawam said

January 30, 2009 @ 9:03 pm

JP : the citizens of pilar of course have the right to feel that way about mar roxas and his “inaction” on their plight. i respect that sentiment and i sympathize with them. my wish is for them to soon find the help they deserve.

just to keep the discussion going: i am also a citizen of this country and i live in metro manila. mar roxas was also voted by those who live in metro manila. and just like pilar, there are problems in metro manila that roxas can help us with. we can argue that since metro manila is bigger, the political and economic center of the country, it deserves more help from roxas than pilar. metro manila also has a lot more voters than pilar.

why would pilar who has much less number of voters deserve mar roxas’ attention than metro manila?

JP Anthony Cuñada said

January 31, 2009 @ 1:38 pm

Wawam, thank for your sympathy. Thank you for recognizing the citizens of Pilar’s “right to feel that way about (M)ar (R)oxas and his ‘inaction’ on their plight”. That now you know there exist a place called Pilar in Capiz and that we are talking about it may not be the help they deserve and you wish that they soon find, but, to use Barack’s arrangement of words, this is where we start.

As I have said, people in Pilar have grown cynical. They have been abandoned for too long. Their voices are only now beginning to be heard again, especially by you, and hopefully by thousands of your readers too.

How dare you compare Pilar with Manila, Wawam. In terms of help, do I need to say who needs it more?

Besides, Mar Roxas has jumped from one position to another and championed the cause of those who have. Take the cheap medicine law as an example. Yes, it’s cheap. No question. But you can only say “cheap” in relation to something “expensive”. Tell me how does that categorization apply to someone who has no money, like most of Pilar’s citizens?

Of course, there are still beautiful things left in Pilar. There are the waterfalls that I myself need to visit, dive into and write about. There are the beaches. There are the delicious oysters. There are the fresh and cheap (compared to Manila, of course) fish in danger of extinction because of rampant illegal fishing.

Talking about fish, I noticed that very few people who live in cities, like Manila, love to eat fish. I understood why when I started to buy, cook and eat the fish sold here. Even old people who were advised by their physician to eat more fish refuse to heed. They must have a bad impression the first time they tried fish. If you are one of them, your life will change when you have tasted Pilar’s fresh fish.

For other things, you may read the “introduction” of my blog named after, who else but my town, Pilar, Capiz?

Here is the link to Wawam’s blog and the rest of her comment/s

Mar Roxas, wrong man to become the next president

At this early, Senator Mar Roxas is already campaigning for his presidential bid next year. His tv ad appears in primetime every day. He is also often seen giving interviews to different media outlets. In fact, he has built his own web site where people can learn about him and what he does. He proudly advertises in his website:

“Do I want change for our country? The answer is yes. Do I think I can do a better job? The answer is yes. Do I think that our country could be in a much better place? The answer is yes, ” SENATOR MAR ROXAS , in an hour long interview on ANC.

I have nothing against Mar Roxas except that, for more than a decade he has been in politics as a member of the House of Representatives representing the province of Capiz, then as a Senator, why has my town, Pilar, Capiz, whose welfare he should look after, remains in a dismal state? And now he dreams of changing the country, advertising that he does a better job, and claiming that the country could be in a much better place were he to become its president.

Mar Roxas may convince the whole country and may even become the next president, but I wonder how he can convince and get my vote, and the votes of those who are as aware as I am but do not have the gift of words?

My contention that Mar Roxas is not the right man to become the next president arises only from a simple premise arrived at after I visited another town in a far away land. Let me tell you about it by quoting a portion of my blog history:

I spent only my elementary years in Pilar, Capiz. Since then, I was only in Pilar during Christmas and summer vacations. I was in and out of Pilar, Capiz and could not yet recognize the curious feeling inside me every time I am in it; until I visited Cantilan, Surigao del Sur.

From Surigao City, I had to endure a three hour van ride. To get to Cantilan, the van had to pass through dry river beds, and over them through wooden planks with no side railings; and beside mountains that could not fit the van window and hills with the panoramic view of the long and winding roads the van had been through. But when I reached the town proper, it was really something special. The roads were paved, the houses neat, and there was just this general aura of optimism among its people.

Imagine a town three hours away from its City yet was even more beautiful than my own town which is only an hour away from its own city, Roxas City!

From then on, I felt sorry for myself and for the town I came from every time I remember these trips (I made two). I hated the officials from the Senator down to the town mayors. How can a town situated between mountains that produce sugar, rice, corn, fruits and other agricultural products, and the sea that bears fish of all kinds have an eerie feeling of dryness, loneliness and hunger?

It is because of politicians like Mar Roxas that this blog came about. I want to wake a Mar Roxas from his grand dreams with these words: “You cannot change a lowly town only an hour away from the City named after your family name, how dare you proclaim you can change the Philippines and all of it?”

History must repeat itself

Our president, Gloria Arroyo, is devoting five hours of her presidential time on Fridays to concerns and initiatives of environment protection.

For this, she ordered the turning off of all neon and high-wattage lights on billboards along roads and high ways at 9 every night to reduce carbon emission. She ordered the National Power Corporation to release funds provided under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act for the protection of watershed and water resources. She also set aside P2 billion for massive reforestation project for forest lands and protected areas.

I have no problem with her order to turn off all neon and high-wattage lights on billboards as this will not result to government expenses. But I do have concerns about the release of funds from the National Power Corporation and the earmarking of P2 billion for massive reforestation project for forest land and protected areas.

The administration of Gloria Arroyo has been rocked by scandal after scandal involving hundreds of millions of pesos.  This even a third of our population live without food on the table.

The mother of all scandals is her rigging the election results in 2004 to become the president of the Republic. Top military officials, Gloria Arroyo herself and a commissioner of the Commission on Elections, the Constitutional body instituted to guard the sanctity of votes and the integrity of the election, were caught on tape. Arroyo apologized to the country for calling the commissioner, whom she instructed to give her a 1 million vote lead in Mindanao. It was a lapse of judgment she said morosely on tv. As to the military officials, they have long been assigned to important government posts, riot of the media notwithstanding.

Another scandal is the national broadband project. This project aimed to connect government offices all through out the archipelago. But the same project did not push through when it was revealed that the project was overpriced by hundreds of millions of pesos, and the money trail leads to her.

Then came the railway project to connect the northern part of Luzon. It was pointed out by ex-Senate President Franklin Drilon that the project costs more than the railway project connecting Tibet and the mainland China. Since it was an expensive project, people would think that the train–forget about the railway and the structures it will be built on, just concentrate on the train itself–should at least be faster. Quiet the opposite.

Then came the fertilizer fund scam, where hundreds of millions of pesos again evaporated. To stop the trail from leading where people suspect it should be leading, a family had been massacred and few others were murdered.

Government officials were caught lying to their teeth under oath, in front of TV cameras beamed around the world. Our Supreme Court upheld the silence of those who refuse to speak about what they know.

So far, no one is convicted. And the money? Still to be found.

All these corruption did not happen in the Arroyo administration alone. This has been this way since time immemorial. The only difference is that, the advancement in information technology has made our nation aware of the massive amount lost by the country on one hand, and the massive amount gained by thieves in the government on the other, and the extent to which the participants are willing to go to cover their tracts.

We are helpless.

Most of all, we no longer believe in our leaders.

Funds for the protection of watershed and water resources? P2 billion for massive reforestation project for forest lands and protected areas?

History must repeat itself.

‘…we do not want to risk our soldiers’ lives because of this (kidnappings)’

That statement was made by Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro after three International Red Cross personnel namely Andreas Notter of Switzerland, Eugenio Vagni of Italia and our kababayan Jean Lacaba were kidnapped by the alleged Abu Sayaff gang just outside the provincial capitol of Patikul, Sulu.

He was aghast that the latest kidnap victims refused the security escort offered by the military. So he declared journalists and foreigners should not be allowed to roam Mindanao without coordination from the military. Otherwise, “we do not want to risk our soldiers’ lives” just to get these people free.

There is a sense of helplessness and at the same time urgency in Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro’s statement. I understand he said it with the best of intentions, but his statement bothers me because it contains the implied admissions that
1. the civil government in Mindanao does not have the control over the area,
2. the Abu Sayaff does not respect the authorities,
3. and the military is no longer willing to die fighting the bandits.

Early this year when bands of Abu Sayaff burned a village and killed most of its inhabitants, and kidnapped ABS-CBN senior reporter Ces Drillon and her two crews, the military sent battalions of soldiers to run after, catch the culprits, and put them to justice to end the reign of terror by the Abu Sayaff in the area. Obviously, the government was only bragging.

The  statements of the Magdalo leaders when they and around 300 soldiers commandeered Oakwood few years ago echo in my mind. The leaders who served in Mindanao were fuming about the government’s lack of seriousness in flushing out the rebels. In fact, they even suggested that politicians were using the rebels for political gain or to extort money. As a result, soldiers who had their last breath in that promised land gave up their lives for nothing. Take for example Nur Misuari. When he became governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, the money entrusted to him to finance livelihood projects, build infrastructures to aid our brothers and sisters in Mindanao were spent to build bankers for the MILF, and other things that did not help the situation in that part of the country. How many soldiers died because of this bankers when they captured the MILF stronghold? Politicians could not discipline erring subordinates there, otherwise they would loose the local support in the elections. While Mindanao is an integral part of our country, it seems a very far away and an isolated island we only care about when there is news about kidnapping or burning of villages and shooting of civilians.

Our government tolerates terrorist acts by only running after the bandits when the issue is “hot”. After a while, when another scandal hits our nation, it forgets about it.

Secretary of Defense Gilbert Teodoro was only echoing his soldier’s sentiments: we do not want to risk our lives anymore.

Our soldiers have been in Mindanao long enough to realize politicians grab the headlines at the expense of the their life.

Chief State Prosecutor Zuño never a hero

For the past weeks, the prosecutors from Central Luzon have been threatening to go on mass leave in protest for the unfair and unfounded accusation against their colegues who are involved in the Alabang Boys scandal.

Today, in the news paper, Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño came out and declared that he had convinced the same prosecutors against proceeding on their planned mass action.

Who are these people fooling?

The Filipino masa who do not know that under the law, people in the public service are not allowed to stage a strike.

This gimik of taking a mass leave was resorted to to project an image to the public that the office of the prosecution in Central Luzon, especially its chief, Jovencito Zuño, are trust worthy individuals. As such they can get “insulted” and “hurt” by the “unfounded” accusations.

Now, Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño is posturing as a hero by relieving the public of the chaos and the deservice the mass action might have caused. He convinced the prosecutors not to stage the strike!

But Zuño must know better. Indeed, he knows better and he knew it. So he tries to stage a drama wherein he will end up a hero.

Tell it to the marines, Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño. You are the lawyer of the people. You are supposed to protect them from people who mislead to prevent them from attaining their cause.

But as it turns out, you are the very person the masa should protect themselves against.

Mass leave, an intended distraction

Contestants who are losing the battle resort to distraction. This tactic is not new, and was even used by John McCain in the latest American election. Obama was getting more and more attention, and McCain’s camp sensed the danger of losing. So, they brought up the issue of race using Reverend Jeremiah Wright as their spring board. From there, they accused Barack Obama as racist. Barack Obama faced the issue head on and delivered the “A perfect Union” speech where he dispelled the accusation and proved to the American public that he deserved to be their next president.

The prosecutors led by Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño are also resorting to the tactic used by John McCain. To take the heat of the public attention and disgust against Zuño and his minions for their involvement in the Alabang Boys scandal, they resorted to gimmick. They threatened to stage a mass leave–another name for strike–scheduled for next week.

The threat to stage a mass leave is just an indication that these supposed to be public servants are not ready to face and tackle the issues thrown against them. Instead of resorting to gimmickry, why don’t these prosecutors shut up, conduct an inhouse investigation and clean their ranks?

Secretary of Justice Raul Gonzalez should be treated as a suspect

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez is creating an independent body that will investigate the allegations of bribery against Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño, Undersecretary of Justice Ricardo Blancaflor, State Prosecutors John Resado and Misael Ladaga.

According to the news, the panel will be composed of two retired Supreme Court Justices and the College of Law Dean of San Beda Virgilio Jara.

I only have this to say: the investigation will never be complete unless Secretary Raul Gonzalez is treated as a suspect and included in the investigation.

I will no longer elaborate on this, instead, if you do not mind, refer you to my previous article (click HERE) where I discussed this matter. Let me just mention that Secretary Raul Gonzalez admitted to have received a call from Felisberto Verano, lawyer  of  Richard Brodett,  Jorge Joseph,  and Joseph Tecson (“The Alabang Boys”) before Verano sent to Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, through Undersecretary of Justice Ricardo Blancaflor, through State Prosecutor John Resado, the controversial draft decision dismissing the Alabang Boys.

This fact has not been mentioned in the news again and in the interviews with Justice Secretary aired on TV. Why this is ignored is something that is surprising me.

I agree with the deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez, who, unlike Secretary Gonzalez and the members of the State Prosecutor’s Office, said that “There’s no point of having or taking a leave of absence from the PDEA side because they are not the ones being accused.”

The dead and the dying in the Middle-East

This is how Hamas acquires the sympathy of the world: it permits the slaughter of the Palestinians.

Every day, its militants fire rockets towards Israel, and Israel, fed up with the bullying, bombs Gaza.

Exactly as Hamas wants it to happen.

Now, Hamas has a war zone. Journalists are not allowed inside the zone except in the hospitals to take footage of and write news stories about the wounded and the dying, especially the women and children.

If Hamas loves its people so dearly, as they claim so, why does it not stop sending rockets to Israel especially now that the United Nations issued a resolution ordering immediate and durable ceasefire?

Instead, they continue to send rockets to Israel and ignore the call for ceasefire.

Of course, Israel is not without fault. It so willingly grabbed the bait of the Hamas. But who can blame Israel?

An organization built mostly to wipe out Israel from the face of the earth, Hamas was founded in 1987. While it conducted terrorist attacts on Israel soldiers and civilians, back in Palestine it implemented extensive social services by building hospitals, schools, and libraries. No wonder it won the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections.

By virtue of the UN resolution, Palestine was divided into two in the late 1940’s. The UN envisioned a Palestinian Arab State in one half living side by side with Israel in the other half. The Palestinians who were on the wrong side, about 800,000 of them, where displaced from the land we now call Israel.

Hamas claims that as long as those displaced Palestinians are not allowed to go back to Israel and reclaim the land that was deprived them during Israel’s creation, there will be no peace. Israel, on the other hand, wary of the Palestinians who always carry bombs to explode with themselves inside Israel, does not mind. They have survived the Holocaust to get to where they are now, and they are not about to surrender. Bombs and ammunition coming in from the US strengthen their resolve. By bombing Hamas, Israel is not only protecting its interest, it is also helping the US economy in dire need of bail out.

Hamas is aware that it is not alone in its quest to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. The Arab countries surrounding Israel opposed it’s creation. Building a country in a territory of and sacred to the Muslims is not acceptable. But what can they do? The world’s most powerful nations, through the UN, said so. Experts say this is how terrorism against the West and its allies was born.

A year after Israel’s creation, Jordan occupied East Jerusalem. East Jerusalem was captured by Israel in 1967. Not only that, they also captured the Golan Heights controlled by Syria, Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula controlled by Egypt, and West Bank controlled by Jordan. Not a bad loot for a six-day war against three neighboring states.

All those countries do not want an Israel so that in 1946, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria headed the creation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, an umbrella militant organization, for the liberation of the Palestinians, which could not happen of course while there is an Israel.

But Hamas knows the language. Instead of demanding that Israel should disappear from the face of the earth, Hamas’ demands were toned down to, among others, that Israel goes back to its border prior to their taking over of Golan Heights,  Gaza Strip, and West Bank in 1967. (The Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt in 1979 as part of the peace deal).

The war is centered on Gaza where most of the 800,000 displaced Palestinians take their refuge. Thousands of them depend on the United Nations for their food and water, and education and basic health services. Without these, thousands are going to die of hunger, thirsts and disease. But this too is favorable to Hamas. Once the dead and the dying are beamed on TV, the world will loath and hang Israel–just as Hamas would like it to happen.

Human race, as a whole, is losing in this war. Not Israel, not Palestine for neither of them will win. Neither of them will get what they want, except death from both sides. But for their dream, Hamas is willing to pay the price: the blood of the Palestinians; and Israel is more than willing to trade them for bombs.

The investigation on the Alabang Boys bribery scandal should focus on Secretary Gonzalez, Undersecretary Blancaflor, State Prosecutor Resado, and Cheif State Prosecutor Zuno

Why did I say so?

September 20, 2008, Richard Brodett, 25, Jorge Joseph, 23, and Joseph Tecson, 22, (the Alabang Boys) were arrested by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for possession of marijuana, cocaine and Ecstasy.

December 2, 2008, Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno issued a resolution releasing the Alabang Boys.

PDEA did not release the Alabang Boys.

On December 19, 2008, Undersecretary of Justice Ricardo Blancaflor called Major Ferdinand Marcelino, the head of the PDEA team that arrested the Alabang Boys, asking “Pasko na, bakit hindi pa ninyo ni-re-release?” .

Major Marcelino informed Undersecretary Blancaflor that the reason why they did not release the Alabang Boys is because the release resolution is subject to automatic review by the Secretary of Justice. In short, the resolution could not be implemented without the approval of the Secretary of Justice Gonzalez.

Since Justice Secretary Gonzalez denied receiving the resolution he was supposed to review and therefore could not approve or deny it, the PDEA indeed could not release the Alabang Boys.

To expedite the process, Alabang Boys lawyer Felisberto Verano talked to Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez about the situation. Afterwards, he drafted the release order under the letterhead of the Department of Justice, sealed the draft in an envelope, and sent it on December 23, 2008 to Secretary Raul Gonzales through Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor. The document was received by Janet Payoyo, secretary of Undersecretary Blancaflor.

Blancaflor instructed Payoyo to refer the matter to State Prosecutor John Resado.

John Resado told Payoyo it was alright to send the draft to Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez.

***

Under the circumstances above mentioned, we can theorize the following:

It was Secretary of Justice Raul Gonzalez who instructed Alabang Boys lawyer Felisberto Verano to draft the order of release. Or, Atty. Verano suggested it to Secretary of Justice Gonzalez who approved the same. For why would Atty. Verano have, and where would he obtain the courage and the authority to draft (when he was not the Secretary’s secretary) the release order  using the letter head of the Justice Department?  When the draft resolution was received by Undersecretary’s secretary Janet Payoyo, Atty. Verano informed her he alsready talked with Justice Secretary Gonzalaez about it. “When I asked secretary Gonzalez, he said he had indeed talked to Attorney Verano…” said Undersecretary Blancaflor. A fact confirmed by Secretary of Justice Gonzalez himself.

If this is the case, why did the document have to pass through Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor when it could have been sent directly to the Secretary of Justice who would sign it to release the Alabang Boys? And why should an Undersecretary of Justice refer it (document) to a State Prosecutor John Resado?

I can think of only one logical explanation for this: before it reaches Secretary of Justice Raul Gonzalez who would execute the final act, the document must first pass through Blancaflor, and from Blancaflor to Zuno through Resado, because it is only through this simple method they can say they were involved (except for Zuno who had already issued the December 2 resolution) and can therefore claim their reward. That is, assuming that the Alabang Boys were arrested and their belongings (drugs) seized legally. If it were otherwise, and, let’s just say I were the lawyer for the Alabang Boys, I would have done what Atty. Verano did to help his clients. I would even go further by delivering the document in Iloilo to Justice Secretary Gonzalez for his signature in his house where I am sure he spent his Christmas vacation. And, assuming further I were Justice Secretary Gonzalez, I would not mind confirming the release order because our constitution is a libertarian constitution. To paraphrase a Supreme Court decision, our constitution would favor one hundred guilty persons escape imprisonment than incarcerating an innocent one.

After the seizure and arrest are confirmed valid, the investigation on the Alabang Boys bribery scandal should focus on Secretary Gonzalez, Undersecretary Blancaflor, State Prosecutor Resado, and Cheif State Prosecutor Zuno. Otherwise, we should apologize to these people and the family of the Alabang Boys for the anxiety we have caused them for messing with their names, and spunk our PDEA, particularly its head Dionisio Santiago,  so that it will learn to do its job correctly next time.

Undersecretary of Justice Ricardo Blancaflor has a lot of explaining to do

“He has a lot of explaining to do, not only to his colleagues in the DOJ who do everything to protect and maintain whatever integrity is left to the department, but also and most especially, to a nation whose people Blancaflor pledged to serve faithfully.”

The ongoing war between the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) has caught the attention of the nation. The war began when PDEA accused members of the DOJ of accepting multi-million peso bribe for the resolution ordering the release of Richard Brodett, Jorge Joseph, and Joseph Tecson (The Alabang Boys) who were arrested on September 20 last year for possession of marijuana, cocaine and Ecstasy.

“PDEA should name names!” said Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales. And so on Sunday, January 3, the head of the PDEA Special Enforcement Service Major Ferdinand Marcelino named Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor.

According to Major Marcelino, Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor called Marcelino, during the PDEA’s Christmas party on December 19, asking “Pasko na, bakit hindi pa ninyo ni-re-release?” referring to Brodett, Joseph, and Tecson, who were arrested by the PDEA team headed by Major Marcelino, in relation to the resolution signed by Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno releasing the suspects.

The resolution dated December 2 ordered the release of Brodett, Joseph, and Tecson on the grounds of illegal arrest and search, and PDEA’s use of excessive force, among others.

According to the PDEA, it received information that the family of the suspects paid 50 million pesos to the prosecutors that resulted to the recommendation for the release of Brodett, Joseph, and Tecson. Marcelino himself was offered a bribe ranging from 3 to 20 million pesos for their release.

On January 4, Justice Undersecretary Blancaflor confirmed he made the call but insisted that he has done nothing illegal. He also expressed his readiness to resign from his post once there is proof that he used his influence to release the suspects.

At the onset, it is difficult to pinpoint between PDEA and the DOJ who among the two is telling the truth. Both are resulting to generalities in their statements. No one talks about the specifics of the facts and circumstances surrounding and leading to the arrest of the Alabang Boys. The DOJ alleges illegal search and arrest implying that until now PDEA does not know how to do its job consisting mostly of conducting  search and arrest . In return, PDEA, perhaps insulted by the implication of the DOJ’s allegation, contends that it is corruption, not PDEA’s ignorance of the constitutional rights of the citizens, that resulted to the resolution releasing the suspects. The situation is further complicated by the statement of Justice Gonzales denying receipt of the copy of the December 2 resolution. On Sunday, January 3, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales denied receiving or signing any resolution for the release of the three suspects. “That’s the reason why I am saying there was a leak in the DOJ and that someone from my office tried to pull a fast one on me, thinking I am not reading everything that is placed on my desk. The truth is, I have yet to see a copy of that resolution,” says Justice Secretary Gonzales. Is he saying that the Chief  State Prosecutor cannot issue a valid resolution without his signature or approval?

Amidst all the mess, one thing is sure. One thing that stands out and shocks the nation: Undersecretary of the Department of Justice called a law enforcement agency official implying that the latter release the suspects. What it is to Blancaflor if the suspects remain in custody with the PDEA? Surely, the illegal detention, should there be any, resulting from the detention of the suspects will not lock Justice Undersecretary Blancaflor in jail.

It may be that by calling Major Marcelino implying that Marcelino release the suspects, Justice Undersecretary Blancaflor has not done an illegal act. But, to paraphrase a Supreme Court’s decision, people in public service should not only avoid doing evil but also the appearance of evil. Undersecretary Blancaflor’s conduct smeared the image of the DOJ. He has a lot of explaining to do, not only to his coleagues in the DOJ who do everything to protect and maintain whatever integrity is left to the department, but also and most especially, to a nation whose people Blancaflor pledged to serve faithfully.