Dabu on top

PUTATIVE SHE may be as provincial administrator, Atty. Vivian Dabu is de facto governor of the province of Pampanga. No, make that on top of the governor, her authority already abutting on the enforcement of justice.
She accuses: “... the trucks of your office were hauling and transporting quarry materials, without permit, receipt or even tarpaulin securely covering their contents.
She lectures: “Please be reminded that your office or your people are not above the law. The Philippine Mining Act specifically requires that permit must be secured prior to extraction and/or hauling of quarrying materials. Based on our records, your office did not secure any permit for extraction and/or hauling. In fact, in no instance did your office inform the provincial government thereof... Also transport without receipt of quarry materials is being penalized under Ordinance 1-93.”
She enjoins, but with corresponding judgment : “Lastly, may we invite you and your representative for a meeting on 13 March 2009 at 9:00 a.m. at the office of the undersigned for us to discuss the settlement of your violations.”
So was Dabu, as instanced above, communicating with a lowly subordinate?
No, she was writing to the Honorable Oscar S. Rodriguez, three-term congressman of the 3rd District of Pampanga, currently on his second term as mayor of the City of San Fernando, and, 3rd runner-up in the World Mayor search in a few years back.
With that letter dated March 9, 2009, Dabu has overinflated her stature as provincial administrator – putative at that – and arrogated unto herself that of the governor, reducing Rodriguez – duly elected and mandated by the people – to the lowly level of a government clerk. True to form, the gentle Rodriguez simply dismissed Dabu’s arrogance thus: “Let us let her be, if that makes her happy. We know Vivian already, things like these make her happy.” And promptly, rightly too, instructed City Administrator Ferdinand Caylao to answer in writing the allegations of Dabu.
Arrogant. Disrespectful. Rude and uncalled for. That was how many Kapampangans – from city hall insiders to civil society groups and elected local officials – called Dabu’s letter.
“Even granting that what she claimed were true, she should have referred this to the governor and for him to take the matter with Mayor Rodriguez. That is the right way of dealing with the matter,” said a retired diplomat. “Dabu clearly has no sense of protocol.”
Caylao was more direct, calling Dabu’s letter “disrespectful, arrogant and bereft of social graces.” “Under what authority is she questioning the actions of the city government? We do not recognize her authority,” Caylao fumed, reminding Dabu to “place herself in the proper level and not write to government officials as if writing to her subordinates.”
Okay, so was the City of San Fernando indeed “hauling and transporting quarry materials”?
“The only project we have now that involves trucks is actually the desilting of the river system here under the Sagip-Ilog program,” Rodriguez stated, explaining that the said program aims to rehabilitate the rivers and creeks in the city as a way of defense against flooding, primarily and to provide an alternative route for travel here, secondarily.
“Some of the silt is being carried to the Heroes Hall since we are elevating the area for an ongoing construction. There is no quarrying in this city.” Rodriguez emphasized.
Engr. Marni Castro, chair of the city’s Task Force Kontra Albug (anti-flooding) lamented what he called “utak balas” or the quarry mind-set of the Capitol.
“Bala namung akit dang makasake dump truck, isip da balas nang dapat singilan. Burak namu ampong banlic a kinulkul karing ilug ampong kanal buri da pang pagtubuan (They see sand in every dump truck. Even the mud and silt excavated from the rivers, they would want to tax),” the city’s anti-flood czar rued.
With Dabu, what else is new?
Have we – in the media – not spoken and written of her arrogance since her very first working day at the Capitol, even appending to her the moniker Dabusado?
Arrogance is apparently Dabu’s maiden name. Go ask the dismissed Balas quarrymen and the sangguniang panlalawigan. Go ask Archie Reyes and the dozen other men and women comprising Panlilio’s confidence team who resigned one after the other. Go ask the principal and teachers of the Pampanga High School and the Pampanga truckers, the senior citizens and the people with disabilities. Go ask Madame Lolita Hizon and Rene Romero, the Rev. Fr. Resty Lumanlan too.
Go, but don’t ask the governor, er, Panlilio though.
“It’s not Dabu, bobo.” So I wrote more times than thrice in Zona Libre columns last year. “It’s Panlilio, who wields the authority. Dabu being only an instrument of that authority. Nothing happens at the capitol without the governor’s imprimatur. The issue of ignorance of basic procedures is traceable to Panlilio allowing Dabu much leeway. A case in point was that memorandum from Panlilio written on a stationery of the provincial administrator with the second page written on the governor’s. Nakapatong ang administrador sa gobernador. (The administrator is on top of the governor.)”
It is Dabu, bobo. That governs Pampanga. Find the reason in this paraphrase of an American writer: A man despicable in his ignorance, forfeits even the privilege of simple thinking.
So was Dabu once likened to the proverbial langaw na dumapo sa likod ng kalabaw, pakiwari’y malaki pa sa tinuntungan. (A fly atop a carabao’s back thinks it’s bigger than it.)
So why should the carabao mind, if it enjoys having the fly on top.

Burned-again Panlilio

TALKS OF the Capitol purportedly invaded by a horde of Born-Again Christian sects came to the fore anew – with greater credence at that – in the wake of last week’s reported attempt of putative Provincial Administrator Atty. Vivian Dabu to scrap the long-held practice of first Friday Mass celebrations there.
It was reported that Dabu – putatively Born-Again – allegedly favored the holding of services by the Jesus is Lord (JIL) Fellowship in lieu of the first Friday Mass.
Shocked, devoutly Catholic oldtimers at the Capitol sought out media and their pastors to report the incident.
“In all my working life here at the Capitol, I have always looked forward to the first Friday Mass as a source of spiritual nourishment, as a celebration of joy and thanksgiving shared among our co-workers. So ironic that it had to take a Catholic priest to deprive us of this spiritual experience.” So said an employee who claimed to have been with the provincial government for some 30 years.
One retired Capitol employee remembered going to first Friday Masses at the time of Gov. Juanita L. Nepomuceno in the 1970s.
"It has been there in the past administrations. Even non-Catholics join us in the Masses out of courtesy and respect. And now they want it scrapped for their own interests?" So Sun-Star Pampanga quoted an aide at the sangguniang panlalawigan as saying. She was said to have “served most of the governors in the province and has seen and led the Friday Eucharistic celebrations at the Capitol lobby.”
The first Friday Masses were long held at the very lobby of the Capitol, the aide said, but they were transferred to the Benigno Aquino Hall soon after the assumption to the Office of the Governor of suspended priest Eddie T. Panlilio.
Now speaks the Most Rev. Paciano B. Aniceto, archbishop of San Fernando, and Panlilio’s superior in the priesthood: "It cannot be so. It has been institutionalized at the Capitol for a very long time. It is not that easy to take away a revered practice of worship and celebration."
The good Apu Ceto sensed some politicking in the move to scrap the first Friday Mass.
"I have personally received reliable reports that the governor is running for a higher post. Maybe that is why Christian groups and other sects are supporting him. But removing the first Friday Mass (at the Capitol) is not good. As a priest, he should know better. The Church allows Christian celebrations. But not to replace a Mass like the first Friday Mass at the Capitol. They could do their worship on another day. They should not remove the Masses there but must add to and complement it instead, to strengthen faith and attain unity," he said.
So does Panlilio “as a priest...know better”?
Last year, invoking the spirit of ecumenism, Panlilio had the image of the Virgin Mary removed from the Office of the Governor.
That looked to many as Panlilio’s giving in to the Born-Again sensitivity over “graven” images. And to further buttress his support among them, notably the JIL. (Remember that rabid fanatic named Joel, twisting Biblical passages to suit Panlilio with the omnipotence of God so that any criticism of him is a criticism of the Almighty Himself? No greater love Panlilio hath for this Joel than for Dabu, if we may sayeth thus.)
The removal of the Virgin to us as manifest hypocrisy, if not expediency on the part of Panlilio. So what business had Panlilio parading an image of the Virgin on board a kariton when he filed his candidacy for the governorship? Pure gimmickry? The image of the Virgin purely utilitarian in purpose? That, to the old Catholic folk, is sacrilegious!
And then only a few weeks back, Panlilio lashed at a senior priest, the Rev. Monsignor Jun Mercado, tagging him in an axis of evil of sorts, along with suspected jueteng lords and politicos, as having control of police affairs in Pampanga.
So what hath the Good Book to say on a brother who “sins”?
“...if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he shall neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.”
As a priest, Panlilio should have known Matthew 18:15-17.
So, with his brother priest Mercado “trespassing” against him, Panlilio went and told the media and let Mercado unto him a “heathen man.”
So does Panlilio “as a priest...know better”?
The good Apu Ceto very well knows. After all, Panlilio out-petered the apostle in his denial – all of five times! – of the archbishop’s appeal for him not to run for governor. That’s two more over Peter’s denial of Christ three times.
Ah, the good Apu Ceto, keeping all things painful in his heart!
A caveat to Panlilio though: “Quousque tandem abutere Catilina patientia nostra?”
The Reverend Governor would most surely know what that forebode, if he is worth the seminary that nurtured him to priesthood. For the un-Latined among us, the phrase came from the Catiline discourses of the orator Marcus Tullus Cicero that asked how long would this Catiline abuse the public’s patience.
So if Panlilio – as he has been saying, among many things though – ever sought to return to the priesthood?
"Ah, that would depend on my evaluation and assessment. He may have to deal with the Canon Law on that. Kanyon yang mamakbung yan. (That’s an exploding cannon.)” So was Apu Ceto quoted as quipping.
A caveat there, indeed!

Bye Garci, hello Melo

EVEN AS I write this, Kapampangans of myriad persuasions but bonded by one mission – the ouster of Gov. Eddie T.Panlilio – are engaged in mass action before the offices of the Commission on Elections in Manila.
Led by the Kapanalig at Kambilan ning Memalen Pampanga Inc. (Kambilan) that spearheaded the Recall-Panlilio movement that generated over 224,000 signatories, the cabalens are pushing for the Comelec to hold the recall elections in Pampanga.
I can only sympathize with their action. And empathize should they fail.
The recall of an incompetent elected official – being a constitutional right of the people – is subject neither to the availability of funds nor the whims of the Comelec, less so its chair.
Rightly so, Comelec Chairman Jose Melo deserves every flak he gets from the recall petitioners.
As businessman and Advocacy for the Development of Central Luzon Chair Rene Romero says: “Hinayaan nilang gawing lahat ng 224,000 Kapampangans ang hinihingi ng batas sa recall, pasado ang sustansiya at porma, subalit ngayon sasabihin ng Comelec na wala nang recall dahil salat na sa panahon at budget? Hindi ba’t panloloko at pagkakait na ito sa karapatan ng mga Kapampangan?” (They allowed the 224,000 Kapampangans to go through the process of recall, the petition was found sufficient in substance and form. Now, the Comelec says there would not be any recall for lack of funds and time. Aren’t they fooling the Kapampangan and depriving him of his constitutional right?).
Last week Melo was quoted in the papers as saying the lack of material time and funds made recall elections virtually impossible.
Asks the Kambilan now: So who’s to blame for the lack of material time and the requisite funds for the holding of recall elections in Pampanga?
Why, it’s the Comelec – specifically its chair, Melo – that’s who!
How? Read on.
By law the Comelec en banc must rule on the sufficiency of the recall petition against Panlilio within 15 days from its date of filing.
The petition was filed on Oct. 15, 2008. The Comelec, on Nov. 13, 2008 – all of 29 days after the filing – issued Resolution 8547 suspending consideration of all recall petitions, instead of ruling on them. This notwithstanding the Oct. 23, 2008 recommendation of the Comelec’s Office of the Deputy Executive Director for Operations that the Pampanga petition be certified as sufficient. We see some clear infraction, if not outright violations of the law there.
On Jan. 28, 2009, Comelec lifted the suspension on the recall petitions with Resolution 8579. But rather than work on how to effect the recall petitions, the Comelec, particularly its chair Melo, dwelt on the hardships and difficulties of getting the funds in a media blitz that conditioned the minds of the people on the futility of holding recall elections.
So who’s to blame for frustrating the sovereign will of the people of Pampanga?
Why, it’s the Comelec – specifically its chair, Melo – that’s who! Ought he not be impeached?
As the advocate Romero again says: “Is the Comelec comatose and incompetent? Is the government agency responsible to safeguard the rights of the people on recall polls liable for gross negligence and dereliction of duty? Is there a basis for us to file a case against the Comelec?” Test the matters there, Sir, to find out.
Another take on Melo by the recall movants was that he “acts as Panlilio’s lawyer.”
By conceding that the Comelec can no longer hold recall polls, Melo has practically outdone the outspoken Romulo Macalintal as lawyer for the beleaguered Panlilio.
And more. Melo announced that the P50 million funding for recall elections was deleted by the Senate in the 2009 general appropriations. Plus, “we’re running out of time, anyway.”
Like a true defense lawyer, Melo conveniently omitted facts and issues to tending to disfavor his client, to wit: the bicameral conference committee. There are reports that the bicam has restored not only the P50 million as proposed by the House but all the funds earlier requested by the Comelec.
Instead of working vigorously to uphold the constitutionally mandated recall process, Melo, with his patented slow-drag, is doing everything to frustrate it.
By sounding more like a highly-prejudiced Panlilio lawyer than an unbiased, fair and just Comelec chair, Melo may look like reducing the election body to shame anew. What “Hello Garci” was to 2004, Melo is now to recall?
No more Garcillano. So who is now the poster boy for the Comelec’s worst? Melo, that’s who. At least to the Kapampangans. But ain’t Melo a Kapampangan himself? Go ask his Mimosa golfmates.

Sumainyo ang Panginoon

“TUMATAGOS NA na ang impluwensya nito (jueteng) sa pulitika, sa simbahan, maging sa gobyerno.”
Sargo ni Gob. Eddie T. Panlilio sa mga institusyon ng lipunan na sa kanya’y sinaniban na ng kabulukang moral. Kung tutuusin ay walang ano mang bago sa sinabi ni Panlilio. Ang nakakapanibago dito ay kung bakit ngayong naging gubernador lamang niya nasabi ito. Sa kanyang katauhan bilang pari sa mahigit na 25 taon, wala ba siyang kamuwang-muwang sa mga kaganapang ito?
Noong hindi pa palasak ang small town lottery dito sa Pampanga, may isang sanaysay na tayong nalathala sa Sun-Star Pampanga (Mayo 20, 2005) tungkol sa mga pinagsasabi ngayon ni Panlilio. Ito ang sumusunod.
ANG SINO mang walang bahid ni katiting na dungis ng jueteng ang maunang maghagis ng tambiolo, pitsa’t papelitos.
Sino ang maglalakas loob?
Bakit ba natin ikakaila o ikakapag-ngitngit ang bansag ni Senador Nene Pimentel na “Vatican of jueteng” ang Pampanga?
Nagsusumigaw ang katotohanan na sa Pampanga, ang jueteng ay higit pa sa bisyo o sugal. Ito ay relihiyon. Kumpletos rekados sa mga panginoon, patron, pastor at mananalampalataya.
Sa tinatayang milyun-milyong pisong pang-araw-araw na kubransa sa jueteng sa lalawigan, daang libong tao ang tiyak na sumasampalataya dito – sa tayang sampu-sampu o bente-bente bawat bola.
Sakristan ang papel ng mga kobrador – taga-kuha ng taya. Ang kaparian ng jueteng ay binubuo ng mga kabo na siyang tumatanggap sa lahat ng taya, na kanila namang ipinapasa sa mga SM o station manager na tumatayong mga obispo na siya namang nag-aalay sa kinita – labas na ang mga patama – sa paanan ng pinagpipitagang panginoon.
Ang mga simbahan, sambahan, mosque at prayer centers ay naglalaan ng isa o dalawang araw sa loob ng sanlinggo sa Diyos. Dalawa o tatlong beses naman sa isang araw and laan sa jueteng. Kung paniniwalaan ang kuwentong kubrador, mas marami ang mga nakalilimot sa pagsimba kaysa mga nagmimintis sa pagtaya.
Ang anumang relihiyon ay may sinasantong mga martir. Ito yaong – sa pananampalatayang Kristiyano – sinambit ni Hesukristo na “Kayo ay pagmamalupitan, ipipiit o papaslangin dahil sa inyong pananalig, dahil sa aking pangalan.”
Ang jueteng ay may martir din. Sa ngalan ng jueteng, isang Alyas JR ang pinatay sa mismong pagamutan sa kanya’y pinagdalhan, isang Alyas Ngongo ang nagmuntikang tumimbuwang, isang dosenang kubrador ang ngayo’y nakapiit sa Angeles City Jail at libu-libong mag-anak ang nagugutom.
Buod ng anumang pananampalataya ang saligang moral. Ito ang pilit na inihahagkis sa jueteng: Ang jueteng ay hindi lamang illegal. Ang jueteng ay immoral.
Muli, ang ating hamon: Ang sinumang walang bahid ni katiting na dungis ng jueteng ang siyang unang maghagis ng salida bola.
Sino’ng pulitiko ang maglalakas loob?
Sa panahon ng kampanya, higit ang haba ng pila ng mga kandidato sa bahay-tambiolo kaysa katedral mismo; higit ang lakas ng dalangin kay Alyas Ngongo kaysa kay Hesukristo. Basbas ng panginoon ang dinadasal – pondo at ang makinarya ng mga kabo’t kubrador na hanggang sa mga purok ay may galamay. Basbas na milagroso. Sa halalan, katiyakan ng panalo.
Sa panahon ng panunungkulan, kurakot sa kaban ng bayan ay pantahanan. Paano naman ang isa o dalawa pang madam, ang pangatlong junior, ang panlimang bunsoy? Dili kaya’t ang mga nakaambang palad sa munisipyo o sa kapitolyo sa araw-araw? Ang pag-ninong sa mga binyagan at kasalan? Ang banda ng musiko, stage show, kahon ng Fundador at litson sa pistahan? Ang sound system sa sayawan? Ang mga bola at uniporme sa liga ng kabataan? Ang abuloy sa mga namatayan? Ang pantubos sa ospital sa maralitang naratay?
Iisa dito ang kasagutan, iisa dito ang kalutasan: ang panginoong 1-37 ang bilang.
Sino’ng mamamahayag ang babanat?
Ang gawad biyaya sa media, madalas ay hindi tuwirang nagmumula sa panginoon. Ito ay idinadaan sa mga mahal sa buhay. Sa oras ng pangangailangan, sa panahon ng kahinaan ng isang mediaman. Kulang ang pang-matrikula ng anak? Isinugod sa ospital si inay? Kailangan ang operasyon ni itay? Kulang ang baon sa lakbay-aral sa Amerika o lakbay-liwaliw sa Boracay? Kailangan ng pang-hotel sa kumbensiyon sa Maynila ng mga pahayagang lokal? Kapos ang pagpapalimbag ng dyaryo o libro? Wala nang kape, gatas o asukal sa radio? Paano liligaya ang Pasko? Ibulong mo sa hangin, mula sa panginoon ang pagpapala ay kakamtin.
Sino’ng malinis na pulis ang darakip?
Teka, teka, “malinis” at “pulis” puwede bang magkatugma ang dalawang kataga?
Ang simbahan? Ah, ang simbahan!
Sa nayon kong irog, retablo sa altar presyong abot-milyon kay Alyas Ngongo donasyon. Ilan pang kapilya’t mga simbahan sa ating lalawigan nabuo’t natayo, pinagmimisahan, panginoon ng jueteng ang pinasasalamatan. Pagawa’t donasyon pa rin nitong panginoon ang maraming altar, upuan, luhuran, pati kumpisalan. Sa pagputok ng bulkan, sa pagragasa ng lahar, milyung piso’t laksa-laksang de lata’t bigas ang dumaloy mula sa mga panginoon, umagos tungo sa SACOP.
Ano ang masama dito?
Di baga si Jaime Cardinal Sin mismo minsa’y nagwika: “Tatanggapin ko ang pera mula sa dimonyo upang gamitin sa mga gawaing makadiyos.”
Ano ang immoral sa jueteng kung gayon?
Ang tumulong sa simbahan? Ang pagkakawanggawa sa mga nangangailangan? Ang pagbigay ng hanapbuhay sa maraming naghihirap na kababayan? Ang paglingap sa mga pinagkaitan ng kapalaran?
Pagpasensiyahan na lamang po ninyo at may kakitiran ang aking perspektibong moral.
Patron ng simbahan. Patron ng kawanggawa. Ito ang imahen ng panginoon ng jueteng sa Pampanga.
Dahil sa ang panginoon ay sumasaatin, ang kaluwalhatian mula sa kaitaasan – Gloria in excelsis – ay sumasaatin din. Kaakibat nito: Walang jueteng sa Pampanga? Ah, walang gloria sa Pampanga.
Siya nawa.
.