Sleeping better now, Sir Rod? - Gotcha

Are you happy now, Honorable Secretary Rod Reyes? After making Marichu Villanueva cry in a presscon aired live on government radio and in front of 30 columnists and commentators, have you had your fill? After maligning her integrity on TV stations that you control, did you exact the revenge that you think you so richly deserve?

If so, Mr. Secretary, you can sleep tight at the Arlegui Mansion you will continue to occupy because the President has turned down your latest "courtesy" resignation. Sweet dreams, Sir, with his indirect assurance that a rewritten STAR report bearing Marichu's tagline was wrong in asking if it's true you'd been ordered to move downstairs.

You can even gloat before you turn in for the night that Marichu will be awake agonizing over what you've done to her credibility as journalist. Your factotums had asked around if her husband could sit in the board of RPN-9 from which he has retired -- an inquiry which you announced as if she was lobbying for it. Marichu will bear that slur in her daily effort to make both ends meet on a journalist's pay that's one percent of yours.

Serves her right, huh, Mr. Secretary, for following up a tabloid item that you're feuding with the Laquians, the new apples of the Boss' eyes. From now on, Marichu will know better than to mess around with you -- not after you showed her how you can assemble 30 top opinionists in a snap for a presscon to embarrass her. And, oh, Sir, ignore those murmurs from Malacanang aides why you never did that for the Boss before, when he needed help with Cha-Cha and the smuggled luxury van he gave you.

Congress is investigating why PTV-4 is now promoting "a culture of gambling" instead of mandated "relevant programs."

Government TV under Reyes devotes broadcast hours to news, 13 percent; public affairs, 11; entertainment, 17; education, 11. The remaining 48 percent is sport, including jai alai and on-line bingo of you-know-who.

Congress is asking if palakasan (sport) has taken a new meaning.

Will Congress look into that new meaning in the case of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office?

Two former board directors are asking why new chief Rosario Lopez didn't bother to inform them they'd been replaced. Sr. Christine Tan and Ulan Sarmiento were only told by a minor official on the day of a Feb. 28 board meeting not to attend since new directors will sit in their stead.

Lopez explains that she had expected Tan and Sarmiento to resign along with former chairwoman Cecilia Munoz-Palma. After all, it was Palma who had invited them to join PCSO. Lopez assumed they already knew the score when Joseph Estrada accepted Palma's resignation days earlier. Besides, a third Palma director, Maria Feria, had turned in her resignation letter before that first scheduled board meeting under Lopez.

But it's turning out to be more than a case of bruised egos. Tan is asking if her unceremonious sacking had something to do with her frequent questioning and stalling of board resolutions.

Such resolutions dwelt on money matters -- sending PCSO funds over to the First Couple, presidential son Jinggoy, and LAMP legislators. Tan realized during her last few months in office that PCSO had sent P430,279,581.28 to Malacanang and Congress over a 12-month span. On top of this, PCSO also had given all its ambulances to Mayor Jinggoy.

Consquently, PCSO left only P65,364,400 for its usual charities -- hospitals, orphanages, and direct assistance to needy folk. Tan and her fellow-directors had wanted to reverse the ratio this year.

INTERACTION. Robert Arciaga, Vancouver: Re your piece on the Erap-Yasay-PSE imbroglio (Gotcha, 11 Mar. 2000): If Erap and his vaunted advisers cannot see your Option 3 as a masterstroke to save face for the President and boost the stock market, then pity our poor nation. Erap and company will go on making mistake after mistake until RP again becomes the basket case of Asia.

He hates unsolicited advice, Robert.

Frumencio Pulgar, yahoo.com: What happened to PSE is pure and simple tiope. Who would want to play in a cockpit where matches are fixed? Cockpits known for tiope eventually close shop because players shun it. Fairness in PSE is crucial to show that RP has reached economic maturity. The economy fell with the BW tiope; the culprits committed a crime worse than Echegaray's.

Eduardo Gomez, bae.co.uk: Next thing we'll hear is this BW scandal being blamed on PSE janitors.

Roger Baltazar, aramco.com: What else can you expect from a leader who does not know how to listen (Gotcha, 6 Mar. 2000)?

Nicolas Balderia, tm.net: Oil prices won't go down by bombing DOE and oil firms, but through supply and demand. Why don't consumers set a day to not buy any oil product -- a fuel boycott every week?

Roger Baldueza, pacific.net: On April 15, tax-payment day, do not buy gas. Tell everyone. Let's see what'll happen to the oil monopolists.

Thank you, Adrian Sagun, Rene Catal, Francis Apura, C. Yoyong, Rene Bernardo, Honey21 of earthlink, Cris Argosino, Conrad Isidro.

Do you have a feeling that the Big Three set us up to jump with joy like chimps as they raised gas prices by "only" 80 centavos a liter?

For days, they conditioned us to expect an increase of P2.10 per liter, their 9th in 11 months. This, they said, because OPEC again had raised crude oil quotes from $26.90 to P28.41 per barrel.

While Estrada cried that fuel price hikes were unstoppable, world leaders like Bill Clinton growled that they'll unleash millions of reserve barrels. OPEC quivered and dropped its price to $25.29 per barrel. The Big Three nonetheless raised their own prices because, they claimed, they'd been buying at only $23.39 in February.

YOUR BODY. Smokers are four times more likely to fall ill from Streptococcus bacteria that cause meningitis, blood poisoning, ear infections and pneumonia, says a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. The bacteria send 500,000 Americans to hospitals each year, claim 40,000 lives, and are a leading killer of young children.

OUR WORLD. Vehicle emissions cause 75 percent of air pollution. Gina Lopez of Bantay Kalikasan is calling on motorists to tune up their cars regularly to reduce smoke belching and at the same time save on fuel.

You can e-mail comments to [email protected] or, if about his daily morning radio editorials, to [email protected]