Birds of the same yellow feathers?

I’m writing this column with a heavy heart and I’m angry that the first ever wake I attended for this year was for the son of our good friends, Ramon and Arlene Villordon. His son Juan Carlos (JC) was apparently a victim of a Sinulog related incident that happened early dawn last Sunday when they were about to go home at 3 a.m. JC parked his car across the Crossroads in Banilad when three men on a motorbike stopped and poked a gun at his girlfriend Ms. Aimee Sembrano and yanked out her necklace, while the other robber struggled to grab her sister’s camera. Shouting for help, JC run to help them, but the robbers merely shot him point blank.

I’m mad because I thought that the Sinulog Festival was peaceful, but in reality, it began with a grisly murder. This brings us Cebuanos to ask, have the streets of Cebu City become so dangerous? Mind you, this incident did not happen in the more dangerous parts of Cebu or a squatter area… it happened in the uptown area, just a stone’s throw away from the Cebu Country Club and Cebu’s swankiest places where tourists love to go.

Ironically, way back in 2005, JC parked his car at the South Road Properties and a lone gunman shot him on his face, the bullet nearly hitting his spine. He survived that incident and it was then that the Villordon family left Cebu for good. JC just returned from his schooling in (he was graduating this year) Australia for the Sinulog and the birthday of his child when this incident happen. We were all stunned in his wake; especially that his parents Mon and Arlene had to come to Cebu from New Jersey. Someone in the wake asked me to inform DOT Sec. Mon Jimenez… it’s no fun in the Philippines!

To their credit, Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Senior Supt. Patrocino Comendador and Senior Supt. Melvin Ramon Buenafe of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) arrested a five-member robbery gang and among them is a certain James Barbero who figured in a shoot out with the arresting police. He has since been positively identified as one of the three men who robbed and killed JC. But while justice may be served and Cebu City has fewer criminal elements to reckon with, it won’t bring back JC to his parents.

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The Senate impeachment trial against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona is well underway… the first day was uneventful, but both camps were already making claims as to who is winning or who is losing. Perhaps these people do not realize that win or lose… our nation suffers! Already the pump prices of fuel products have risen four times this month alone, but obviously all eyes are focused on this political circus and nobody is minding the store. The economy could crumble but the Filipino people are just too focused on the outcome of the impeachment trial.

Meanwhile the second day of the impeachment trial only proved that the prosecution panel was just too confident that they have the numbers to impeach CJ Corona… which is why they spent too much time exposing the alleged ill-gotten wealth of CJ Corona in the media hoping that it would drive him to his resignation. But CJ Corona has vowed not to resign; hence the prosecution panel is now forced to try him in the Senate… a trial that they are obviously not prepared for.

Hence the impeachment trial was deferred after Rep. Elpidio Barzaga admitted before the Senate court that they did not have the witnesses to authenticate their “computer generated” document of the alleged CJ Corona ill-gotten assets. In my book, these Congressmen who are rabid supporters of the student government of Pres. Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III have only proved to the Filipino people they are indeed birds of the same yellow feathers… inept, ill-prepared and extremely good only in character assassination.

The other issue that remains unresolved is whether or not the prosecution can tackle any of the issues charged against CJ Corona in any order that they want. Shouldn’t we start with Article 1 which deals with partiality to President Arroyo? But the prosecution wants to jump to Article II… but in my book, some kind of order must be maintained in the Senate court… so they should follow the sequencing order already established. Well, Sen. Joker Arroyo suggested that the prosecution disclose the order by which they would tackle the eight impeachment articles. So we’ll find out what really is the sequence for this trial so we can all be prepared for this.

Again I would like to point out… that while the Senate impeachment trial is going on and no doubt it provides good entertainment for our people, however, someone has to mind the store as our economy isn’t really that rosy as the Aquino regime is trying to insist. With the pump prices of fuel products soaring once more, you can bet that this hurts our lowly fishermen and farmers who are the most vulnerable sector in our country.

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