Riding the storm
YET ANOTHER first in Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio’s growing list of…er, firsts – first priest elected governor, first Pampanga governor to hit P1 million daily quarry collection, first governor rallied against by his own townmates, first governor with a woman as administrator, first governor to file libel against former confidantes, etcetera – was Monday’s siege of the capitol by disgruntled truckers.
Dump trucks of all sizes crisscrossed the capitol driveway, five days late in welcoming 2009 with all the honking, tooting, blaring of all sorts of horns. Made one think that truckers are the horniest bunch of all drivers, notwithstanding the claim of jeepney jocks to the title.
Anyways, I was the odd, old man, out in the company of media kids – all of the same age as my children – getting Panlilio’s take on the truckers’ protest when we were jolted by heavy stomping as though of a stampede followed by the heavy pounding of the door to the Office of the Governor.
“Mekapanik la pu. Durugdugan de ing pasbul. (They have reached the second floor. They are battering our door).” A harried staff of the governor at the anteroom hurried to him.
Panlilio looked at me and said, so calmly: “Pare, pepakit da na ing tune dang kule. (They have shown their true colors)”
“Pare, talakaran da ka keni. (I will stand by your side on this one).” I responded. Then I told his chief of staff to call the police.
Even before I finished, the governor was already on the phone: “We are under siege. What are you doing? Colonel, atsu no keni babo. Luluban da ne ing opisina ku. (They are here. They are about to storm my office). Do something! Don’t just send anybody to look into this. Ika mismu ing munta keni. (You yourself should come here).”
Then he turned to me, and, with that mischievous smile I have known for many years, whispered: “Dapat palto tang muwa, para galo lang agad. (We should show some anger to make them act quickly.)” He capped this with a chuckle.
He was all seriousness though – barely talking – when Pampanga top cop Senior Supt. Keith Ernald Singian came, with City of San Fernando police chief Supt. Benjamin Medina in tow, to report that everything was under control.
The security lapses were pointed out, foremost of which was an ineffective, if not totally inutile, capitol security force that merely watched by the sidelines when the truckers rushed the capitol. More police forces – including a crowd dispersal unit with shields and truncheons – were posted at the entrance and sides of the capitol building.
The protesting truckers ordered to move farther back from the capitol flagpole.
Medina ordered by Singian to coordinate with putative provincial administrator Atty. Vivian Dabu in the preparation of legal action against the truckers – for rallying without permit, for one, and against the still protesting quarrymen of the Biyaya a Luluguran at Sisikapan (Balas) for destroying the tarpaulin billboards on the recent Pampanga Day celebrations.
Shortly after lunch, no trace of the siege obtained at the capitol grounds. Not a single dump truck remained. The striking Balas boys were by their lonesome at their makeshift tents.
The passion of the moment totally dissipated, expended in all those heated harangues – and a sprinkling of cusses – directed at the governor, at Dabu and at the truckers’ former (?) president, Mike Tapang.
Still Ordinance 261 – that which put muscle to the Anti-Overloading Law – stands. With all its implementing rules and regulations which the truckers vehemently protested against.
“At noontime of January 9, 2009, Ordinance 261 with all its IRRs will be implemented. Unaccredited trucks that shall transport sand and quarry material starting that day will be impounded,” Panlilio decreed. This, even as he declared his openness to further dialogue with the truckers.
“Let us not resort to this unnecessary overexpression of passion. Let us talk dispassionately and rationally to resolve our differences of opinions,” Panlilio enjoined the truckers.
Yeah, I really do stand by my compadre’s side on this one. Adhering to the primacy of the rule of reason, and with the conviction that passion un-reined in takes the sapiens out of the homo in men.
Dump trucks of all sizes crisscrossed the capitol driveway, five days late in welcoming 2009 with all the honking, tooting, blaring of all sorts of horns. Made one think that truckers are the horniest bunch of all drivers, notwithstanding the claim of jeepney jocks to the title.
Anyways, I was the odd, old man, out in the company of media kids – all of the same age as my children – getting Panlilio’s take on the truckers’ protest when we were jolted by heavy stomping as though of a stampede followed by the heavy pounding of the door to the Office of the Governor.
“Mekapanik la pu. Durugdugan de ing pasbul. (They have reached the second floor. They are battering our door).” A harried staff of the governor at the anteroom hurried to him.
Panlilio looked at me and said, so calmly: “Pare, pepakit da na ing tune dang kule. (They have shown their true colors)”
“Pare, talakaran da ka keni. (I will stand by your side on this one).” I responded. Then I told his chief of staff to call the police.
Even before I finished, the governor was already on the phone: “We are under siege. What are you doing? Colonel, atsu no keni babo. Luluban da ne ing opisina ku. (They are here. They are about to storm my office). Do something! Don’t just send anybody to look into this. Ika mismu ing munta keni. (You yourself should come here).”
Then he turned to me, and, with that mischievous smile I have known for many years, whispered: “Dapat palto tang muwa, para galo lang agad. (We should show some anger to make them act quickly.)” He capped this with a chuckle.
He was all seriousness though – barely talking – when Pampanga top cop Senior Supt. Keith Ernald Singian came, with City of San Fernando police chief Supt. Benjamin Medina in tow, to report that everything was under control.
The security lapses were pointed out, foremost of which was an ineffective, if not totally inutile, capitol security force that merely watched by the sidelines when the truckers rushed the capitol. More police forces – including a crowd dispersal unit with shields and truncheons – were posted at the entrance and sides of the capitol building.
The protesting truckers ordered to move farther back from the capitol flagpole.
Medina ordered by Singian to coordinate with putative provincial administrator Atty. Vivian Dabu in the preparation of legal action against the truckers – for rallying without permit, for one, and against the still protesting quarrymen of the Biyaya a Luluguran at Sisikapan (Balas) for destroying the tarpaulin billboards on the recent Pampanga Day celebrations.
Shortly after lunch, no trace of the siege obtained at the capitol grounds. Not a single dump truck remained. The striking Balas boys were by their lonesome at their makeshift tents.
The passion of the moment totally dissipated, expended in all those heated harangues – and a sprinkling of cusses – directed at the governor, at Dabu and at the truckers’ former (?) president, Mike Tapang.
Still Ordinance 261 – that which put muscle to the Anti-Overloading Law – stands. With all its implementing rules and regulations which the truckers vehemently protested against.
“At noontime of January 9, 2009, Ordinance 261 with all its IRRs will be implemented. Unaccredited trucks that shall transport sand and quarry material starting that day will be impounded,” Panlilio decreed. This, even as he declared his openness to further dialogue with the truckers.
“Let us not resort to this unnecessary overexpression of passion. Let us talk dispassionately and rationally to resolve our differences of opinions,” Panlilio enjoined the truckers.
Yeah, I really do stand by my compadre’s side on this one. Adhering to the primacy of the rule of reason, and with the conviction that passion un-reined in takes the sapiens out of the homo in men.
posted by A.Caesar Z. Lacson at 1:30 PM
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