No answer at 911

The general manager of a GOCC (government owned and controlled corporation) has been dismissed – or quietly asked to resign – from her position for gross corruption, according to reliable sources inside the organization.

The dismissal order came from President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte after he received reports that she favored some relatives and friends in awarding contracts without public bidding.

The reports came from some generals of the Philippine National Police (PNP), where the official retired from as a lieutenant colonel.

The police generals told the President about complaints they received about her allegedly receiving bribe money in exchange for the awarding of lucrative contracts.

Digong probably had a heavy heart in firing this official who was very close to him (if you know what I mean) when she was assigned in Davao City.

She had a checkered assignment in Davao City.

Her husband was involved in an alleged rape of a minor sex worker in 2005.

She pleaded with then Mayor Digong not to have her husband reassigned outside the city. Her request was granted.

The end of her marriage came after the husband again got involved in another rape incident which was caught on video.

The second rape incident so angered the city mayor he reportedly wanted to shoot the guy.

She then filed for annulment which was granted by the courts. Her friendship with Mayor Duterte started.

When she was appointed to the GOCC post, eyebrows were raised, since her predecessor was known to be honest when he was in the military service.

In hindsight, those people were right.

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Never rely on our local 911, an emergency police number patterned after that of the US, because it’s utterly useless.

I’ve received complaints about the sheer inutility of our local 911 but didn’t give them attention until the night of May 31, Tuesday.

On my way home, I saw a passenger bus run smack into a motorcycle at the intersection of Aurora Blvd. and EDSA in Cubao, Quezon City, at about 9:15 p.m.

The motorcycle had two people riding astride on it. I saw the driver of the motorbike pinned by the front tire of the bus.

I directed my driver to park my Toyota SUV on the corner of Aurora Blvd. and started calling 911.

The emergency number rang again and again with nobody answering at the other end. I kept on calling; no answer. This was repeated many times.

By this time, some other Good Samaritans came to try to help extricate the driver from the bus tire.

I continued to call 911; no answer. Finally, an answer came at the other end; it was a taped reply directing the caller to leave a message after a tone.

The motorcycle passenger, a lesbian, came running to me saying she was all right. She was not concerned with the driver but herself, saying she was on her way to work (probably working at a call center). I snapped at her since I was busy calling 911.

When I couldn’t reach 911, I called my friend Nestor Isla, a member of the board of governors of the Philippine Red Cross. He was still awake.

I told Isla about the accident. He said he would immediately send an ambulance over to the accident scene.

At 9:45 p.m., 25 minutes after the accident, an ambulance came from nowhere. Apparently, somebody was able to call another agency for an ambulance.

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The incoming administration of Ferdinand “BBM” Marcos is considering a former health undersecretary to replace outgoing Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.

BBM needs the former health undersecretary to head the Department of Health like he needs a hole in the head.

This former health undersecretary was kicked out of his position for corruption.

This health secretary-wannabe was in charge of awarding contracts to private suppliers when he was health undersecretary.

He was said to be a two-timer who awarded a contract to a medicine supplier that won a public bidding, but then gave the same contract to another supplier.

A supplier who was double-crossed got so enraged that he went to the health undersecretary’s office lugging a pistol, which he placed on the desk of the health official.

My sources in the Department of Health said the undersecretary pissed in his pants in fright.

The report reached President Noynoy Aquino who immediately sacked the health official.

This applicant for health secretary was dismissed by his own alma mater as its official for issuing an irresponsible statement regarding COVID-19.

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Celebrity hairstylist and makeup artist James Cooper died while preparing for a Santacruzan (folk religious procession) that he organized in San Pablo City on May 29.

Cooper’s death was so sudden the people with him took his body to a third-rate funeral parlor that disposed of innards and blood of the deceased in a trash can inside its kitchen.

No kidding, the parlor is also engaged in the food catering business! Proof of this is a photo of food trays and kitchen utensils placed side by side with a casket.

The multi-millionaire American mestizo, once a makeup artist to Hollywood stars, was already decomposing when his friend, Evelyn Alvaran-Cruz, claimed his body the following day.

Paging the Department of Health!