A gruesome photo? If the cynical public demands ‘proof’, that's sadly what they get

Anybody who reads this column knows that I’ve been strongly opposed to the "photo oppor-tunism" of President GMA – i.e. the non-stop parading of arrested "suspects" and crooks, just so the Chief Executive and National Crime-Buster can get into the picture.

Friends from abroad have rung up to say that the Philippines is being made to appear like a den of thieves, because the President herself has been presenting an endless stream of kidnappers, carjackers, robbers, tax payment scamsters, and even rice hijackers for television and the print media.

The beneficial side of the coin, however, is that GMA is forcing the police to work night and day – instead of snoring away in the shade or after the sun goes down. Our cops, other lawmen, and our military now have to scramble in order to be able to bring a fresh batch of criminals and assorted felons almost daily for the President to display and pose with.

As for those who’ve groused that it was bizarre and in terribly bad taste for the corpse of slain Pentagon leader Faisal Marohombsar to have been placed on exhibit and splashed in photographs all over the front pages, you can blame this on the media feeding frenzy promoted by a curious and cynical public. When the armed forces claimed that Abu Sayyaf bandit Abu Sabaya had been killed by a Navy team in an encounter off Zamboanga del Norte, the public – with columnists and opinion writers in full cry – demanded "proof" in the form of Abu Sabaya’s bullet-riddled corpse, a kind of water-logged habeas corpus. In the absence of such a corpus delicti, many keep on sneering that the scruffy Sabaya isn’t dead at all. Why blame the police and military then for exhibiting the Pentagon kidnapper’s corpse, and publishing photographic evidence designed to convince everybody that Faisal is indeed dead and done away with?

We can’t have it both ways. Admittedly, it was a gruesome photograph – and it’s pathetic for a man to be portrayed in the grotesque indignity of death; but when a skeptical public goes on demanding "proof", they mustn’t be indignant when they finally get it.

As for GMA being in the picture, isn’t she always?

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We’re obviously getting a very bad press abroad as well. The September 2 issue of TIME Magazine came on the newsstands yesterday, and one of the major stories was headlined: "SHAME."

The subhead declared that "Asia’s child-sex industry is booming, despite tougher laws and a few high-profile deportation cases."

The article by Andrew Perrin was, it must be said, datelined Bangkok and, in its preamble, told the tale of two Caucasians who got involved in sleazy activities in Thailand and Cambodia. One of them was a talented, aging American I used to listen to playing piano in the Bamboo Bar of my favorite hostelry on the Chao Phya river, Bangkok’s fabled "Oriental Hotel".

As TIME described him, "Musician Eric Rosser . . . the former piano player for faded rock star John Mellencamp (had) found a haven" in the Thai capital. "He had an attractive Thai wife, a young son, a luxurious apartment . . . The city’s monied set showered him with invitations to cocktail parties and they enrolled their kids at the thriving Tosser Piano Studio."

Dourly commented the newsmagazine: "Not anymore. On August 19, the Bangkok Criminal Court approved Rosser’s extradition to the US to stand trial on six counts of producing and distributing child pornography. The FBI and Thai authorities claim Rosser molested an unknown number of girls in Bangkok and Bloomington (Note: his hometown in Indiana), most of them between the ages of seven and 11."

Cambodia, too, recently threatened "to deport British singer Gary Glitter, convicted in the U.K. of downloading child pornography. . ."

But, "the fight against Asia’s child-sex industry," the magazine indicates, isn’t won, and observers say the problem "remains more acute than ever".

"Those who lure children into prostitution in Thailand now face jail time of up to 15 years (previously, they were only fined). And predators who have sex with a child prostitute can – at least in theory – get 20 years behind bars. In Cambodia, too, new laws on human trafficking and sexual exploitation are in the works," the article revealed.

Yet, Perrin adds: "Take a stroll into the Sunee Plaza in Pattaya, Thailand, or through Manila’s Rajah Sulayman Park, and it’s impossible not to notice girls as young as eight painted up like Barbie dolls and openly selling themselves. ‘Chicks, you want chicks?’ asks a pimp in Manila, with a swagger that suggests he has nothing to fear from the law."

When crooks don’t fear, this implies we are lawless.

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There was a frontpage blurb in the Tuesday (August 27) issue of the Financial Times, the internationally circulated daily based in London, which easily attracted the eye. It was headed: "S. Korean Banker sought after $21m online fraud."

The interesting part of that page-one teaser was that it concluded with a line saying that the fraudster had "fled to the Philippines".

The complete story, which appeared as the lead item (across seven columns) in the "Companies & Markets" section said that "South Korean police are seeking a Daewoo Securities employee whom they suspect of involvement in the country’s biggest fraudulent online stock trade. The news is a blow to the credibility and security of a stock market where half the trades are made via e-brokers."

"The 33-year old employee," the FT said, "is alleged to have placed unauthorized buy orders last Friday worth Won 26 billion ($21.5 million) through an online corporate account at the securities company and then fled to the Philippines. The incident involved 5 million shares of Delta Information and Communication, a producer of network system equipment."

It goes on. But my point is this: Why do so many fugitives on the run seem to prefer the Philippines as a haven in which to hide?

I recall that a Frenchman – a ranking former executive of the giant Elf-Aquitaine, sought by the French government and police as a witness in the prosecution of that scandal which involved big shots in both Paris and Berlin – evaded arrest for almost four years by hiding out here in the Philippines. The fellow, when finally cornered and extradited to France, was not however put in irons over there. Nor did his so-called "testimony" result in getting anybody over there into trouble. So many powerful leaders of the political and business establishment could have been brought down if he told everything he knew, so he was treated with kid gloves, then quietly let off the hook. Indeed, the guy was even welcomed back into the bosom of the establishment, with open arms.

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Sus. We keep on complaining that here no "big fishes" are caught in the net.

Over in Europe, if you’re a big enough fish, your reputation may be shredded somewhat, but you survive, too. Are any biggies – whether presidents, prime ministers, or Cabinet ministers – serving time at all in France or Germany?

In Germany, even the former Chancellor – who ruled the roost for so many years that he was called Kaiser Helmut Kohl – wasn’t given more than a slap on the wrist when he was involved in a multimillion-Deutschmarks financial scandal. (Indeed, the former Kanzler is still revered as the man who got the Berlin Wall torn down, and who "reunified" Germany – although many West Germans today don’t feel, in retrospect, that was too good an idea.) For that matter, Kohl’s Christian Democrats – who were discredited for their failures and follies, and dislodged only four years ago by the current reelectionist Kanzler Gerhard Schroeder and his Social Democrats (SPD) – may even be swept back to power next September 22, with Bavaria’s Edmund Stoiber carrying the ball.

But that’s still "iffy", I hasten to add as Germany’s floodwaters recede, even though Stoiber – who is far less charismatic than the SPD’s Schroeder – came out more confident, combative, and better than expected in last Sunday evening’s 75-minute TV debate (the first, copying the American model, to take place in Germany).

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The President has appointed two senior Court of Appeals Justices to the Supreme Court, filling two vacancies in the High Tribunal.

These are Justice Romeo Callejo, 65, and Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales, 61. They took the seats vacated by Justice Sabino de Leon (who retired June 9) and Justice Jose Melo (who bowed out last May 28).

Those in Bench and Bar whom I’ve spoken to yesterday remarked that both are truly deserving. GMA has chosen well. Callejo was one of those highly endorsed for nomination by the Bantay Katarungan, the watchdog organization headed by former Ambassador and Justice Secretary Sedfrey Ordoñez and, of course, former Senator Jovito Salonga.

What is further notable about Callejo is that he didn’t lobby for either his nomination by the Judicial and Bar Council, nor his eventual designation by the President.

Also an outstanding jurist is the other new Associate Justice of the Court, Conchita Carpio-Morales. She’s known for her even-handedness and integrity. Unfortunately for her, much will be made of the fact that, as her name indicates, she is a distant cousin of Associate Justice Tony Carpio, who was one of the bosses of the super-anointed and most powerful (with GMA and Mike) law firm – namely, Carpio, Villaraza, Cruz (The truth is, friends assure me, that they’re not really close). The public is getting paranoid about so many heavy-hitters from that "super" law colossus being appointed to starring positions in the La Gloria in excelsis firmament, that some are asking when even the law firm’s janitor will be named Secretary of Public Works and Highways. (But never fear: The genial DPWH Secretary, Simeon Datumanong, is safely a member of the super-UP Law fraternity, Sigma Rho.)

The time may still come when the GMA administration will be renamed: The Family Hour.

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ERRATUM: In last Tuesday’s column, I mentioned accompanying the late President Ramon Magsaysay (whose birthday anniversary, incidentally, is next Saturday) to see the troops bivouacked at the foot of a mountain in the Candaba swamp area of Pampanga, preparatory to their making a pre-dawn assault on a Communist HMB rebel redoubt on the upper slopes of that mountain. My grievous error, mea culpa, was to have written "Mount Banahaw", when the solitary mount that rises from the Pampanga central plain is "Mount Arayat". That’s the correct name. Mount Arayat, by the way, is an extinct volcano, and is known to old folks as the "sister volcano" to "Mount Pinatubo". I trust it’s really extinct. We thought Mt. Pinatubo was. I’ve climbed the slopes of both in the past – as I have Mount Banahaw, the "sacred mountain", located in Dolores, Quezon province.