BULL’S HIT

Game of politics
RUDY GARCIA

In the game of politics, the ball could be on the hands of either party and nobody can predict who would be in its possession and who could be the next. Lucky are the traditional politicians who maintained political survival despite being pushed hard to the cliff but had the ropes to hang on, and are now pulling the strings to get back at their enemies.

This seems to be the case of the ongoing senate probe of the ZTE-NBN deal scandal when the surprise witness of Sen. Ping Lacson appeared and made testimony before the Senate body but seemingly is now singing a different tune.

Unexpected surprise witness Leo San Miguel’s testimony turned out to be “kwitis” rather than a bomb. The surprise witness surprised the senator and the public with his surprise testimonies.
We just hope that this will not circumvent the earlier testimonies of ZTE-NBN witnesses Madriaga, Lozada, and De Venecia III. I can’t blame Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile for laughing.
Could you imagine that instead of “bombshell”, only a coconut shell was dropped? I can just guess that those bootlickers from in and out of Malacañang are now relieved and smiling through their ears.

The anti-administration guys might have thought they found a potential key in San Miguel, but others are now saying San Miguel’s testimony was full of lies and perceived to be influenced by Malacañang. It was further believed that his statement would ignite a fire that will burn a whole house -- a mass outrage that could lead to another people’s power.

The public is now closely watching what’s going on in this ZTE NBN deal and other issues even as numbers of those who doubt the sincerity of Malacañang to bring out the truth are now increasing, because Malacañang continues to ignore the call for all involved in the scandal to come out and speak.

“If they have nothing to hide, then they should come out” is the challenge of the public. They seem not to understand and pretend not to see or hear. I don’t want to call these officials as persons with thick face or kapal muks but they should follow the example of a governor in New York who resigned immediately he was accused of promoting prostitution. There was also this Thai official who stepped down due to allegations of corruption involving him.

Here in this Banana Republic, you can see government officials clinging to their posts despite public clamor to step down because of their involvement in corruption. But, I can only suggest, why not give a chance for those involved in this ZTE scandal to give their side, maybe giving them the benefit of a privilege speech? That sounds fair and square, isn’t it? After all, we are all for the truth that may someday set us free.
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I have been writing in my past articles of this column regarding some security guards who are not qualified to do the job but were able to secure and were issued security licenses.
I wonder if the Philippine National Police whose office is designated to regulate and monitor the issuance of security license to security personnel were strict enough in following their guidelines for qualification and other requirements.

If you have read the latest news of a security guard killing to death two teenagers who were picking caimitos, this will surely fire your emotion and make you ask why we have this kinds of trigger happy security guards and how they were employed with such a character.

The answer lies on the hands of the PNP and I don’t want to think that these kinds of guards have obtained their licenses for a fee. I had such an experience in the 80’s when a friend of mine who is a police major at Camp Crame was raking money by selling security licenses even to those who were not qualified. I just don’t know if this practice still goes on at Camp Crame.
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Now, the news week headlines: Lozada banned at graduation rites in public schools! If that was an order of the Dep-Ed, a lapdog, no wonder!

President Arroyo will attend PMA graduation rites in Baguio! Interesting, but it would be more exciting if ZTE NBN star witness Jun Lozada would also be there!
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BCPO claims the alleged kidnapping of children from Baguio City false alarm. False alarm or not, the cops should always be on guard and not take this as a simple joke or they could be caught with their pants down.
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Is it true that these two government agencies in Baguio are demanding some money to those who want to get some public documents from their office? We will be giving you the correct answer and the identity of these agencies next issue.