Sunday, November 16, 2014

How can Mejorada shelve persona non grata label

“The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable.” Paul Tillich

By Alex P. Vidal

DEBATES are ongoing whether it is proper to declare Manuel “Boy M” Mejorada, a private person, as persona non grata (unacceptable person) even if he is not a diplomat.
Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog and some city councilors think they won’t sound ridiculous if they push through with the plan as they cited several cases involving actors, actresses and other personalities in other cities and provinces in the country not connected with government but were also declared persona non grata for offending the local officials and the people.
City officials are up in arms against the former Iloilo provincial administrator for calling Iloilo “a bird’s nest of corruption” during the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing for the alleged overpriced P700-million Iloilo Convention Center (ICC) project in Iloilo City November 13.
They want Mejorada to pay dearly for the “humiliation” he has brought the Ilonggos.

DIPLOMATS

But some lawyers, including Mejorada, insist only disgraced diplomats are declared persona non grata by their host countries before they are expelled.
Mabilog and the city council proponents think otherwise, thus they plan to slap Mejorada with the draconian measure in a resolution soon.
Even if they won’t use the words persona non grata, the city officials can always express their displeasure toward Mejorada in other means.
Like a simple resolution detailing why they don’t want to see the face of Mejorada in Iloilo City again.
They should take the cue from the Iloilo business leaders, who signed a strongly-worded manifesto of support for Senate President Franklin Drilon days before the hearing in the Senate blue ribbon committee last week.
The manifesto was read in the tri-media, including the social media and message sent.
What will happen to an individual—diplomat or not-who is declared persona non grata
Or severely reprimanded in a city council resolution?
Will the label deny him of his rights to open a legitimate business in the place where he was pilloried?

TAG

Will the tag disqualify him from participating in the electoral processes in the place where he was given the severe dressing down?
Will the resolution affect his economic well-being and future employment opportunities both in the government and private sectors?
Better still, will the move of the city council affect Mejorada politically if he has plans to run for public office in the future?
In terms of name-recall, Mejorada now has the edge given the gargantuan publicity mileage he amassed in the nationally televised “live” senate inquiry which became a national topic for a while.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Plus the social media which gave Mejorada the boundless leverage to lash back at his adversaries and disseminate further his case against Drilon, et al in the wider scale even after the first session of the senate hearing (we understand there are more scheduled hearings to come unless terminated).
Mejorada can only shelve the persona non grata resolution and vindicate himself if he runs and wins in the 2016 elections.
If he has secured a mandate, that means the people are not anymore angry with him, or have forgiven him for whatever transgression they think he has committed.
That means he is not really unacceptable as what his city hall tormentors want to tell the public.







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