By Mortz C. Ortigoza
Kung kayo ay tumatangap ng pera galing sa abroad, mag dalawang isip kayo kung ito ay kukunin ninyo sa Cebuano Lluirrier, BDO branch, o sa Western Union.
Kahapon, holiday dahil June 12 Independence Day, may nagpadala sa akin sa inbox ko sa Face Book ng XOOM Number at halaga ng pera na pati tuldok at sentimos ay isinali na dahil converted na from U.S dollar to Philippine Peso.
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| LAMAY (WAKE) KING: Philppines Vice President Jojo Binay Beats Presidential rival Secretary Mar Roxas in the wake of Pangasinan's town mayor, a Liberal Party member of Roxas, who was assassinated recently. |
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| Remains of former mayor Ernesto Balolong |
“Off line po kami sir sa XOOM, subukan niyo ang Cebuana Lluirrier and Pawnshop diyan sa Perez Boulevard,” ani ng guwardiya.
Ta-tatlo lang kami na customers sa loob ng pawnshop (pero balisa ako kasi baka sabihin ng nakakita sinasanla ko ang singsing ng lola ko), ng biglang sabihin ng lady employee kung may Cebuana Card ako.
“Wala, saka hindi ko kailangan iyan. Itong driver’s license ko ang ginagamit ko either sa Western Union o BDO”
Naiinis ako, dahil mapilit ang babae na kumuha ako ng card na kung saan nakalagay ang mga tsi- tse-buritseng pansariling come-ons ng Cebuana sa ibat-ibang negosyo nitong Just Jewel, Le Soleil de Boracay, Dphiten retail outles, Mr. Quickie at Healthway.
“Masyadong aggressive naman itong management ng Cebuana sa pagbenta ng product nila,” ani ko sa sarili ko.
“Ayosin mo muna iyang pera ko habang binabasa ko ang brochure ng card niyo,” aniya ko.
Aba tinawag uli ako at binigyan ako ng one half page na papel kung saan may mga 10 or 15 na checks siya na kailangan ko daw e file-up.
“E puro survey ang laman ng tanong ng papel ninyo, gaya magkano halaga ng bahay ko, ilan ang nakasanla na ari-ari-an ko, ilan at ano ang kotse ko, at iba pa. May balak pa ata kayong mag-pa loan. Masyadong na dedelay ang customer ninyo dito sa mga pinag-gagawa ninyo, masisira kayo dito,” Sinabi ko sa dalawang female workers na nasa loob ng mala rehas na kuarto kung saan sila naka puesto.
Tumagal ako sa loob, na kung saan dadalawa na lang kaming customers, ng 20 to 30 minutes. E paano kung maraming customers doon at bawat isa sini-sales talk sa card at obligadong pinapa sulat sa half page na papel, anak ng bakang dalaga aabutin lahat ng siyam-siyam?
Kaya mag mula ngayon, hinding hindi na ako mag wi-withdraw ng pera diyan sa Cebuana. Sa BDO at sa Western Union na lang ako dahil wala pang 10 minutes pag walang masyadong customers kuha ko na ang pera ko, hindi pa ako naabala at napagsususpetsuhan ng mga dumadaan na kakilala ko na sinansanla ko ang sing-sing na ginto ng lola ko .
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At the second day of the wake of Mayor Ernesto Balolong and the wedding of his municipal councilor son Voltaire, I and some friends discussed that the 36 hours period for a warrantless arrest of the suspected perpetrators who killed Balolong and two others would end at 8 Am of June 9.
Will the two suspects Eduardo S. de Guzman and Marlito R. Sarmiento finger some personalities, especially politicians, who were behind the dastardly acts? I posed to them.
One school of thoughts there was the 36 hours of filling a case of murder or detaining a suspect without filling a case was not absolute.
“ Kahit sa 35 hour at tinuro iyong suspect at tumakas siya, kahit tatlong araw as long as reasonable hot pursuit continues the police can still do a warrantless arrest as long as hindi pa nilagay sa blotter ang incident,” a police officer told me.
But the following morning even before the suspects were brought by the police at the city prosecutor’s office in San Carlos City for inquest and their detention at the Bureau of Jail, Management & Penology in the same city, the suspects did not incriminate other individuals.
Geez, that would be a heave of relief for those who were not incriminated, either from the volition of the suspect or the coaching of police officials or politicians who want to undermine some of their enemies. Imagine, being fingered to be a conspirator in a murder case – that’s a non-bailable and as the case drags for years in court, the suspects stayed in the calaboose.
Incase some individuals are incriminated in the following days, they are quite lucky as they would not be arrested immediately but face due process through complaint affidavit, counter-affidavit, etc. in the regular filing of the case in the prosecutor and the evaluation of the judge if the case has probable cause before he issues a warrant of arrest in the still non-bailable case especially if the evidence is strong.
***
After Vice President Jejomar Binay left the somber and Spartan-liked wedding ceremony of the son of the slain Urbiztondo, Pangasinan Mayor Ernesto Balolong, I jocularly asked him: “What’s your remarks beating Mar Roxas (Local Government Secretary, and his presidential rival) in a draw where as a Liberal Party (Binay is member of United Nationalist Alliance) he should come first to give comfort and succor to the bereave family whose head of the family was an LP’s stalwart in the town?”
Binay and his entourage, who was in Urbiztondo, the day after the killing, stopped walking and was ambivalent either to answer or not my query.
Former Congressman and incumbent Board Member Ranjit Shahani, a member of the LP, gave me a tapped on the ears and amusingly told me “ikaw talaga Mortz” to extract Binay on that awkward situation that was flattering on his part.
But if propaganda quo is the gauge in terms of media mileage Binay (who was accompanied by Nationalist People’s Coalition chairman Mark Cojuangco) obviously beat Roxas in that game.
What happened to the “apparatchiks” of the Secretary’s propaganda juggernaut? Son of a gun, they lack even a sense of history where politician juiced out the dead for the best publicity they can get from the hoi-polloi.
In the early 1950s then Secretary of Defense and presidential wannabe Ramon Magsaysay swooped to Negros Occidental and even carried, for posterity of course, the bloody cadaver of my kasimanwa mayoral candidate Moises Padilla, an ardent supporter, who was tortured and executed by the supporters of then Governor Rafael Lacson . Magsaysay as everybody knows beat incumbent President Elpidio Quirino, the Philippines’ prexy who supported Lacson and the president who was accused of owning a golden arinola .
So the poser who was the culprit behind the tragic lost of Quirino to Magsaysay – Padilla or the Arinola? - should be better discussed on my next column.
But for the meantime, incase Binay becomes president because one of the factors was the mileage the Balolong’s death brought, credit goes to Binmaley Mayor Sam Rosario, the vice president, trusted point man in the almost two million vote rich Pangasinan, for having the chutzpah and familiarity on the dynamics of Pangasinan’s political nitty-gritty and the voters are touched every time a Boy Lamay (Binay was known for this mirage liked strategy in his bid for the vice presidency against Roxas that he defeated in 2010).
"Malalaman mo na lang andiyan na si Jojo na may dalang bulaklak at abuloy sa lamay ng kung sino," Rosario told me before.
***
Oh here’s my first question that I throw, ambushed fashion, to Binay when he was coming out in the immense St. Pius V Catholic Church.
“Mr. Vice President despite your opponents identifying you with the "scoundrels" Senators Johnny Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, and Bong Revilla you still top the Pulse Asia polls as the next president of the country if election would be held on the day you were asked with that poser. What’s your take on my question?
This what the Vice President retorted to me, in a Filipino fashion: “Ah e kasi alam naman ng ta-o na itong mga paninira na ito kasama ho sa laro ng pulitika . So oras-oras lang ho iyan”.
What can you say on this Secretary Roxas and my friend Senator Peter Cayetano ( its been a while you ain’t come here in the Republic of Pangasnan)?
(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too attotomortz@yahoo.com).
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