A vindication and a lesson

WE hail the decision of the Supreme Court upholding the decision of the Court of Appeals absolving former Provincial Administrator Rafael Baraan and former Provincial Housing and Urban Development Officer Alvin Bigay of administrative liability as determined by the  Ombudsman in 2014 over alleged illegal black sand mining.

While The PUNCH had welcomed the investigation by the Ombudsman of the complaint filed by 13 complainants, we, too, had questioned the fairness and legal basis of the decision of the Ombudsman that required the immediate suspension, disqualification and forfeiture of salaries and benefits of the two without the benefit of due process.

Both the SC and CA decision, therefore, come as a vindication to Messrs. Baraan and Bigay who were doing their jobs to develop a golf course to add another activity that will promote domestic and foreign tourist arrivals to the province. This is also a reminder for all local government units to be more discerning and conscious of the need to strictly comply with all environmental laws in the country.

Now that the coast is clear, we hope the current provincial government will pursue the completion of the golf course project to boost the province’s potential as a tourism destination.

Genuine love

IT was indeed shocking and “deeply disturbing” for Kuwait to suddenly expel our ambassador to the oil-rich Gulf state.  When Ambassador Renato Villa approved the rescue of two Filipino maids being allegedly mistreated by their Kuwaiti employers, he was absolutely right.

The safety of a nation’s citizen abroad is a country’s paramount concern at all times. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano had apologized to Kuwait he acknowledged Villa’s action was a  “violation of its sovereignty.”  But was it?  If there was violation there, it was, maybe, that the twin rescues were shown on social media.  Overkill, perhaps? But the rescue effort itself was noble as it only proved a nation’s genuine love for its citizens whose safety is being compromised.  Recall alone the “freezer murder” of Pinay maid Joanna Demafelis by her Arab employers in Kuwait last year.

Did we ever hear Kuwait issue an apology for Demafelis’ gristly death?  Not a pip.

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