‘Waslik poder’

 

“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.”

—Edmund Burke

By Alex P. Vidal

BOTH Rep. Arnie Teves of Negros Oriental and former Philippine National Police (PNP) director general Camilo Cascolan understand what “waslik poder” is since they are Visayans.

When you take advantage of your position and connection to corner juicy projects and appointments in government—especially if you don’t deserve to get the projects and the appointments—your act can be categorized as “waslik poder.”

People in power who circumvent the law or take an easy route by applying arm-twisting tactics to gain favors or illegally seize something in their advantage can be stricken with the disease called “waslik poder.”     

When you become STL operator or franchise holder of gambling operations like e-sabong (online cockfighting) while at the same time holding a high position in government, or acting as PNP chief, it’s pure and simple “waslik poder.”

We have no idea when did Cascolan, who received a civilian position under the Duterte administration after retiring from police service in 2021, acquire his franchise to operate e-sabong.

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As a former PNP chief, his acquisition of franchise of the controversial gambling operation definitely leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

He could have used his position and influence to hack out the favor, and it smacks of lack delicadeza.

Ditto for Rep. Teves, who had been tagged by Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board member Sandra Cam as alleged STL operator in Negros, and now as franchise holder of e-sabong by gambling organizer Charlie “Atong” Ang.

Under the law, you can’t be a government official while at the same time gambling operator. We haven’t independently confirmed that Teves really operates lotto or e-sabong, but, at least, that’s what Cam and Ang had alleged.  

There are several characters who know how to wield power and influence by taking advantage of their closeness and connection with the high and mighty in Malacanang. 

Their actuations, in most cases, have led to abuse of power.

Teves, whose son, Kurt Matthew, was recently caught together with his two bodyguards in a CCTV mauling a subdivision security guard in Parañaque City, is reportedly at odds with Atong Ang, who told a senate hearing recently that a group of e-sabong franchise holders was trying to sabotage his own e-sabong operation and plotting to kill him.

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I met now 50-year-old Mayor Vitaly Klitschko of Kyiv, Ukraine in the World Boxing Council (WBC) Conventions in Tokyo in 2002, Moscow in 2003, and Manila in 2007.

He was then in his 30s and standing six feet and seven inches. I looked like a midget at five feet and nine inches in our photos together. 

I also met some of the promoters and world champions from Russia when Ukraine and Russia weren’t yet at odds politically and militarily.

I also happened to referee in the past a WBF flyweight championship fight involving Russian dynamo Alexie Makmotov and Samson Dutchboygym.  

I couldn’t forget how the Team Russia reacted when I stopped the fight by TKO in favor of Dutchboygym: both the manager and the trainer looked at me with firm faces (ohh, the Russians!). 

I realized they weren’t mad at me after we had a group picture together.

Going back to Mayor Klitschko, he and brother, Wladimir, both former world heavyweight champions, have been in the frontline defending Ukraine from the Russian attackers.

“We understand it's our land, we understand it's our future, it's our freedom," Vitali explained in an interview with CNN. "We're ready to fight for that, but we need support from (the) whole democratic world."

"We need support and help from our allies, we need a lot and it's almost never enough," Wladimir added.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)

Is talkative Atong digging his own grave?

“I am very talkative.”

—Zareen Khan

By Alex P. Vidal

THERE is a saying that less talk, less mistake; no talk, no mistakes.

The late mercurial former senator Roding Ganzon once said, “Less talk, less mistake; no talk wala utok (no brains).”

Because he talked—and exposed himself in a video posted on social media—too much, gambling sensation Charlie “Atong” Ang may have incriminated himself in the controversial disappearance of 34 sabongeros or cockfighting aficionados and, in the process, dug his own grave.

Weeks before he was tagged by a witness in the senate hearing on the disappearance of the sabongeros mostly in Metro Manila, Ang appeared on a recorded video he posted on social media where he berated the “cheats” in online sabong he and several others separately operate through a franchise, calling them “mga gago (all dumbs).”

Those who had no idea why he was fuming mad in that video became curious. 

When the Chinese mestizo former casino buddy of former President Erap Estrada mentioned e-sabong and how the “mga gago na yan” allegedly conned some bettors and created a fake broadcast monitoring system to “sabotage” his e-sabong operation, it’s when some quick-minded netizens began to connect his belligerence to the case of the missing sabongeros.

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He couldn’t conceal his anger and talked endlessly even if unnecessary. It’s like throwing himself under the bus for being loquacious.

His behavior and temper may have placed him in a kingsized trouble—both with the families of the abducted sabongeros and the other e-sabong franchisees he had lambasted and accused of conniving to put him down.  

In between the release of Atong’s angry video in the social media and the appearance of an “eye-witness” pointing to him as the alleged mastermind, he mentioned the names of other e-sabong licensees who may have plotted to destroy his name and even kill him during the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs hearing.

Atong has become a man who knows too much; a talking head who appears to be too big for his breaches and has picked enemies left and right. 

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Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson’s quick response to resign from Partido Reforma to run as independent after the party officially endorsed his rival, Vice President Leni Robredo, is a good example of delicadeza.

Although his chances to win against odds in the May 9 presidential election are nil, he continued to earn the respect of independent thinkers because of the way he handled himself in the face of such crisis.

Instead of being humiliated, Lacson faced the issue squarely and called spade a spade admitting it was the party's president and former House speaker Pantaleon Alvarez who informed him Wednesday that the party's slate in Davao del Norte, led by Gov. Edwin Juhabib—party secretary general—chose to endorse another presidential bet. 

"Considering it is at the behest of these top-tier officials that I was recruited as a member and the party's standard-bearer and thereafter elected as its chairman, I believe it's only decent and proper—consistent with my time-honored uncompromising principles—to make this decision," Lacson said.

We salute the good senator for his resolve, open-mindedness, sportsmanship and statesmanship amid the recent blow to his candidacy. 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)