Happy Birthday Marynat!
May you have many, many more fulfilling years ahead to enjoy with your family and friends, and to be of service to God and the people.
(I can not upload the e-card just as I'm unable to post pictures of the Banasi farmers. I've been trying to since early this morning. It's either Globe or Google which has difficulty handling the volume of traffic.)Maybe on Dec 26, I can upload them, when traffic is no longer as heavy as it is today.
I am posting the Editorial of the Sunday, December 21 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer as a tribute to Ate Marynat and Rey, who's also a former government auditor.
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OVERLOOKED in all the political bluster over the seemingly endless lineup of officials caught with their fingers in the cookie jar of the state are the silent heroes who made such exposés possible. We don’t mean the politicians milking the never-ending scandals for all they’re worth, politically. We refer to the civil servants, the loyal public servants, who by doing their jobs without fear or favor, provide living testimony that there remain people in our government who really live by the principles of duty, honor and country.
The people at the top may know the rules so well that they can bend them. They may know the ins and outs of government so completely that they can mutate otherwise decent policies into an instrument for clever acts of graft and corruption. They may be able to influence their subordinates into participating in their crimes, and partaking of the fruits of their criminal behavior. But they can never fully cover up what they did wrong; sooner or later, how and when they broke the rules will be revealed.
The selective memory of officials like Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante, and their deceit when it comes to their official acts, have been exposed time and again, by the diligent work of government auditors who may not be able to prevent crimes, but who ferret out incriminating documents and, at times, even preserve them so that they can be used as evidence to prove official wrongdoing. That is why whether through claims of executive privilege, or the outright destruction or falsification of records, so much official energy is used up to hide and keep hidden the paper trail. Because that paper trail, sooner or later, will lead to the crooks—and their allies and godfathers in government.
Officials, high and low, often forget the principle of command responsibility as understood and advocated by President Diosdado Macapagal. During his term, he proposed that heads of departments should consider themselves responsible for acts of omission of the officials under them, even if they had no personal fault or participation in those acts.
He gave the example of department secretaries who he felt should resign because of major shortcomings in their departments, even if those shortcomings were unknown to them. In his case, he believed that even if personally honest, presidents should hold themselves responsible for graft and corruption in their administrations.
But, of course, both in his time and since, advocating command responsibility is one thing; and demonstrating it to and demanding it of subordinates is another. Filipinos of an older generation will recall the sensational Stonehill case, in which the American tobacco magnate Harry Stonehill’s “donations” to a dizzying number of officials were exposed. The Macapagal administration barely survived the political fallout from the exposé.
Macapagal ended up deporting Stonehill to prevent his testifying before Congress, while his administration dragged in both the living (his Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez) and the dead (Manila Mayor Arsenio Lacson and even his widow) in what came to be known as squid tactics to becloud the evidence and the issues.
It can even be said that the blueprint for the Garcis and Joc-jocs of today surviving public investigations was drawn up in the 1960s. Then, as now, however, official wrongdoing may never be punished. However, because of our civil servants who take their responsibilities seriously, there could be a paper trail of evidence that can at least reassure decent-minded citizens that no crime can go unexposed for long.
The defect, then, doesn’t lie in our civil servants, or at least in the auditors charged with keeping tabs on the paper trail, but rather, on a justice system which can be regularly confronted with mountains of evidence, but which never seems capable of sending more than a tiny fraction of wrongdoers to jail.
But to the auditors, we believe, our nation owes its gratitude. Well done, good and faithful servants of the Filipino people.
Wow! We may get a lot of hits with this title..... Men in Black, Men in Uniform, and now.... Men in Manila!!!
For the information of everyone, Men is singular, proper noun referring to our dear friend Myrna! Yes, Men has been here in the Philippines since November 17 for a well deserved vacation after the loss of a loved one. She's going back to the US tomorrow.
We had lunch with her last Saturday at Gerry's Grill in Greenhills. The venue was very convenient for Men who's condo is just walking distance away. But traffic was horrible that day. Alot, Marynat, and Men were already in the place when I arrived at around 12 noon. Bert and Marie arrived almost 2 pm. We thought they'd give up and turn away from the EDSA traffic. Kaso, sabi ni Men, "Okay lang kung ma-trafic, wala kaming tiyagang maghintay...... Hanggang 6 pm. lang kami dito". O di, lagot. Kawawa iyong beauty ni Marie na pinapag-drive na naman ni Bert (expired daw kasi ang driver's license niya. Galing ng palusot!)
Men stayed longer in Daet than in Manila. The Daet group was able to organize a get-together with her (Men will post the pictures of the gathering when she goes back to the US). She was also in Daet during the non-stop three-day rains that resulted to the unprecedented floods in the province.
She's been to Thailand, too, before coming to Manila. That was before the closure of the two airports during the recent political turmoil in that country. She's leaving tomorrow to be reunited with her children and they'll spend the holidays in Hawaii. After this, we're sure Men would have already fully recovered and would be raring to move on. Wish you all the best Men.
By the way, the lunch turned out to be Ate Marynat's treat for her birthday, which is on Dec. 25. Thanks Ate Marynat! The plan to hold a post-Christmas party is still on. Date and venue will be finalized when Rudy and Ineng arrive on Dec. 20 (or about that date). It's still pot-luck. Marynat will bring Menudo ('80s na 80s).
And now for the pictures...... Ma-reklamo ku-ta ako sa picture na ku-a ni Marie. Garo mag-ama an luwas! Sa picture lang iyan, sa tunay bako man!
