Anti-corrupt body seeks Ombudsman resignation!
INSIDE CEBU By BOBIT S. AVILA
Updated January 28, 2009 12:00 AM
The Dilaab
Foundation, Inc. the very organization that more
than a year ago was tasked by the Office of the
Ombudsman as its eyes and ears in Cebu to report
any irregularities and anomalies in order to
combat the scourge of corruption has all but
raised their hands in despair and surrender and
has turned around and demanded the resignation
of no less than the head of the anti-corruption
body, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez herself.
As a sign of
its zeal to fight corruption, especially when
the issue of the controversial ASEAN Summit
(this was held on January 2007) Lamppost scam
was headlined not only in Cebu, but throughout
the national newspapers as well, towards the end
of the Year 2007 Merceditas Gutierrez came up
with a memorandum giving the Dilaab Group the
task to be its eyes and ears in Cebu. Dilaab is
headed by no less than his beloved eminence
Ricardo Cardinal Vidal with our dear friend, Fr.
Carmelo Diola as its coordinator.
Back then, I
already warned Fr. Diola that the Ombudsman was
giving him some kind of importance so that he’d
be less vocal about the inefficiencies of the
Office of the Ombudsman, especially in the
Visayas because of so many “high-profile” cases
where nothing was done to file criminal cases.
That memo
effectively “silenced” the Dilaab Group for a
year; however they have been doing their job in
collating information against corrupt officials
and giving the Ombudsman their reports. But they
apparently hit a blank wall when they continued
asking for the resolution of the Lamppost scam
or the Girls Scout scam where public funds were
literally traced to the personal account of then
Rep. Clavel Asas Martinez in the year 2004.
Finally
frustration led to dissatisfaction and despair
to the point that the Dilaab Group has now
demanded the resignation of Ombudsman Gutierrez.
I have always said the reason why there is
corruption is due to the inefficiency of the
Ombudsman. If the corrupt officials know that
when they commit a crime they would be in jail
within six months, believe me, corruption will
soon be history. So will the madam Ombudsman,
please step down?
* * *
The Year of
the Ox ushered in last Monday and hearty good
riddance to the Year of the Rat which goes into
modern history as the worst year of the new
millennium. If you looked at the Chinese Zodiac
calendar, the Ox or the buffalo symbolizes
prosperity through fortitude and hard work,
which means that we can still enjoy a little
prosperity but only through hard work!
For people
born under the sign of the Ox, you can expect
them to be stable and persevering. Ox people are
tolerant people with a strong character. They
work hard without complaining and even bring
their work at home. These are people who believe
that the road to riches is not through get rich
schemes like what the Legacy Group once promised
their investors, but only through hard work. Ox
people are great organizers and have a systemic
approach to each task they undertake.
Surprisingly, America’s new President Barrack
Obama was born under the sign of the Ox, which
means all the more we should be watching
President Obama’s moves.
The Year 2008
was the year that the Philippines experienced
the weakest growth in seven years, yet despite
the world’s economic problems, especially the
roller coaster world prices of crude oil, the
global financial meltdown and even the rice
crisis, certain businesses in this country
experience unprecedented growth. An example is
the Philippine Auto industry that experienced a
six percent growth for the year 2008 and to
think this growth came even at the volatile
prices of world crude. Pinoys have strange
buying habits.
What about the
retail markets? I don’t know how the
supermarkets or shopping malls fared for the
Year 2008, but with almost all the stores filled
to capacity last December, I reckon they did a
very brisk business if you compared their sales
to that of last year. The problem is the
supermarket or retail sales industry in this
country does not publish their sales for the
previous month unlike the retail stores in the
US, which should be a good indicator whether the
economy is doing well or not.
Last Monday,
we had a media Chinese New Year luncheon hosted
by the Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort &
Spa complete with a Dragon and Lion Dance,
firecrackers and a Wushu demonstration by award
winning Wushu athletes. I was seated between the
Shang’s General Manager Raymond Bragg and Mr.
Darren Conole, director for Food and Beverage
and they told me that so far, the Shang is still
doing brisk business despite all the foreboding
about the Year 2009. With the Philippines
earning the reputation of having the most
fiestas or festivals in a single year, we just
might weather the gloom and doom scenarios that
a few pundits are still peddling out there.
* * *
For email
responses to this article, write to
vsbobita@mozcom.com. Bobit Avila’s columns
can also be accessed through www.philstar.com.
He also hosts a weekly talkshow entitled,
“Straight from the Sky” shown every Monday only
in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 on SkyCable at 8 in
the evening.
With Knowledge Comes Power
Start learning the
laws the country is said to hold
so we can stop the corruption by keeping one
another accountable.
