Showing posts with label Lacson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lacson. Show all posts

PostHeaderIcon As election nears, Mancao points to Estrada and Lacson in Dacer-Corbito murders



Philippines is again simmering with election fever. Among the contenders to run for president in 2010 is the disgraced ex-president Joseph Estrada. The aging actor-politician from San Juan, who was deposed by citizen's demand and haphazardly pardoned by Pres. Gloria M. Arroyo, is bent to come back to power.

Supported by an electorate that appears not to give much premium to competence, integrity, and moral qualifications, Estrada is confident to run for presidency again. Early on, the move to circumvent the laws against his disqualification is on-going. The “rehabilitated” convicted plunderer with meager qualifications, but with strong following is tagged as the mastermind with former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Sen. Panfilo Lacson of the death, 9 years ago, of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

Former police superintendent Cezar Mancao II, an accused witness, suddenly hugs the headlines again to rub salt on the double murder case which doesn’t get resolved. The players in the killing have muddled up the case. It is not unlikely that Estrada and Lacson are behind the murders, but nothing can be done against them unless they are proven guilty.

“The lawyer of three detained policemen who were also implicated in the crime, said Mancao had testified during the hearing yesterday that the order from Michael Ray Aquino came from Lacson, which in turn, he said came from Malacañang as part of an operation tagged as Oplan Delta. When the prosecution asked Mancao who in Malacañang gave the order, he replied "Estrada." whom he also indentified as "Bigote."---- Daily Tribune (08/27/09)

The renewed interest on Dacer-Corbito may well be connected with the election. This is another chapter in the soap-opera of corrupted politics that the public has been so tired of. On the side, politicians in Manila are busy drawing deals with other politicians in order to win---- rather than think of what they can do to advance the cause of the public good. How then can they focus on solving a sordid murder case?

The aggrieved families of Dacer and Corbito have to wait. With the sluggish court-system, Filipinos get distracted with candidates who have double faces and motives. The voters have been immensely disappointed by Pres. Gloria M. Arroyo. It’s time they focus on electing someone who is guileless and more competent. Otherwise, the cycle of political corruption will start again. (Photo Credit: Verongski4) =0=

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PostHeaderIcon The Shallowness of the US Elections Candidate Pool

Looking at the Philippine electoral pool in the 2010 elections some people are less than enamored with some of the presidential and vice-presidential wannabes. Why wannabes? Well, because calling them presidentiables and vice-presidentials might be too much. In the olden days to talk about a politician as presidential or vice-presidential timber is a sign of respect about the caliber and potential of the man.

Among the list of wannabes they would rather not consider are Kabayan Noli for president and Gringo Honasan, Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada for vice-president who all feel have the necessary stuff to fill up such an august office, or so they think. It's good that someone like Dolphy has enough sense to realize that even if he is capable of being elected as senator he might not be able to bring honor to such an office.

If some think we have reached the pits in our standard for electing national leaders, they better observe what is happening in the US elections. We may be "shallow" and immature as an electorate but the current US electoral pool won't have the right to sneer at us come 2010 (if ever elections are held at all).

Sarah Palin as vice-president and a potential successor to the presidency? It's just like saying Bong Revilla, Jinggoy Estrada and Gringo Honasan are all good enough to be vice-president of this country. If the qualifications of Sarah Palin revolves around her being a former town mayor and a governor who has served for just two years then any of the three can claim comparable experience and exposure. The national views of the three might even be superior to Sarah Palin given they have been tackling national issues longer and all are not less smart than the beautiful Sarah. And an advantage to boot is all don't have a spouse as meddlesome as Todd Palin or Mike Arroyo.

Barack Obama for president? Well, he might be bright, and articulate, a thinker, well-educated and maybe have the right instincts, if i will be charitable to him. But maybe so is Mar Roxas. And Mar Roxas might have been preparing himself for the presidency longer than Obama and he had already a view of the national situation for much longer than Obama. But here in the Philippines Mar Roxas is still considered a bit raw and too young for that office and never mind that he was a former president's grandson, a illustrous senator's son and that he has a Judy Araneta-Roxas (the "Mrs. LP") for a mother.

John McCain for president? He reminds me too much of Ping Lacson's and Gringo Honasan's qualifications to be president, both former military men (the Constabulary to which Lacson formerly belonged is considered part of the military for the greater part of his career and he just became a "policeman" later). At least Lacson became a top police general and Gringo is a bemedalled colonel respected (or loathed) by generals depending on their affinity while John McCain retired as a navy captain. Gringo was the Baron of his class at military school while John McCain graduated 894th out of 899 in his military school. And Gringo is a hero to most of his military mates while McCain is just a hero among his beholders.

McCain, Lacson and Honasan all served more than one term as senators of their country but the crucial difference is US senators are selected by state while Philippine senators are elected nationally. If US senatorial elections are used in the Philippines then Luis Villafuerte will be a multi-term senior senator by now.

If this pool of candidates is already good for the US I now wonder what is it that we are all grousing about the quality of our candidates. Maybe we should only start complaining if the Cardinal of Quirino becomes a major party standard-bearer in 2010.

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