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Just
incidental intelligence: Bobby Dacer, then PR for Dante
Tan during the BW Resources stock-manipulation scandal
under the watch of former President Joseph Estrada, was
abducted and eventually murdered, and his body and that
of his driver were later found in
Cavite.
Is it true that when Dacer was abducted and eventually
murdered, he was actually on his way to a meeting with
former President Fidel Ramos at the Manila Hotel to give
Ramos documents that showed the participation of
powerful personalities in the BW scandal?
Is it
true that the De Castro Securities Corp. was ordered by
Dante Tan on July 7, 1999, to transfer 1.2 million
shares of BW Resources from Dante Tan’s account to the
account of four prominent personalities at 300,000
shares each? Yes, we have the names of these
personalities and will probably release it in due time.
****
The
President is really damned if she does, and damned if
she doesn’t. Now her critics are criticizing her plan to
give families identified to be living along the poverty
line some financial support to tide them over these
difficult times. Some elements in the Church are saying
this is actually anti-poor because they claim this will
make the poor lazier and be content with just waiting
idly by for dole-outs from the government. This may be a
literal way of saying the government is really working
for the poor, but this is definitely not the President’s
intent.
Getting
down to the issue, when calamities strike the islands,
the government is quick to respond to this emergency by
coming to the aid of victims in stricken areas,
releasing hundreds of thousands of pesos to help the
victims, rich or poor, cope with disasters. Is this act
of mercy also antipoor? Is the present food and price
crisis not of calamity proportions that critics need to
attack the President for trying to alleviate the
sufferings of the poor?
****
May I
remind the Church that in the United States, as well as
in many welfare states, the poor precisely get monthly
subsidies from the government for their daily existence,
and the government is ready to give such assistance
because they are duty-bound to do so. Is the US
government anti-poor? Is helping the poor antipoor? Is
it propoor to deny the poor assistance during times of
great want? Hesusmariahosep!
****
After
opening a Pandora’s box of confusion and mud-slinging,
throwing everything at the President, including the
kitchen sink, rallies and demonstrations, marches and
so-called interfaith prayer rallies, campus teach-ins
and forages into cities and far-flung communities to
sell their petty grievances and a massive attempt at
destabilizing the government with the hope of unseating
the President, Sen. Alan Cayetano is saying the months
of Senate hearings produced this revelation: that there
is no direct evidence linking the President to the
controversial ZTE-NBN scandal. So what happens now? Will
that guy Rodolfo Lozada Jr. retract his accusations?
Will there be public apologies? How much did it cost the
Senate in terms of wasted time and resources while on a
wild-goose chase? How much damage (if quantifiable) did
it cost the country’s image in the eyes of the world
when our misled and ill-informed brethren took to the
streets in a frenzy and shamed the President without any
sense of respect and decency for the President of our
land and our people? Are we happy that our President
has, at last, been vindicated? Or are you sorry that the
President maintained the respect of the world community
despite your shameful display?
****
President Arroyo announced in
Cebu that there
will be a Cabinet revamp soon. This is after many fence
sitters and speculators have already finished revamping
the Cabinet in a flight of fancy. I fully support this
presidential move because a revamp is always an
injection of wisdom and vigor to the presidency, a
chance for the President to exercise her prerogative on
such an essential force in her administration. And, as I
always said, “Change is always for the better.” |
