Punchline
“Leo, ikaw na!”
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
LEO Angeles, a Dagupan-Lingayen home-grown guy and a para-legal employee of a law firm in Manila, has “arrived”!
He did what many others would not dare do – to be counted as the man who filed a complaint against Dagupan Mayor Benjie Lim for violating the country’s law on anti-graft and corrupt practices over the Awai land deal. Armed with documents that I had since described in this corner that pointed to the accountability and culpability of the mayor, Mr. Angeles filed the case without any fanfare, no consultations with anti-corruption advocates, surely not with me.
When he came to the office 3 days after he personally filed his complaint to give me my own copy of the complaint, I had to ask him: Why did you do it? (Frankly, while I knew of his own advocacy for good governance, I had never imagined him coming forward before others did, so I had to ask). His reply was classic. “I did it for my children and the city”. That could have sounded trite and corny if he had said it over bottles of beer with a group of boisterous friends, but his simple line was most inspiring to this tired mind.
Was he aware of possible consequences to himself, about a possible “payback”? His reply – “At my age, it’s the best I can do for my kids…I’m ready for the worst…besides, what would anyone gain from eliminating me?” Hmmm…I couldn’t have said it better.
If Mr. Angeles were facing TV host Boy Abunda this minute, the latter would likely say– “Leo, ikaw na!”
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OF NO CONSEQUENCE. But as Mr. Angeles seeks to do his best, I have colleagues in the media who would rather do their worst. The unabashed attempt by some loyal lapdogs of the Mad Dog Whisperer to discredit Mr. Angeles (obviously on the orders of you-know-who) is disgusting and nauseating, to say the least.
Mr. Angeles was reportedly raring to engage the local media last Friday morning but personal circumstances finally prevented him from being there. Instead, he sent a text message to say he will send the following statement dated August 10, 2012 in reaction to moves in local media to discredit him:
“To Friends in Media: First of all, I have nothing to explain about myself. I just filed a case against the city mayor of Dagupan, Benjamin S. Lim before the Ombudsman for Luzon for violating RA 3019 Sec. 3 Par E (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act). Now it is only up to the Ombudsman to appreciate all the documents I have submitted to them and to issue a resolution on the case. How others may wish to portray me in order to discredit me is of no consequence to me. God bless Dagupan and all of us. Maraming salamat po. (Signed) LEO S. ANGELES
Mr. Angeles’s determination can’t be clearer than his statement that efforts to discredit him are “of no consequence to me”. In truth and in fact, it doesn’t really matter at all whether he is a Dagupeño or a Cebuano, or whether he is a registered voter in the city or in Boracay, because the issue at hand is whether the evidence presented will warrant the mayor’s prosecution. The Ombudsman will not waste a minute determining credentials of a complainant since any complaint backed with substantial evidence but filed by an anonymous complainant is now enough to launch an investigation. In this case, it’s about why and how the city lost its right of ownership over the 30-hectare land in San Jacinto after a gross overpayment for the property the disadvantage of the city.
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SMOKE SCREEN. To call attention to truthfulness of Mr. Angeles’ credentials is, therefore, nothing but a smoke screen tactic to make the public believe that the complaint is without basis. I have seen the evidence and I have no doubt Mr. Lim will need more than his new set of onor-onors to get him off the hook.
It no longer matters if Mr. Angeles decides to disappear now (or will be made to disappear) because he will not be made a star witness by the Ombudsman when the latter investigates and prosecutes Mr. Lim. What matters now to the Ombudsman is the veracity of the documents that Mr. Angeles submitted as evidence, and how plausible is the expected stretched explanation of Mr. Lim in his defense. So if Mr. Lim’s defenders are adamant in covering up for him, don’t look at Mr. Angeles. The only useful thing I can imagine left for them to do is to burn city hall…to make sure the records cannot be verified (does the ‘burning tactic’ ring a bell?)! But, of course, any attempt to do just that at this time will now be suspect and will surely be traced to Mr. Lim’s doorsteps.
My only sincere and deep lament over this issue is to see a number of my colleagues in the media practice shamelessly demonstrating their willingness to bury their heads inside a hole on the ground so they can ignore the ugly truths about their communities in exchange for a monthly “take-home” (a measly P2,000 – 5,000 for the cheapy characters and P25,000 for the bona fide Lim apostles). I tell you, this blighted city is teeming with Judases of different colors! Some are cheap, some are not so cheap (remember P1.5 million for life?) but still cheap. It truly saddens me that my misguided colleagues who have the temerity today to impugn the integrity of Mr. Angeles are the same people who never wrote nor uttered a sentence or two to make the city mayor account for reported anomalies in his office at anytime in the past. This is a woeful indication that they will never “arrive” as true-blue journalists.
Having gone this low, I am afraid they will always be lapdogs to anyone who pays them crumbs because they find nothing wrong being one today. Tsk-tsk. Sayang!
(P.S. The anonymous complainant, the first to file a complaint against Mr. Lim two months ago, recently sent and entrusted to me a set of documents as evidence for submission to the Ombudsman. I can do no less, I will do as requested).
* * * * *
SPEAKING FOR THE BOSSES. The traditional contra-SONA of a minority leader in the legislature has always been seen as the added spice to the tradition.
The delayed speech, however, of Senate Minority Leader Alan Cayetano, took a unique path and approach. Instead of the usual “contra” posture in reaction to the PNoy’s recitation of accomplishments, he opted to speak for, and in behalf of the masa. The aspirations and dreams he described were down to earth that most everyone could indeed relate to. Here are some of the “bosses” thoughts that he articulated:
1) Kami ang tinagurian ninyong Boss ngunit ang aming asawa, mga magulang, kapatid at anak, ay nasa ibang bansa dahil sa kawalan ng trabaho sa ating sariling bansa. Ang tawag sa kanila ay VIP, or Very Important Persons, ngunit sa pag-alis nila at pag-uwi, ni hindi nila maramdaman ang pagiging VIP.
2) Sa katotohanan, sa pagganda ng ekonomiya… ang mahirap hindi pa rin masyadong nagbago ang sitwasyon. Hindi tumaas ang sweldo. Hindi tumaas ang kita. At ‘yung ibang boss na mahirap lalo pang humirap. Madami pa din ang 5 months–5 months lang ang trabaho para hindi ma-regular. Maraming gustong mag-negosyo, nakapag-training na nga at nag-seminar na ngunit walang pang puhunan. Walang financing o mauutangan.
3) Ginoong Pangulo, wala ka ngang wang-wang ngunit may P.S.G ka. Kami pong mga boss n’yo, ang P.S.G. na nakikita namin araw-araw ay Patayan, Shabu at Gantsuhan, at lantaran po ang mga ito. Kaya naunawaan po namin na kailangan ng suporta ng Dangerous Drugs Board, ng PDEA at ng PNP. (Could Sen. Cayetano be reading Bebot Villar’s Deretsahan weekly?).
But there was one thought that I know Pangasinenses no longer need to dream of because the provincial government has already seen to it. It was when the senator said:
“Pwede bang mangarap na dumating ang araw na kapag may emergency, ang maririnig namin sa pamilya ng may sakit ay “Dalhin mo kami sa pampublikong Ospital, dahil doon kumpleto at doon din ang puntahan ng mayayaman at mga makapangyarihan sa ating bansa.”
Take a bow, Guv Spines!
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