Here and There
Amiable Joe in moral crusade
By Gerry Garcia
CHAIR-WRECKER W. M. Esposo, Phil Star’s open-minded but ruthless puncher, was certainly not pulling his punches when he wrote, “some of the biggest predators of the country are products of Catholic schools like Ateneo de Manila University. Through several plundering regimes, some Ateneo Blue Eagles have turned into Blue Vultures, human predators helping themselves to the nation’s coffers.”
He was no less kinder to the CBCP which has done little to combat corruption and the corrupters in government and society beyond issuing Pastoral Letters and condemnations now and then . . . while some religious leaders, like the Buddhist monks in Myanmar felt compelled to lead protests and demonstrations for democracy in their country.
It’s the lack of a champion in government who can lead a positive moral crusade that caused an unbelieving Esposo to gasp in amazement as Speaker JdV, himself facing an ouster threat, declared in black and white he’s prepared to cut ties with President Arroyo and possibly support her ouster through impeachment if PGMA doesn’t respond to his call for the President to cleanse her cabinet of corrupt personnel and form a “new government”. Speaker Jose says he’ll do the same thing in Congress where he admits, there are also no saints. What follows is the real Joe speaking and we, former dabarkads, tend to believe him:
“What I would like to do before I retire — I’m now 70 — is to put this legacy in place in getting the President and all of us together to cleanse Philippine society and dramatically put an end to corruption. That is the best thing that could happen to our country.”
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Vehicular traffic on the road going southward to Calasiao is always heavy and continuous, whether on peak-hours or not, so that you’ll never know where Calasiao’s downtown area begins until you pass the boundary arch. About a kilometer or so ahead traffic slows down to a complete halt at the 4-way intersection where motorists are always kept guessing whether it’s stop or go because the automatic traffic light system is still not working, has not in fact been working at all since the opening of the de Venecia diversion road decades ago.
Traffic stall in this intersection area is unavoidable not only because of a useless traffic signal system but also because two big car-drawing restaurants are each hogging opposite areas of the intersection.
You can imagine how road rage over a minor mistake of miscalculation can result in, if there were no Calasiao traffic cops on the beat.
(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/here-and-there/ Readers may reach columnist at sundaypunch2@yahoo.com . For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)
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