Heroic?

Without admitting any fault and with my vehement denial of the alleged electoral fraud hurled against me, I am submitting my resignation as a duly elected senator of the Republic of the Philippines in the election of which I am falsely accused without mercy and compassion,” ran part of Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri privilege speech at the Senate last week to announce what has been buzzing in the Upper Chamber for days.

Because it has no precedence in the annals of the Philippine Senate, the resignation was like a bolt from the blue. In the Philippine setting, public officials accused of wrongdoing would rather die than step down from office. Morir antes demetir (death before resignation) sums up the view.

Zubiri’s colleagues like Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., Edgardo Angara and Jinggoy Estrada heaped praises on him, citing his integrity and sacrifice for love of country.

I don’t know what is heroic about Senator Zubiri’s resignation.

For one, his 2007 electoral victory has been hounded by allegations of vote rigging since Day 1. Migz obtained 194,000 votes in the stronghold of the Ampatuans. According to Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, then Zubiri’s rival for the 12th spot in the Senate race, the votes were manufactured. Reports of widespread poll fraud in Maguindanao marred the 2007 national canvassing and resurrected the ghost of the Hello Garci scandal.

Koko tried to block the inclusion of the Maguindanao Certificates of Canvass from the Comelec count but to no avail. In the end, Migz won by a margin of 18,000 votes which paved the way for his proclamation by the Comelec. Despite this setback, Koko Pimentel forged ahead with a poll protest before the Supreme Court where he suffered setbacks, but fortunately in June 2008, the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) gave the defeated candidate’s case due course.

For another, the SET is almost done with Koko’s poll protest and Migz’s counter protest. According to reports, Pimentel has gained a crushing margin of more than 257,400 votes over Zubiri in the contested precincts, lending credence to observations that Migz’s counter protest was just a ploy to prolong the poll dispute and extend his stay in office. That the SET didn’t resolve the case despite the numbers heavily in favor of Koko is another mystery.

For four years now, Zubiri has been hounded by charges of electoral fraud which is a matter of record, so to say that this is now hurting him and his family is irrelevant and over dramatic.

The real reason is the imminent SET resolution and by his own admission, the disclosures of detained ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan and former Maguindanao provincial election supervisor Lintang Bedol that tended to validate not only the charges of electoral fraud but also the reportage of the Philippine Daily Inquirer about the conduct of the 2007 elections in Maguindanao. These developments add up to a precarious situation and had given Migz a sense of foreboding that eventually forced him to resign. His old man, former Bukidnon governor Jose “Joe” Zubiri must have also felt the impending doom, so he advised his son to restrain it by supposedly “choosing the right path,” or he might end up in the kangkungan.

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A story is told about a man, whom we shall call Caloy, who had a falling out with his friend Onyot. Caloy wanted to win back Onyot’s goodwill, so he bought numerous presents and made peace offerings in gifts of sumptuous food, expensive wine, etc. The former topped the whole enchilada with a finely wrapped package of the latter’s favorite scent. Upon seeing the gifts, Onyot’s resentment melted. He ran up to Caloy and told him their spat has been erased and their amity restored.

They bonded until it was time to call it a day. As Caloy was about to leave, he told Onyot, “By the way, parts, I have something to tell you. I’m very embarrassed to ask you, but I need your help and you’re the only person I can turn to. Can you lend me P100,000? I owe the mafia money and I need to pay or the syndicate will kill me in 48 hours.”

A gift, however simple and inexpensive always makes us happy because it is a piece of the giver’s heart, which is the spirit behind the present. However, when confronted with a situation like in the above anecdote, we are reminded that sometimes the giver does not carry his heart in the gift and we’d be the wiser to vet his intent, or we ourselves end up in the kangkungan.

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It’s the eighth day of the eighth month, and today all roads lead to the Marco Polo Plaza for the 5th anniversary of the 888 News Forum.

The conceptualization of 888 News Forum came serendipitously, coming as it did when in 2006, this paper’s publisher, Ms Eileen Mangubat introduced me to Ms Jenny Franco, CEO of Travel Vision and president of the Visayas of the National Association of Independent Travel Agents (Naitas). I was then a broadcast executive of station dyRF and because we are both widows, Jenny and I quickly became friends. I will always remember the first time we met, because after that our mutual friend Ricky Poca gave our alliance a funny name. Anyway, I will leave it to Jenny to pick it up from here because she will deliver 888’s history in a special program to be attended by plenty of VIPs.

Kudos to 888 founding members, regular habitués and news resources in and out of government for making the forum notch another year! Big thanks to Mr. Hans Hauri, top honcho of Marco Polo Plaza and the hotel staff for their unflagging support.