In fairness to the President

I hope he does not write a book. This is the reaction of many concerned citizens to what has been described as a sour-graping on the part of former Justice Secretary Serafin Cuevas over his dismissal from the Cabinet. The verbal fury unleashed by Cuevas appears unnecessary and uncalled for, in the light of the fact that President Estrada has the discretion to decide whom to appoint and whom to fire. Note that Cuevas' reaction was a direct contrast to the civility that characterized previous resignations of other officials of the Erap administration.

I repeat, on President Estrada rests the ultimate decision on hirings and firings. He is the President of the Republic, and all Cabinet members are dispensable. When the President feels that a member of his official family has lost his confidence and trust, by all means, the President has the right to fire him or her. And the cabinet member, in turn, has only one mandate: to accept the President's decision with grace and civility. Unfortunately, this did not happen in the case of Justice Cuevas.

To some political observers, the harsh words from Justice Cuevas were not uttered in good taste. Why? Because one cannot be a loyal Cabinet member today and a fault-finder on the day of dismissal. The appropriate conduct is to keep quiet and let things pass. The time to talk is when the passion has all but ebbed.

The verdict of history has never been kind on those who join government at the top level, and emerge bitter and sour after leaving. Class, grace and the capacity to take life's up and downs in stride are more admirable. These are lessons that should be learned from the post-dismissal fireworks from Secretary Cuevas. Personally, I can only hope that President Estrada and all future presidents are spared from these dark episodes of life.

My column, which asked where Camelot was, elicited various reactions from several readers. Nilda Reyes Sunga, a language specialist at the Regional Language Center in Singapore, for instance, chided those who want to wait for year 2004 to see the emergence of a new leader "to relieve us of the pain we are going through." and Ms. Sunga then throws the following questions: Do we have to wait that long? Why don't we do something about the present situation? Why can't we pick up the cudgels and use them to resolve the country's problems? Why do we have to turn our backs on our country at a time when she needs us most?

Most probably, Ms. Sunga has in mind the famous saying, "Evil triumphs when good men do nothing." Which is why she said that the solutions to our problems lie in our hands. "We are the Camelot who can produce the spark somewhere . . . here in our country . . . and not somewhere else," she said.

Another reader, Lucille Blake, also reacted to the article on Camelot. "The Camelot is the moral compass of our elected and appointed officials, and it is absent in most of them," she said. And Ms. Blake ticked off many unpleasant things happening in our country: graft and corruption, crooks in black robes, thieves who plunder the nation's coffers through tax evasion, smuggling, pork barrel kickback, etc.

Ms. Blake noted that there is thievery going on among the country's political and business leaders. "This is the mother of all culprits behind our poor economic growth," she opined. But Ms. Blake sounded optimistic of the future, saying that there are "good people out there whose pathways of life on the right track."

It is during hard times that Christian-hearted people surface to lend a helping hand to the less fortunate in life. Look at all these kind and thoughtful Good Samaritans who want to share some of their blessings with their destitute, suffering fellowmen:

* An anonymous resident of Pope Pius Ladies Dorm, P1,000

* Ms. M. Lim of Quezon City, P10,000 (FEBTC 1211281)

* Rita Perez of South Greenhills Village, Muntinlupa City, P500 (AsianBank0111197)

* Mr. Tan, P20,000 (RCBC 0246734)

* Rebecca C. Nueva Espana, P1,000 (PNP 0133547)

* C.K.O. of Sta. Mesa, Manila P500

* N.C.O. of Sta. Mesa, Manila, P2,000

* LT of Quezon City, an SGI member of Japanese Buddhism, P1,000

* A gentleman with the initials. P.R. who deposited P1,000 at the Bicutan Branch of FEBTC.

* Ms. R.T.M. of Quezon City, P1,000 (UCPB 0129666)

* In memory of the late Ang Yan Guan, P3,000 (Equitable checks numbered 0122924 and 0122925)

* Confederation of Government Employees Organization, P10,000 (Land Bank 0001259)

Sr. Mary Antonette Saplagio, OSB, a Benedictine nun who oversees the Tahanang Walang Hagdanan in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, has asked me to help solve "a very special problem which is easy to solve for people with connections but difficult for people who do not have them." The last part of that sentence is actually an expression of the sentiment shared by many Filipinos -- that unless one has connections, things will move at snail's pace, or not at all, in the government bureaucracy.

Actually, Sr. Mary's request is quite simple. Her Vigan TWH group, which is composed of disabled youngsters in the community, has been producing handicrafts that are sold in Switzerland and Germany. This activity sustains them. And right now, the founder of the Vigan TWH, Fr. Bernhard Raas, SVD, a parish priest in Switzerland who is visiting Vigan, is planning to bring back with him to Switzerland the person in charge of manufacturing the TWH handicrafts, so that the foreign buyers in European can tell him the desired specifications of the handicrafts.

The fellow, who is a disabled person, in charge of manufacturing comes from a faraway village in Kalinga, and he has no experience in travelling. The Benedictine sisters are finding it hard to get him a passport, because he has no authenticated birth certificate. The NBI clearance, too, is taking a long time to process. With time running out, the TWH might not be able to send him to Switzerland.

Sr. Mary's request is that I help in seeing to it that "the processing of the papers will be done in a fast and unbureaucratic way." She said that she hiked to Kalinga for three days, just to get some documents from there. But then, she has been told that it would take the NBI about one month to process the papers.

Sr. Mary is now in Manila, to get the authenticated birth certificate from the National Statistics Office. Then, she has to go to the NBI to get the required clearance. As the nun rushes from one government office to another, one wonders whether she will be able to get the passport for the Kalingan. Will Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo "Jun" Siazon Jr. please lend a helping hand?

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