Angelo Reyes as DENR chief

One of the most coveted Cabinet positions has been given to Angelo T. Reyes – that of secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The appointment puts to rest the many questions on why he was leaving the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and where he was going. The word was that he would be appointed by President Macapagal-Arroyo as ambassador to Washington D.C. But he turned down the offer. And welcomed going to DENR – despite the thorns that he will have to pluck, like the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ and NGOs’ opposition to the government’s mining program.

Mr. Reyes’ performance record shows how he distinguished himself in the positions given him. After his retirement as chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the President appointed him secretary of National Defense. There he framed the basic plans for the modernization of the AFP, and introduced reforms that shaped up the military as an efficient force against insurgency and external threats.

From there he was assigned to DILG, virtually passing through the eye of the needle in getting his appointment confirmed by the Commission on Appointments. As DILG secretary, he instituted reforms in the Philippine National Police in his capacity as chair of the National Police Commission, making the police more effective in combating crimes and checking police abuses.

Reyes is reported to have helped local governments upgrade their services to the public by providing them with the necessary support from the national government in the form of financial aid and technical assistance for better governance. He showed good public relations in dealing with local executives, from governor to mayor down to municipal councils.

As head of the Presidential Anti-Crime Task Force, Reyes is reported to have dismantled the kidnap-for-ransom syndicates, reducing kidnapping for ransom incidents to mere isolated cases after the rash of kidnappings that terrorized the business community.

Then as chief of the Anti-Smuggling Task Force, he busted the smuggling syndicates that operated technically through customs and flagrantly through clandestine shipments of imports. As a result, Customs has been able to increase its collections, and the government reduced its fiscal deficit because of higher customs revenues.

For sure he will face a host of serious problems at DENR. Among them is the rampant illegal logging and smuggling of logs, and the environmental disasters said to be caused by mining operators.

And there is the strong opposition of the bishops to mining operations in the country, saying mining "destroys life." The NGO Alyansa Tigil Muna (ATM), concurs with the bishops’ position.

How Secretary Reyes will deal with those problems is worth watching out for. We wish him the best.

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Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz has been fulminating hot and heavy against the pernicious and pandemic ills of jueteng, having linked President Macapagal-Arroyo inextricably to gambling operations in his backyard. Remove Gloria, and you eradicate jueteng is his incredible credo, transmitted on the air waves or from front pages of newspapers on agonizingly slow-news days. "Inasmuch as I don’t want to say it, it pains me to say this government’s anti-jueteng efforts are all for show," he says anyway. "Perhaps we would have some hope if the current occupant of the Palace would be replaced."

Fat chance, guffaws a businessman-acquaintance who followed with great assiduousness the Pacquiao-Morales rematch and won a couple of thousands in playful betting. "Jueteng has been with us since time immemorial. It is in our blood." He posits that the proliferation of jueteng is NOT the failure of the present administration but perhaps that of the church in the Philippines, stemming from centuries past. "The frailes couldn’t get the indios, on pain of heavenly wrath and hellish retribution, to stop."

He goes on to say, the unassailable man of jueteng: "Nowadays, 25 centavos cannot even buy you Halls candy, but jueteng gives your 25 centavos a crack at winning P100." Hope in 25 centavos. Why then should it not flourish? What a no-brainer.

Says another civic leader and anti-crime advocate, "Archbishop Cruz is neither superman, nor is he God. To change and challenge an entire system is pointless. The church has no business going after jueteng lords." The good archbishop ". . . should be looking after his parishioners and focusing on matters pertaining to the poor and marginalized." Why does he allow himself "to be used so shamelessly by politicians in pursuit of 15 minutes of worldly and ephemeral fame?" She goes from the December 25th encyclical of His Holiness, Pope Benedict, "Ministry is the church’s core competency." The very same document warned that "The Church cannot and must not take upon himself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible" and thus laid down the basis for the CBCP’s pastoral statement of January 29th."

Instead, she calls for the legalizing of gambling so that taxes may be derived from it to benefit the community – the very same poor and disenfranchised and hopeful, of the like that stormed the gates of Ultra at Wowowee’s first year anniversary in pursuit of not unreasonable dreams of a house and a lot and means of livelihood. Such stuff as cannot be mandated by the government and, although prayed for fervently and on bended knee in churches and cathedrals and other places of worship throughout the land, cannot also be provided by a clergy fixated on replacing this administration . . . with what? With whom?

Yet another armchair commentator decries the summary dismissal of Police Superintendent Felicidad Ramos-Gido last week for her inability to prevent the guerilla-type jueteng operations in her precinct in Novaliches. An account in last week’s STAR quoted her direct boss, Chief Superintendent Nicasio Radovan, director of the Quezon City Police District, "I’ve known her as a straight-forward police officer who teaches at the public safety college to earn extra income for her family." But she had to go in compliance with PNP Chief Director Arturo Lomibao’s "one-strike policy on jueteng." No excuses. Why? Because it happened during her watch!

Well, my friendly if hardly printable pundit asks why we don’t hold priests accountable for the proliferation of sins that take place in their parishes. Why not, indeed? But what shall we hold His Excellency accountable for? For failure, perhaps, to use his moral authority and the power of the pulpit to convince the faithful to give up on jueteng and other forms of gambling? But it’s much easier to blame others, including the government for one’s failure, isn’t it?

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