Duterte will never interfere in Iloilo City Hall row

"One of the reasons people hate politics is that truth is rarely a politician's objective. Election and power are."
--Cal Thomas

By Alex P. Vidal

WE sympathize with Iloilo City Hall regular employee Rosita Camacho and other alleged victims of persecution under the Treñas administration.
We don't agree that underlings should be zeroed in and severely punished for supporting a rival candidate who has been vanquished in the recent elections.
But we also don't agree that Camacho or any tormented city hall employees for that matter, should bring the hullabaloo to President Rodrigo R. Duterte, who is facing truckloads of domestic problems.
While it is Camacho, et al's right to seek the help of any official in the higher ups, including Mr. Duterte, the act of seeking a presidential interference for a local issue will only do more harm than good to their case.
If Camacho, et al have referred the matter to the court, or in any quasi judicial chamber like the Office of the Ombudsman, seeking solace in the executive branch or the Office of the President could be tantamount to a forum shopping.
Or political saber-rattling.

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Camacho had earlier sent a letter-complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman in Cebu City accusing Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo "Jerry" Treñas and four other City Hall officials--City Administrator Melchor Tan, Assistant Iloilo City Administrator Noel Panaguiton, Assistant Department Head II Josephine Agudo of allegedly conspiring, confederating, and aiding one another in the commission of grave coercion and violations of Section 3 (e) and (a) of Republic Act No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) for grave misconduct, oppression, and/or conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
Camacho, et al are now asking President Duterte to join the fray.
If Treñas, et al, based on Camacho's recent appeal to President Duterte through the "Digong 8888 Hotline" TV show hosted by Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo, will be rapped on the knuckles by the President through the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), what will happen if the Office of the Ombudsman exonerates them based on evidence?
Or vice versa.
Malacañang and the DILG might not jump into action haphazardly while the case is being studied and reviewed by the Office of the Ombudsman.
Whether President Duterte will dip his fingers into the row, the Office of the Ombudsman will have to go on with its independent investigation without prejudice to what the President will do.

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We doubt, however, if President Duterte, a former city mayor of Davao City himself who is familiar with the local civil service intramural, will prioritize the Iloilo City Hall case on top of the tons of other urgent cases stockpiling in the Office of the President.
President Duterte is aware of local politics.
As a former long-time Davao City mayor, he is familiar with internal wrangling in the city government involving employees caught in the quagmire of warring political parties.
Meanwhile, Panelo reportedly asked Camacho and other affected City Hall employees to write him a letter regarding the brouhaha.
The spokesperson knows his script.
Panelo's gesture can be akin to an employer telling a job applicant after an interview to "just wait for our call (if we are ready to hire you)."
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

I ‘worked’ with Salvador Panelo for Mrs. Marcos

“Time moves in one direction, memory in another.”
--William Gibson

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- I was privileged to be one of the few journalists from outside Metro Manila allowed to enter the Westin-Philippine Plaza hotel where former First Lady Imelda R. Marcos was billeted several days after arriving on November 4, 1991 from a six-year exile in Hawaii.
It was Sol Vanzi, Mrs. Marcos’ former press aide, who welcomed and brought us to a room where we interviewed the late Dean Antonio Coronel, Mrs. Marcos’ mercurial lawyer.
Claiming she was “penniless”, Mrs. Marcos refused to pay her hotel bills (a $2,000-a-day suite) forcing the hotel management to evict the once most powerful woman in the Philippines.
She moved into a two-story, three-bedroom modest house in suburban Pasay city at the time when the Cory government filed the last of 80 criminal charges against her.
The following year when Mrs. Marcos ran for president in 1992, Vanzi helped arrange for our meeting with Mrs. Marcos at Hotel del Rio in Iloilo City.
Mrs. Marcos introduced us to some of her senatorial candidates under the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) who were present, namely: Chiquito, Amay Bisaya, Rod Navarro, Salvador Panelo, Johnny Wilson, Rommel Corro, Vicente Piccio, Rafael Recto.

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When KBL barnstormed Antique, Capiz, Aklan, Sol Vanzi requested us to cover the event.
In Antique, I was with Atty. Panelo, now spokesman of President Rodrigo Duterte, when our service vehicle was stranded and left behind somewhere in the mountainous area with no electricity in Brgy. Hamtic at past 8 o’clock in the evening.
I told Atty. Panelo we were near the area where the late Iloilo provincial police commander, Col. Teodolfo Lao, and his men were killed in an ambush staged by the New People’s Army (NPA) in 1989.
Also in our team was a “Susan Herrera”, manager of ChinaBank Iloilo. There were about eight of us in the group.
Panelo asked me to negotiate with those living in the area to facilitate our return to Iloilo City because it was getting late at night and was very dark.
We approached a male resident, who was hesitant to help.
I talked to him in Kinaray-a, the dialect in Antique. He didn’t respond.
Then I heard Atty. Panelo tell the unidentified male resident in English, “My name is Atty. Salvador Panelo. We are stranded. Please help us. Invest with me.”
“Invest with me” was the line that refused to leave my memory for 26 years now.
The male resident did “invest” with Atty. Panelo who gave the man his business card.
To make the long story short, the man who “invested” with Atty. Panelo helped secure a passenger jeep for the group and we made it back to Iloilo City before midnight.

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Without offense meant, of the 164 senatorial candidates, Panelo wound up 125th.
He was ahead, however, of the 11 other KBL bets.
Former Iloilo fourth district Rep. Narciso Monfort, running under LDP party, beat Chiquito, a comedian who ran as Augusto Pangan, for the 39th spot.
Monfort garnered 2,483,459 votes while Chiquito, who landed 40th, got 2,408,185 votes.
Actor Tito Sotto, now the Senate president, topped the senatorial contest with 11,792,121 votes. He was followed by another action star Ramon Revilla Sr. with 8,321,278 votes.
Twenty four fresh senators were elected in that year. They were: Sotto, Revilla Sr., Edgardo Angara, Ernesto Herrera, Alberto Romulo, Ernesto Maceda, Orly Mercado, Neptali Gonzales, Leticia Ramos-Shahani, Heherson Alvarez, Blas Ople, Freddie Webb, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Teofisto Guingona Jr., Nina Rasul, Joey Lina, Nikki Coseteng, Arturo Tolentino, Raul Roco, Rodolfo Biazon, Wigberto Tañada, Francisco Tatad, John Henry Osmeña, Agapito Aquino.

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Mrs. Marcos, who is now in the news worldwide after being convicted for graft and corruption by the Sandiganbayan at age 89, finished in the 1992 presidential elections fifth behind Fidel Ramos, who edged the late Miriam Defensor Santiago; Danding Cojuangco, and Ramon Mitra Jr.
Mrs. Marcos, now representative of Ilocos Norte, garnered more votes than the late illustrious former Senate President Jovito Salonga and former Vice President Doy Laurel.
Every time I remember that roller coaster 1992 presidential campaign, I remember Rep. Imelda R. Marcos and Spokesman Salvador Panelo.