Shameless souls

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March Fianza

BAGUIO CITY -- In the “spirited” words of the late (or early) Baguio media elder and legend Stephen M. Hamada, he once told me at Camp Pepot: danugem kadwam, agawem  inum na, utangam ngem haan mu ibabain ta mapukaw ti ethics ti barkada (punch a fellow newsman, grab his drink, borrow his money but don’t put him down to gain something or else ethics among friends disappear).

If a colleague puts one over the other, the heart breaks. When an unwritten understanding between fellows of an occasional group is expected to be respected but is violated by one who is even very insistent in pressing that known   rule, my heart collapses. Kababain!

 An experience in the very distant past has not left me since arrogance became the game for a few who abused the thoughtfulness of a politician. I call it that because the sun hides and the day turns gray when one scheming guy sees to it that things such as trip schedules, seating arrangement in a bus, travel contributions, and even topics to discuss  fall in place for his benefit.

It appears that the bossiness has disadvantaged people who innocently accept his machinations without questions. My assessment is that position and influence with a weight that one throws around seems to have gone to the head. Shame.

By the way, it was only last January that I learned that two local newspapers, the Cordillera Today and The Baguio Reporter have folded up and are (temporarily) out of circulation just like their semi-retired Publisher-Editors.

There is nothing wrong in folding up, especially for community newspapers. The bad thing is that there are wily vultures around who forage on the inactive publication and represent it as their outfit.

Some papers copy-paste the articles of other writers while some use the photos of others and pass them as their own, or simply use articles without permission to impart among readers that the paper is in good relations to all, contrary to the truth. 

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Money is named according to how it is used. For example, when you donate to a school or to an organization, it is called donation; but a church donation is called tithe. When you enroll in school and pay a fee, it is called tuition; in divorce, it is alimony; kidnapper’s ransom; pay the government your tax; and get your retirement pension.

Foggy public works contractors who submit bids but do not intend to execute the projects wait for their “yangib” (bingay) or share; workers are paid salaries; school children allowance; newsmen, politicians and gambling operators’ money to mayors and governors is also called payola; “kotong” or bribe for traffic cops; and so on.

Last week, the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed Director General Alan Purisima, the in-and-out PNP chief for entering into an anomalous contract upon his entry to the position in 2011. The dismissal was based on grave misconduct, serious dishonesty and grave abuse of authority. Not only that, Purisima even coerced his subordinates to sign the contract. The money involved here is called “tongpats”.

The other face of “tongpats” is called kickback demonstrated in the case of VP Jojo Binay. Everyone knows that he has been charged for graft and plunder in connection with the alleged overpricing in the construction of the Makati City Hall Building II, and overpricing by P862 million in the construction of the P1.33-billion Makati Science High School.

Allegations state that the construction phases of controversial buildings were already paid in full although these were not yet finished. Not only that, VP Binay was accused of earning about P200 million in kickbacks from a land deal between the tightlipped Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) and a land developer. He has not answered the allegations and refuses to attend hearings. That is your future president.

In business, it is seldom that we find people who emphatically share their financial gain to a needy community, thus, a law was passed to require them to plow back part of their earnings in the form of social-impact projects. This is something that cold businessmen could learn from. But it is still a shame that in this modern age, all that seems to matter is the bottom line – money. As long as there is “kita”, that is all that matters.