Ambushed STL exec needs a ‘padrino’

“Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself.”
--Lao Tzu

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- If guns are blazing and the intention is to kill, there is violence.
If violence is unabated, there is a breakdown of peace and order.
If high-profile personalities like Samuel Aguilar, president of Eagle Crest Gaming and Holdings Corp., operator of STL in Iloilo province, can be ambushed by unidentified gunmen in broad daylight, there is no guarantee that ordinary people won’t be harmed by gun-toting maniacs.
Guns, or any deadly weapon for that matter, aren’t supposed to be in the hands of those who intend to create murder and mayhem; it’s the job of the police to seize loose firearms before they can be used to harm civilians.
Could the assailants have been accosted if the Iloilo Provincial Police Office (IPPO) had a check point within Brgy. Buyuan in Tigbauan town where the ambush happened?
If the area is isolated and in a national highway, it’s easy for the trigger-men to escape and avoid police check points and other dragnets.

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Whether business-related or personal, Aguilar probably knows who wanted him dead especially if it was not the first attempt against his life.
Five months ago, Aguilar also reportedly survived the first attempt by unidentified gunmen to also kill him in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.
For sure, the mastermind or masterminds did not intend to only scare him.
The grapevine says that anybody who is involved in gambling operations, legal or otherwise, in Iloilo province must have a powerful "padrino" for protection and “profit-sharing.”
If Aguilar is not from Iloilo and doesn’t have a “padrino”, it’s a big “problem.”
One of the most prominent personalities in Iloilo gambling operation, a former Philippine Constabulary (PC) sergeant, was murdered in cold blood in Iloilo City four years ago.
And he was an Ilonggo.

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After hurriedly announcing on February 23, 2018 that the former employers of murdered OFW Joanna Demafiles of Sara, Iloilo have been arrested, nothing has been heard again from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
As I mentioned earlier, the “arrest” of suspects Nader Essam Assaf, a Lebanese national, and his wife, Mona, a Syrian national, is one thing.
Whether they will be prosecuted and be made to answer for the grisly murder is another thing.
Let’s hope all the spectacle that attended Demafiles’ sensational case will not end up in a blunderbuss and buried in newspaper files. We need action aside from condemnation.
What now, DFA?

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.