Why Brillantes is delaying recall poll

I agree with fellow Inquirer columnist Neal Cruz that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) should stop dredging excuses to hold the recall election in Puerto Princesa City even after the Supreme Court has voted 12-0 in its favor.

The high court’s decision was issued because Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. continues to argue that the poll body does not have the funds to hold the recall election.

The subject of the recall is Mayor Cecil Bayron. Most of the voters in Puerto Princesa say he is inefficient and want him kicked out.

Under Bayron, tourist arrivals in the city, whose income depends mostly on tourism, have hit rock bottom.

As a result, most stores, restaurants and hotels that cater to tourists are on the verge of closing down, if they haven’t shut down yet.

Despite the high court’s ruling, the Comelec still entertained a petition for reconsideration from Bayron, apparently a ploy to delay the holding of the recall election.

If the election is not held this April, the holding of the recall may become moot and academic.

The law provides that a recall election can take place one year after the election of the incumbent official in question or one year before the next election.

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I learned from a very reliable source at the Comelec why Brillantes keeps on dillydallying: Vice President Jojo Binay has interceded in behalf of Bayron who is his “brod” (fraternity brother) in the Alpha Phi Omega Fraternity.

Bayron has been heard to boast that the recall election will not take place because he has the backing of Binay, so this seems to confirm what my Comelec source told me.

It seems Bayron is untouchable even by the Office of the Ombudsman which has yet to carry out its order suspending the mayor for six months for a case of graft pending in the antigraft body.

If our suspicion is correct that Binay has also interceded for Bayron in the Office of the Ombudsman, then the investigation into the Vice President’s alleged ill-gotten wealth by the antigraft office is all a sham.

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New Bilibid Prison (NBP) officials who were relieved of their positions for granting VIP privileges to very rich inmates are reportedly laughing all the way to the bank.

The rumor is that they don’t care if they lost their positions because they have allegedly become wealthy from the hefty bribes given by the convicted drug lords and bank robber.

They should be dismissed from the service and criminal cases should also be filed against them.

If those harsh measures are taken against them, those NBP officials might implicate their big boss, Bureau of Corrections Director Franklin Bucayu and even some officials at the Department of Justice in the royal treatment of wealthy prisoners.

That’s how the cookies will crumble in our country’s penal system.

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Starting on Monday, the popular talk show Karambola at dwIZ (882 khz on the AM band) will go on the air again with at least three of the country’s top-rated columnists hosting the show.

Conrad Banal of the Inquirer, Alex Magno of Philippine Star and Jojo Robles of Manila Standard Today are Karambola’s new hosts.

Another Philippine Star columnist, Jarius Bondoc, who has a Saturday program at dwIZ, is being recruited to complete the four-host show.

Karambola went off the air after Vice President Binay gatecrashed the show early last month and announced that he was already a mainstay of the show, to the consternation of the old program hosts.

The hosts—Joel Paredes, Cely Bueno and Jonathan de la Cruz—went on leave in order to not offend the Vice President, forcing the show to go off the air.