Gang War In Government - Gotcha By Jarius Bondoc

It’s no ordinary bar brawl when presidential drinking and gambling buddies fight. Not when Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis Singson accuses Atong Ang of plotting to kill him. Not when Ang punches back by calling him a big jueteng lord and a little sabong cheat. Not when high officials like AFP vice chief Lt. Gen. Jose Calimlim and PNP chief Gen. Ping Lacson join the fray and hit Singson as a smuggler and racketeer. It’s a gang war of national proportion, with Joseph Estrada getting dragged in while trying to steer clear. And it’s shaking up the government, with the opposition, although reluctant to take sides, picking up Singson’s accusation that Estrada no less is in the jueteng protection racket.

So far, however, nobody has produced documents to substantiate their claims. Singson says he’s still collating his papers for a presscon on Monday in which he’ll prove multimillion-peso deliveries of jueteng take to Malacanang. Senate Minority Leader Tito Guingona merely said he also has papers to link Estrada, but did not present any during his privilege speech on grounds for presidential impeachment. Ang, Calimlim and Lacson also relied solely on their credentials during radio-TV interviews to hit Singson.

Whether Singson will throw his bombshell depends on what will happen this weekend. For now, he expects more bashers to call him other names: murderer, perhaps, or rapist and wife-beater, probably even transvestite. But words don’t hurt him. It’s sticks and stones he’s worried about. Singson feels that the only way to avoid assassination is to spill the beans. He admits he’s no angel, gambling million-peso mahjong on Tagaytay weekends. In radio interviews the past three days, he claimed to know all about jueteng only because Malacanang assigned him collector of protection money. He said he’s had it because Malacanang assigned Ang as the new front, who then deputized a Singson cousin and bitter political rival as Ilocos vice lord.

Ang replies that his only role in jueteng is to wipe it out with Pagcor’s legal Bingo-2 Balls, which is played like the illegal numbers game. This time, though, government will earn money from taxes, franchise fees and Pagcor shares of gross sales, unlike jueteng where local officials and police officers take money under the table. But Singson counters that, as Pagcor consultant, Ang gets to deposit everything. He says the only difference between jueteng and Bingo-2 Balls is that the latter is nationwide.

Could both be right? As in any bar brawl or gang war, nobody remembers later who started it, just the juicy accusations exchanged.

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As in private firms, the rule in government is to follow the leader’s example. If, despite the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials, the leader solicits private donors to refurbish a government yacht, a Cabinet member likewise will see no wrong in soliciting money to buy luxury vans. When the leader calls luxury vans mere jeeps, so will the Cabinet man.

The malady goes down the line to lower bureaucrats. If they see their Cabinet bosses living ostentatiously and riding luxury vans, they follow suit. The education department’s Quezon City branch, for one, also bought luxury cars for its managers.

And the malady afflicts local officials. If they see national leaders coddling jueteng, governors and mayors do likewise. If they see them in luxury vans, they follow the rotten example.

A case in point is the Bukidnon provincial capitol, which recently wangled a $20-million loan from the Asian Development Bank. The money is for laudable farm-to-market roads, irrigation, waterworks and clinics under the Bukidnon Integrated Area Development Project. The project naturally has provisions for the purchase of equipment and vehicles to implement and monitor the works.

Upon release of the loan, the capitol bought vehicles alright – a Toyota Land Cruiser model 2000, worth roughly P3 million, for the office of Gov. Carlos Fortich; and two Toyota Prados model 2000, each worth roughly P2 million, for the offices of Vice Gov. Nemesio Beltran and Project Manager Francis Intong.

Why the capitol bought expensive SUVs instead of limiting itself to the Toyota Hi-Lux van models it also bought for other project officers shows a belief that government officials must live in luxury. Only last year, the capitol also bought a brand-new Isuzu Trooper for Fortich and Honda CRV for Beltran.

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So hungry was Malacañang for a positive turn in the Sulu military operations that, when Estrada got word of evangelist Wilde Almeda’s rescue, he immediately called up a radio station and a newspaper to break the news himself. The next day, a grand media event was prepared in Malacanang. But Almeda suffered a mild stroke during the flight from Zamboanga. Rushed to a waiting ambulance at Villamor Air Base, he was taken out and made to wait on a stretcher for two hours for a chopper to ferry him not to a hospital but to the waiting Malacanang officials.

After the exchange of contratulations and thankyous and the photo-ops, Press Secretary Dong Puno sat one of Wilde Almeda’s fellow-hostages beside him for the presscon with Defense Sec. Orly Mercado and AFP chief Gen. Angelo Reyes. Puno probably wanted to emphasize that there never was a news blackout at the start of the Sulu assault, and he needed to make amends for how presidential guards shoved reporters earlier that day at Villamor Base. But the presscon turned into a spectacle when freed hostage Alvin Flores praised - on camera and in front of his rescuers - the "kindness and repentance" of kidnapper Galib Andang. Puno had to cut Flores off several times to counter the display of Stockholm Syndrome.

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INTERACTION. Ed Achacoso, Alberta, Can.: Now that Wilde Almeda and his 12 gofers have been rescued, government should charge them a recovery fee – just to teach them a lesson.

Preioso Querubin, familyradio.com: You can’t expect the Abu Sayyaf to engage soldiers in combat (Gotcha, 2 Oct. 2000). They need to protect investments – the ransom money they got from their cottage industry. They’ll resurface when the Sulu assault is over, but as noveau riche they risk being kidnapped themselves.

Vic Sumagaysay, midas.co: Again Erap sees nothing wrong with Sec. Andrew Gonzales’ purchase of luxury vans for homself and his Usecs (Gotcha, 27 Sept. 2000). Is it his standard of morality or his ability to think?

Carlito Miranda, edsamail.com: Investigation on misuse of government funds for vehicles should cover other agencies. At the energy department and Napocor, Sec. Mario Tiaoqui has at least seven cars assigned to him: a Nissan Safari and Terrano, a Pajero, two Mercedes Benz Mussos, a Volvo. Napocor president Federico Puno also has a Musso, Pajero, Terrano and Toyota Forerunner. Yet Napocor is losing money.

Simplicio Rivera, yahoo.com: I’m eagerly awaiting a follow-up on your expose of Malacanang officials misusing local government funds (Gotcha, 17 Jul. 2000). Hope the NBI is not covering up the investigation.

Thank you, Angelo Gabriel, Ryan Kevin Lickona, Fernando Soltero, Jose Achacoso, Jay Entruda, Atty. Sonny Pulgar, Rene Cruz, Zen Udani.

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YOUR CAREER. Time to shift college courses or line of work. Despite a booming high-tech field, many US firms are looking to Asia for workers with the right skills. Labor experts are blaming schools for not preparing graduates enough in math for a future in science. Of 1.6 million technology jobs created in the US this year, half will remain unfilled, say computer specialists. And the problem will get worse before it gets better – which spells opportunity for Filipinos.

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YOUR BODY. People who start taking alcohol as adolescents are not only more likely to develop drinking problems as adults, but are at higher risk of getting injured while under the influence. Researchers found that those who begin drinking regularly before age 14, compared to those who start at 21, are thrice more likely to be alcohol-dependent and 12 times more likely to get hurt. More in cnn.com/health.

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You can e-mail comments to jariusbondoc@workmail.com