Fire Lorenzana and Esperon next

If President Digong plans to fire more Cabinet members after Interior Secretary Mike Sueno, he should axe Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and National Secretary Adviser Hermogenes Esperon next.

Although not accused of corruption like Sueno, Lorenzana and Esperon are very incompetent.

They did not know beforehand the attack on the island province of Bohol, a tourist destination, by the Abu Sayyaf group.

A firefight between government troops and the Abu Sayyaf has been ongoing in the coastal town of Inabanga since Tuesday, resulting in many deaths on both sides.

The officials should have taken heed of the advisories issued by the United States and Australia to their citizens.

Apparently based on information given by their respective intelligence agencies, they warned against visiting Central Visayas, including Bohol, because of threats from terror groups.

Our country’s military intelligence should have known well in advance the Abu Sayyaf’s plan to land in Bohol or other parts of Central Visayas.

If our military intelligence was just as efficient as those of the US and Australia, the bandits who rode in three boats would have been dead in the water before they could land.

Dr. Hildegardes “Heal” Dineros, doctor of the poor, was unseated on Monday as president and CEO by the board of directors of the government-run PhilHealth even before he could warm his seat.

Dineros blames Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial, ex officio PhilHealth chair, for his ouster.

Ubial claims that Dineros resigned from his position but the surgeon from St. Luke’s Medical Center denies it.

She says he is not a team player, an accusation Dineros says is true if being a “team player” means agreeing to the corrupt practices at PhilHealth.

Dineros vowed to stop some doctors’ practice of making fraudulent claims with PhilHealth in cahoots with some of the agency’s personnel.

Ubial, whose confirmation has been bypassed twice by the Commission on Appointments, was reportedly dogged by graft issues when she was assistant health secretary.

I denounce the Ateneo de Manila University high school department for not accepting Queency A. Carrasco, 15, into Grade 11 or senior high school.

The reason? She’s a daughter of a laundry woman from Binangonan, Rizal.

A consistent scholar, Queency graduated at the top of her class at Rizal National Science High School with a general average of 96%.

Ateneo didn’t accept her when she said in her application for admission that her mother, a single parent, is indigent.

I wrote the university twice to reconsider its decision, even promising to shoulder her tuition, books and other expenses.

Being a former Ateneo student, I thought that my plea would be heard by the Jesuits.

I was wrong.