Who failed to protect Erap from the Manero booboo?

The burning issue of the day is the controversial pardon given to Norberto Manero Jr. How to extricate himself from the contentious issue must be giving President Estrada many sleepless nights. Which is pathetic, and quite unfair, to the President because he cannot be expected to personally evaluate the names of each and every one of the convicts included in the document sent to him by the Board of Pardon and Parole.

Under normal, efficient administrative work, the list of convicts proposed to be pardoned should have been screened by either the Office of the Executive Secretary or the Presidential Management Staff. Apparently, this was not done because, in the case of the Executive Secretary, he must have thought that the PMS would do it. Note that it is the PMS that was able to get almost total responsibility to screen all documents that have to be signed by President Estrada.

The question now is whether the PMS went through the list of convicts. And did the PMS advise President Estrada of the possible controversies that might arise out of that listing? But then, the PMS must have relied solely on the wisdom of the listing made by the Board of Pardon and Parole. The questions thus arises: Did the board strictly follow all the procedures in preparing its listing? And did the Board see to it that the signing authority, President Estrada, will be protected from possible criticisms?

Just to let the public know the membership of the Board of Pardon and Parole, which recommended the grant of conditional pardon to Manero Jr., they are Undersecretary Ramon Liwag, who is acting chairman, Atty. Ester Amor de Jesus, Monsignor Benedicto J.E. Arroyo, Administrator Gregorio F. Bacolod, Atty. Artemio C. Aspiras, Atty. Leticia Molina, and Dean Cleto B. Senoren.

An additional info to readers is that then President Fidel V. Ramos, on 6 February 1998, signed a commutation of sentence for Manero, who was No. 112 in the list of convicts recommended for commutation. Then Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Renato C. Corona co-signed the document with President Ramos. In other words, the process that led to Manero's pardon began during the Ramos administration.

The loss of EDSA Shangri-La's Tuesday Club is the nation's gain. For almost eight years, the affable, kindhearted and highly-regarded Raoul Victorino, a man with varied specializations, was a regular fixture at the club of top-caliber journalists, political figures, businessmen and civic leaders. Now, he has left us at the EDSA Shangri-La, to devote his time to his new and noble job, as Justice of the Sandiganbayan.

I am sure Raoul Victorino would have wanted to remain with his legions of friends at the Tuesday Club. But delicadeza, plus the hard work that will take up his time at the Sandiganbayan, is going to force him to step away from the Tuesday Club crowd at EDSA Shangri-La's Garden Cafe.

I have been asked how lawyer-civic leader Raoul Victorino got the nod of the Judicial and Bar Council and, of course, President Estrada to become a Sandiganbayan justice. I always answer that the credentials of Raoul, both professionally and academically, were the key to his well-deserved appointment to the Sandiganbayan. But then, one additional major factor that probably led to Raoul's selection was his deep involvement in affairs involving the ecumenical churches. Likewise, his very likeable personality, infused with his excellent sense of public relations, made him stand up over the rest of the nominees.

Henceforth, whenever I bump into him, I will call him "Justice Victorino" -- in deference to his position and in recognition of his competence in the field of law. And I will no longer slap his back and share jokes with him, because he is now in a lofty position that brings him several levels above the madding crowd.

I hope the Estrada government can avail of the services of two other Tuesday Club members -- engineering consultant Aber Canlas and media specialist Greg Cendaña. I have known the two since way back when, and they are real aksyon agad guys who can make good things happen for the Estrada administration. Yes, Canlas and Cendaña are assets to governments that want to expedite delivery of basic services to the general public.

Something unique is rising in the town of Angat, in Bulacan. A replica of the famed and historic Barasoain Church is being constructed there, through the courtesy of construction tycoon F.F. Cruz. The amount of P10 million has been allocated by F.F. for the church project, which is his gift to the town of his birth.

Angat is close to the heart of F.F. Cruz. It was there where he, in the town's most depressed areas, spent his boyhood years. Up to now, F.F. finds joy in recounting how he grew up and dreamed lofty dreams in Angat. Most of F.F.'s dreams turned into reality, and he thanks the people of Angat for helping make him what he is now.

F.F. has already bought, for P5 million, the contents of the Barasoain Church's replica at the Filipino Centennial Expo in Clark. And the items inside the Barasoain look-alike in Pampanga have already been installed in Angat's own version of the Barasoain Church. From all indications, F.F.'s socially-oriented project in Angat will be a tourist attraction, because F.F. has put up additional attractive features in the Angat site of Barasoain.

Mike Colmer, a chartered quantity surveyor who was in 1998 a consultant for an American semi-conductor manufacturing company in Clark, wrote to recount what he observed when the subcontractor was constructing the Mabalacat-Clark spur road project. Not only did the subcontractor provide temporary access ramps to companies operating in the area; it also did first-class, high-quality work. Colmer was amazed at the quality of work done, despite the fact that the subcontractor was "under-resourced."

Colmer, though, was surprised that the spur road near his company was, at some point of time, covered with grit and stone. "This is inexplicable, from a construction point of view," he said. This happened after the subcontractor was not able to complete the job, because of lack of funds. Colmer said that the subcontractor should now be allowed to complete the spur road project. "If the subcontractor can perform as well as he did with limited finances, then imagine what he can do, properly funded," Colmer added.

Art A. Borjal's e-mail address: <[email protected]>