Defensor right not to tell Duque to quit

“There's so much interference, so much static and people's voices talking about what you do and why you do it that I've learned to be like, 'No, no.' It's actually simple. I just do this.”

—Jenny Slate

By Alex P. Vidal

IF Iloilo Governor Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. isn’t happy with both the health programs in the province of Iloilo and the way the provincial health office is handling the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, he can always call for the provincial health chief’s resignation.

Or the governor can replace the provincial health chief right away without prejudice to the latter’s security of tenure and civil service eligibility.

So far, so good. 

The provincial health office, headed by Dr. Patricia Grace S. Trabado, has been doing a good job in the fight against the pandemic, and the governor appears to be pleased and satisfied.  

But if Defensor Jr. is frustrated with the way the Department of Health (DoH) is being managed—especially if he finds the campaign to flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases in the country to be inefficient and unsatisfactory—the least he can do is recommend to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte that “incompetent” Secretary Francisco Duque III be sacked.

He can’t directly ask Duque III to yield his portfolio and escort him out of the DoH building. 

Even if Defensor Jr. thinks that Duque III’s supposed negligence and mismanagement of the DoH will have immediate and far reaching effects to his Ilonggo constituents, in one way or the other, he doesn’t have a jurisdiction over Duque III’s employment in the Malacanang.

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Since Duque III serves at the pleasure of President Duterte, only the president can remove him from the cabinet.

As long as Duque III enjoys the trust and confidence of the president, he can’t abandon his post only because some local chief executives don’t like him.

Thus Defensor Jr. made the right answer when asked by reporters recently if he would also call for Duque III’s resignation after Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas openly demanded for the controversial DoH boss’ resignation “for the sake of the country.”

Treñas thundered: “As a decision maker, what I can say is that the DOH has not done correct decisions since the start of this pandemic in the Philippines. That is why we are the country with the longest lockdown and yet the (COVID-19) cases continue to go up.”

The city mayor added: “I am not putting blame on anyone but there are decision makers. Secretary Francisco Duque is a friend because I have known him since the time of the late President Corazon Aquino.  But I think it is really about time to accept responsibility and voluntarily resign for the sake of the country.”

Although several senators have also earlier called for Duque III’s resignation, Treñas became the first local chief executive outside Metro Manila to seek for Duque III’s ouster.

He must have been exasperated when the DoH had earlier called for the pulling out of 39 rural health workers from Western Visayas to be assigned in Cebu, now touted as the new COVID-19 epicenter.

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Defensor Jr., on the other hand, wanted to leave Duque III’s fate to President Duterte even as he refused to reprimand the DoH chief or pass judgment on his performance, saying “he was not familiar” with the circumstance of the DoH tasks in the national office.

The governor reportedly admitted he had no basis to judge Duque III since he did not have a direct work relationship with the DoH secretary.

By refusing to interfere in a matter that only the president can decide,  Defensor Jr. wanted to send a message his time and energy were focused only to the Ilonggos in his area of responsibility, and that he has nothing to do with the wrangling and intramural in the national level whatsoever.

COVID-19 is still wreaking havoc in many municipalities even as the province and city of Iloilo are still under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) until July 15, 2020. 

Defensor Jr. probably believed it’s not worth his effort to demand for  the head of the top DoH official while the nation continues to struggle to surpass the deadly pandemic and lower down, if not totally stop, the number of infected cases and deaths.

The governor must have realized it’s not wise to fire the chief cook for committing a mea culpa in the middle of a big party where food preparations and kitchen works will last from lunch time to dinner time. 

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

   

  

   

We worry a lot for nothing

“If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?”

—Confucius

 By Alex P. Vidal

PEOPLE panic because news about the Wuhan coronavirus or 2019 n-COV was sometimes being exaggerated and blown out of proportions like there was an imminent invasion of the extraterrestrial.  

Fear of the unknown makes people think the world will turn upside down.

The mad rush to secure clinical masks to be worn in public wouldn’t have occurred if some incompetent health authorities did not scare the public that the coronavirus had quickly spread in the Philippines.

The truth is the Department of Health (DoH) has already assured the public it was “on top of the evolving situation” in as far as the novel coronavirus is concerned because of its surveillance system and close coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other national agencies.

The more we panic the more we think we have been infected by the virus. 

It’s when we worry a lot that we inflect harm on our own health. 

We get sick not because of the coronavirus, but because of stress and psychosomatic, or a mental factor that causes internal conflict.

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What to do amid the global coronavirus scare is actually to maintain a good hygiene by always washing our hands and taking a regular bath.

Pushing ourselves in a mad scramble to get the masks, I believe, will only be necessary of the DOH has declared that the virus has spread in certain areas.

Even Iloilo first district Rep. Janet Garin, a former DOH secretary, does not believe that wearing a mask can protect a person from being infected by the virus. 

It can help if we also avoid crowded places especially those suspected to be the entry points of tourists from countries with known cases of the dreaded virus.  

Much remains to be understood about 2019-nCoV. 

The source of the outbreak and the extent to which it has spread in China are not yet known, according to the WHO. 

While the current understanding of the disease remains limited, most cases reported to date have been milder, with around 20% of those infected reportedly experiencing severe illness. 

Both WHO and China noted that the number of cases being reported, including those outside China, is deeply concerning. 

Better understanding of the transmissibility and severity of the virus is urgently required to guide other countries on appropriate response measures, according to WHO.

WHO said it is continually monitoring developments and the Director-General can reconvene the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee on very short notice as needed. Committee members are on stand-by and are informed regularly of developments.

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EVEN if we suspend international flight arrivals in the Iloilo Airport, nothing can stop the virus from transferring from human to human if there were already warm bodies in Iloilo who have been infected prior to the global scare.

We’re referring to the tourists from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan,  who have already arrived in the country weeks before the spread of the coronavirus reverberated all over the world.

Tourists who had spent their Christmas and New Year holidays in our beaches in Boracay, Palawan, Bohol, Zamboanga, among other tourist destinations in the country.  

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

Ignorance is the only evil

“Vaccines don't cause autism. Vaccines, instead, prevent disease. Vaccines have wiped out a score of formerly deadly childhood diseases. Vaccine skepticism has helped to bring some of those diseases back from near extinction.”
--Alex Pareene

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Ignorance will kill more children than the measles outbreak.
If Hippocrates were alive today, he would have spanked idiotic parents whose skepticism has caused them to falsify the true essence of the modern medicine’s immunization program.
Filipino children denied of immunization only because their parents are ignorant or misinformed are still protected by law, thus they can still be saved from parental stupidity.
The Philippines has the Republic Act 10152 or the Mandatory Infants and Children Health Immunization Act of 2011.
Under this law, government hospitals and health centers are mandated to provide immunization for free to infants and children up to five years old.
Some Filipino parents refuse to immunize their kids for fear that the vaccine might harm the tots, a jittery caused by the Dengvaxia imbroglio.
Other parents are still influenced by a debunked study that claims certain vaccines could lead to autism and a theory that claims vaccines were linked to brain damage.
Because of these fears, thousands of Filipino kids who have not been immunized were in danger of being seriously infected with diseases like the measles, rubella, mumps and hepatitis.
In fact, the Department of Health (DOH) has already declared a measles outbreak over the week.
No less than the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) along with Filipino pediatricians as well as experts on infectious diseases have expressed alarm over the measles outbreak in the Philippines that has affected some 20,000 children since December 2018.
Children’s disease is evil, but the biggest evil is that which has created a monster in the minds of some nervous parents.
In fact, there is no evil in this world, according to Socrates, but ignorance.

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If “mama” or “papa” are adamant, do it yourself--if you can.
Take the case of a brave 18-year-old teen from Norfolk, Ohio who recently made the decision to receive his first-ever vaccines for a number of diseases despite his parents’ beliefs.
The Hill reported that Ethan Lindenberger admitted he had gone without vaccines for diseases like the measles, rubella, mumps and hepatitis for his entire life due to his mother’s anti-vaccine beliefs.
He told the publication that his mother, Jill Wheeler, was influenced by online misinformation, including a debunked study that claims certain vaccines could lead to autism and a theory that claims vaccines were linked to brain damage.
Throughout his childhood, Lindenberger said his mother would tell him about the negative side effects of vaccines and how they were bad. He also said he thought it was normal for children not to receive vaccines. But after he realized his other friends and classmates had all been vaccinated, Lindenberger said that’s when he began to do his own research into the matter, reported The Hill.

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“When I started looking into it myself, it became very apparent that there was a lot more evidence in defense of vaccinations, in their favor,” Lindenberger said.
Lindenberger said he later approached his mother with research that debunked some of her claims, including a report from the CDC that explained how vaccines did not cause autism.
"Her response was simply 'that's what they want you to think,'" Lindenberger said. "I was just blown away that you know, the largest health organization in the entire world would be written off with a kind of conspiracy theory-like statement like that."
After failing to change his mother’s thinking on the matter, Lindenberger decided to get vaccinated on his own after turning 18 years old.
As the publication also notes, the story comes at a time when more measles outbreaks have been reported in the Pacific Northwest, prompting more concern among minors about whether they are able to use their own consent to obtain vaccines.
In the month of January alone, measles were confirmed in ten states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, according to the CDC.
Washington officials also declared a public health emergency as an outbreak of measles spread across an anti-vaccination "hot spot" near Portland, Oregon, late last month.

Richard goes to social media for Janette

“A real man loves his wife, and places his family as the most important thing in life. Nothing has brought me more peace and content in life than simply being a good husband and father.”
--Frank Abagnale

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- No one can now accuse him of just watching and doing nothing while his wife is being saddled by a heavy storm.
Because he can’t openly lash at the critics of his beleaguered wife, Dr. Janette Loreto-Garin, for delicadeza, Iloilo 1st district Rep. Oscar “Richard” Garin Jr. has opted to utilize his Facebook accounts to “share” some news from several media websites that somehow tended to “cushion the impact” of Sen. Richard Gordon’s draft report of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee on the P3.5 billion dengue vaccination program.
The news Rep. Garin shared in his two Facebook accounts these past days appeared to be balanced, objective, and weren’t tainted with any bias in favor of Gordon’s committee draft that recently recommended charges against Loreto-Garin, former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, and former Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad in relation to the botched deal.

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Rep. Garin must have felt there was a need for him to urgently disseminate those articles not only to his social media friends but also to the public in general, in order to help disabuse the minds of those who think that his wife, Mr. Aquino and Abad are guilty beyond reasonable doubt and, thus, deserve the guillotine.
He probably wanted those who have not yet seen or read the draft committee to take a second look at the stormy issue and scrutinize further the evidence presented, as well as the sides of the accused and their accusers.
If Rep. Garin did nothing and acted only like a deaf and mute kibitzer while Gordon’s committee draft was ripping apart the three like ribbons, his family, friends and constituents will think he is an irresponsible, insensitive and a coward husband who has no love and concern for an embattled wife.

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For her part, Loreto-Garin herself has insisted the program was not rushed as talks about a dengue vaccine started in the time of her predecessor, Dr. Enrique Ona, and ended in the time of her successor, Dr. Paulyn Ubial.
Ubial was among those who pinned down Loreto-Garin. She filed a libel case against Ubial and several others in return.
It was reported that some 830,000 schoolchildren were vaccinated under the program before drug maker Sanofi Pasteur admitted late last year that Dengvaxia may cause severe dengue when administered to patients who have not contracted the mosquito-borne disease before.
The Duterte administration has since suspended its dengue vaccination program, but several parents claimed that their children died due to complications from the vaccine. These claims, however, have yet to be proven, it was reported earlier.

No solid punches

“The only rules comedy can tolerate are those of taste, and the only limitations those of libel.”
--James Thurber

By Alex P. Vidal

NEWARK, New Jersey -- In my opinion, the libel cases former Philippine health secretary Janette Loreto-Garin filed against former health secretary Paulyn Obial and three other Department of Health (DOH) officials weren’t solid punches.
Libel is a difficult case to prosecute especially if the plaintiff and the accused are former public officials.
In a libel case, if the plaintiff can’t prove malice beyond reasonable doubt, the case won’t prosper.
Dr. Loreto-Garin claimed that the statements and imputations made by Drs. Ubial, Anthony Leachon, Teodoro Herbosa, and Francisco Cruz against her on the Dengvaxia imbroglio “have caused dishonor, discredit or contempt upon my person”.
If I were Dr. Loreto-Garin, I would file a case for moral damages.

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In its excitement, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) hurriedly announced that Nader Essam Assaf, a Lebanese national, and his wife, Mona, a Syrian national, tagged as principal suspects in the brutal torture and murder of 29-year-old domestic helper Joanna Demafiles from Sara, Iloilo, have been arrested.
Fine. We have no quarrel with that.
The Filipinos seeking justice for the slain OFW, at least, were able to heave a sigh of relief.
Arrest, however, is different from prosecuted.
It will be a different reaction from Demafiles’ kababayans if the DFA will break the news that the suspects have been found guilty.
Because of the degree of cruelty that Demafiles had incurred, her kababayans want no less than a death penalty for the assailants.
That would be a cause for jubilation and would send a strong signal to all sadistic employers not only in the Middle East but also in other continents where there are large number of OFWs.

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We can’t blame politicians who showed up in the wake of Joanna Demafiles in Sara, Iloilo when President Duterte visited there recently.
Some critics claimed the politicians only wanted to exploit Demafiles’ case for their self aggrandizement and free publicity.
Not all.
If some politicians wanted to ride on the Demafiles issue, it’s not a news. That’s politics 101 and normal in the Philippines.
It happens from time to time, not just in the case of the murdered OFW.
I believe, however, that most of them were obligated to be present as a protocol and courtesy for the visiting president who is the highest official of the land.
If an important guest will come to our house, we can’t stay in the bedroom and appoint the lizards and cats to entertain the visitor.

Three in one

"Juvenile crime is not naturally born in the boy, but is largely due either to the spirit of adventure that is in him, to his own stupidity, or to his lack of discipline, according to the nature of the individual."
--Robert Baden-Powell

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- By issuing an executive order directing the mandatory closure of nightclubs and establishments selling liquors by two o'clock in the morning, Iloilo City Mayor Jose "Joe III" Espinosa III delivered a knockout blow on three wicked activities: drunkenness, prostitution, drug addiction.
It's a three-in-one juggernaut for city hall.
It's during night time or bar hours where these three main producers of criminal and immoral activities flourish.
Joe III's Executive Order (EO) No 146 dated Dec 14, 2017 will not only prevent gangs, ruffians, and drug addicts from straying in the streets like serpents, it will also discourage or minimize prostitution in the city's prominent watering holes.
When bars and establishments selling liquors are closed, these misguided elements will have no place to use as tambayan.
Crimes will be minimized if not totally prevented.
Peace and order will improve.

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In trying to link Iloilo 1st District Rep. Oscar "Richard" Garin Jr. to the Dengvaxia imbroglio and connecting the controversial vaccination program to her rejection by the House Commission on Appointments (CA), former Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial sounded like a sore loser and a cry baby.
It's obvious from the start of the Senate hearing on the ill-fated P3.5 anti-dengue vaccination program that Ubial only wanted to pin down her predecessor, Dr. Janette Loreto-Garin.
Ubial, who was appointed as DOH chief by President Rodrigo R. Duterte, probably wasn't happy as Loreto-Garin's undersecretary during the administration of President NoyNoy Aquino, thus her umbrage and abhorrence toward the Garin couple.
Her sadness probably worsened after she was repulsed in the CA hearings.
If it is true that Rep. Garin "pressured" her to "order" more Dengvaxia for implementation in the congressman's district as well as in the districts of solons who were CA members, how would these solons influence the purchase of the hated P3.5 billion vaccine which was already consummated?

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The "noise" created by the recent Supreme Court decison on the Metropolitan Cebu Water District furor in Cebu City was what prompted Iloilo City Mayor Jose "Joe III" Espinosa III and the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) Board of Directors to scuffle.
Joe III, a lawyer, based his decison to terminate the five MIWD directors appointed by Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. on the SC en banc verdict.
Joe III believes, based on the SC ruling, that he has the authority to appoint the MIWD directors.
MIWD General Manager Imelda Magsuci appears to be cool and isn't bent to engage city hall in a legal collision course.
If they all base their arguments and discussions on legality and reason, confusion and further debate will be avoided.

Why husband Richard is silent

"A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong."
-- Milton Berle

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Before the formal investigation in congress on the Dengvaxia tragedy started, the name of Dr. Janette Loreto-Garin was already in tatters.
Angry parents, politicians, health workers, opinion writers tore to shreds the former Philippines Department of Health (DOH) secretary and blamed her for the titanic vaccination disaster that reportedly put at risk thousands of lives of Filipino schoolchildren.
If she were Japanese, Loreto-Garin, 45, would have committed suicide due to large-scale damage on her name and intensity of condemnation from an irate public.
But Loreto-Garin isn't yet finished.
She didn't fly the coop.
She failed to immediately address the issue because she was mourning the recent death of her father, Jose, in Baybay, Leyte.
She has expressed willingness to face any investigation in the proper forum and time.

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We expect Iloilo 1st district Rep. Oscar "Richard" Garin Jr., husband of Dr. Loreto-Garin, to defend his wife amid the worsening storm of public denunciation.
Rep. Garin, himself probably shocked by the wave of public outcry for his wife's blood, hasn't issued any public statement in defense of his physician wife.
But in his Facebook account, Rep. Garin posted on December 10, 2017 a NEWS ABS-CBN.COM article entitled: "Garin tags ex-health chief Ona in dengue vaccine decision."
Earlier on December 8, 2017, Rep. Garin also posted a NEWSINFO INQUIRER.NET opinion article entitled: "In defense of Garin" written by Ramon Tulfo.
No husband will sit down and keep quite while his wife is being sliced to pieces by vitriol and vilification coming from all angles.
No husband will not feel sad after seeing on national TV and reading in the newspapers and the social media bundles of unsavory words being thrown at his wife.
But unlike other husbands or wives of embattled public officials who immediately join the fray and lash at critics of their loved ones when push comes to shove, Rep. Garin did not want to throw caution to the wind and will probably wait for the right time to open his mouth.

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Owners of restaurants and pubs selling liquors in Iloilo City in the Philippines are aghast by the city dads' proposal to limit the serving or selling of alcoholic drinks at 1 o'clock in the morning.
They fear loss of income.
Many of these establishments operate only at night and cater to drinking customers and tourists who come home late or at around 3 to 4 o'clock in the morning.
The proposal came after a shooting incident killed a promising medical worker at Smallville two weeks ago.
Probers attributed the violence to a dispute between two groups of young men intoxicated by liquor.
They theorized that if they were not drunk, the protagonists wouldn't have resorted to violence and a life would've been spared.
But what about illegal drugs? Where authorities able to determine with finality that liquor had caused the fracas?
But in any decision that redounds to the benefit of society, the public officials have the final say after a public hearing has been conducted.

Stone we throw at Janette Loreto-Garin

"Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way."
 -- Swami Vivekananda

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Let's not be quick to throw stone at former Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Janette Loreto-Garin.
Like any accused, she deserves her day in court.
There's no concrete proof yet that the lady physician benefitted financially from the controversial purchase by the DOH during the Aquino administration of the P3.5 billion anti-dengue vaccine.
Everything is mere speculation. The human mind is always critical and suspicious.
There's no clear evidence yet that she acted alone and was solely responsible for the hated deal.
No one can tell that the former Iloilo board member had committed glaring or malicious intentions to inflect harm on anybody and pocket multi-million kickbacks.
As the DOH's highest official when the program was conceptualized, we aren't surprised that Loreto-Garin, 45, is now being crucified and condemned like a heretic.
When lawmakers, broadcasters, and parents mentioned Loreto-Garin's name, it's like they were describing Medusa, a Gorgon and winged female monster in the Greek mythology.

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We can't imagine the distress and sadness Loreto-Garin and her family have been going through ever since the brouhaha exploded on national and international media a few days ago.
We can't also imagine the horror and panic the report has caused thousands of Filipino parents whose children were among those vaccinated by the now infamous DOH program.
What we learned from reports was that the implementation of the program for school children in the Philippines has been halted after Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine Dengvaxia manufacturer, ruled that the vaccine is unsafe for use of those who have not been infected with dengue.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has been tasked by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to probe the alleged fiasco effective December 4, 2017.
Since the NBI investigation is still on infant stage, we can't yet pinpoint the gun and pull the trigger on any Tom, Dick, and Harry mentioned and blamed by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) in the deal.
Loreto-Garin herself has signified her willingness to cooperate with the investigators "in due time" and "in the proper forum" because she was reportedly still busy attending to her ailing father.


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Before he said yes to the invitation of Iloilo City Mayor Jose "Joe III" Espinosa III to grace the 2018 Dinagyang Festival, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte had been invited through social media by Marivic Mabilog, wife of "dismissed" Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, to drop by the controversial "mansion" located near the Iloilo River so he would see that it is not really expensive as what critics of Mayor Mabilog have been declaring.
When the presidential entourage goes to the Iloilo Freedom Grandstand from the Iloilo International Airport for the big event in the third week of January 2018, it will pass by the magnificent Iloilo River.
From a distance, President Duterte would be able to see the controversial Mabilog house.
It's important that he could see it by himself and not just rely on whispers from merchants of political intrigues.

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Will the Panay Electric Company (PECO) obtain an extension of its franchise for another 25 years now that the ball is on the court of the House of Representatives?
We will know when Iloilo reporters ask President Duterte when visits the Dinagyang Festival next month.
Mr. Duterte's body language and words about the issue will give answers to all our doubts and worries.

A test of Loreto-Garin's integrity

"One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised."
-- Chinua Achebe

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Ilonggos will be watching with bated breath as former Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Janette Loreto-Garin defends the controversial purchase during the term of former President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III of the controversial P3.5 billion anti-dengue vaccination, which is now the subject of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) probe.
Since Loreto-Garin, 45, is a former Iloilo provincial board member and the wife of Iloilo 1st District Rep. Oscar "Richard" Garin Jr., the Ilonggos are worried that her name might be dragged in the controversy, which has the potential to explode as a tidal wave.
Since it involves billions of pesos and tagged as "danger to public health" (about 10 percent of the estimated 700,000 children vaccinated prior to dengue infection are reportedly at risk), the story has sent shockwaves all over the world.
So far, no Ilonggo public servant who served in the national government has been implicated in a scandal of horrific proportion in recent memory.
We are confident that, without prejudice to the ongoing NBI probe as ordered by the Department of Justice (DOJ) effective December 4, 2017, Loreto-Garin will not besmirch the reputation of the Ilonggos and she can wiggle out from the difficult dilemma.


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Loreto-Garin, one of the richest cabinet officials who served under the Aquino administration, has no derogatory record in as far as public service is concerned.
That's why her relatives in Leyte and in-laws in Iloilo as well as their political supporters, are not worried that the controversy might cause dishonor to her name and jeopardize the political future of the Garins once the NBI has conducted its full blown investigation.
Loreto-Garin's innocence in the anti-vaccine tumult is vital as the Philippines prepares for the next congressional elections, which is about 15 months away.
Most of her in-laws in Iloilo are gunning for important elective seats, and they can't afford to carry a heavy baggage like the controversy Loreto-Garin is in today during the campaign period.
If the NBI investigation will find Loreto-Garin among those liable in the alleged anomalous DOH-Sanofi Pasteur P3.5 billion Dengvaxia deal, her husband and in-laws could suffer the domino effects in the 2019 elections.
The entire Garin clan's political luck rests on Loreto-Garin's exoneration.


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SOME Iloilo City hall "job hires" assigned in the Esplanade for the city government's cleanliness program are reportedly being required to report morning and afternoon to work as sweepers without day off effective December 2017.
To compound the matter, they can hardly make both ends meet because aside from their low salary, they are also allegedly being paid late.
If true, let's hope that City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) chief, Engr. Noel Hechanova, can help them.

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With or without peace talks with the communist and the seccesionist rebels, the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) should always be on the watch for possible ambush and raid in their precincts and detachments.
They aren't supposed to let their guards down and complain of harassment ad "treachery" when they are killed in "surprised" attacks.
Soldiers should always be on alert because they have been sworn to protect the republic from those who intend to topple the government; and that's why they are hailed as heroes.
Being killed in action or in "surprised" attacks is part of the risk they face every day.