JUST INCIDENTAL intelligence: Bobby Dacer, then PR for Dante Tan during the BW Resources stock-manipulation scandal under the watch of former President Joseph Estrada, was abducted and eventually murdered, and his body and that of his driver were later found in Cavite. Is it true that when Dacer was abducted and eventually murdered, he was actually on his way to a meeting with former President Fidel Ramos at the Manila Hotel to give Ramos documents that showed the participation of powerful personalities in the BW scandal?

Is it true that the De Castro Securities Corp. was ordered by Dante Tan on July 7, 1999, to transfer 1.2 million shares of BW Resources from Dante Tan’s account to the account of four prominent personalities at 300,000 shares each? Yes, we have the names of these personalities and will probably release it in due time.

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The President is really damned if she does, and damned if she doesn’t. Now her critics are criticizing her plan to give families identified to be living along the poverty line some financial support to tide them over these difficult times. Some elements in the Church are saying this is actually anti-poor because they claim this will make the poor lazier and be content with just waiting idly by for dole-outs from the government. This may be a literal way of saying the government is really working for the poor, but this is definitely not the President’s intent.

Getting down to the issue, when calamities strike the islands, the government is quick to respond to this emergency by coming to the aid of victims in stricken areas, releasing hundreds of thousands of pesos to help the victims, rich or poor, cope with disasters. Is this act of mercy also antipoor? Is the present food and price crisis not of calamity proportions that critics need to attack the President for trying to alleviate the sufferings of the poor?

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May I remind the Church that in the United States, as well as in many welfare states, the poor precisely get monthly subsidies from the government for their daily existence, and the government is ready to give such assistance because they are duty-bound to do so. Is the US government anti-poor? Is helping the poor antipoor? Is it propoor to deny the poor assistance during times of great want? Hesusmariahosep!

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After opening a Pandora’s box of confusion and mud-slinging, throwing everything at the President, including the kitchen sink, rallies and demonstrations, marches and so-called interfaith prayer rallies, campus teach-ins and forages into cities and far-flung communities to sell their petty grievances and a massive attempt at destabilizing the government with the hope of unseating the President, Sen. Alan Cayetano is saying the months of Senate hearings produced this revelation: that there is no direct evidence linking the President to the controversial ZTE-NBN scandal. So what happens now? Will that guy Rodolfo Lozada Jr. retract his accusations? Will there be public apologies? How much did it cost the Senate in terms of wasted time and resources while on a wild-goose chase? How much damage (if quantifiable) did it cost the country’s image in the eyes of the world when our misled and ill-informed brethren took to the streets in a frenzy and shamed the President without any sense of respect and decency for the President of our land and our people? Are we happy that our President has, at last, been vindicated? Or are you sorry that the President maintained the respect of the world community despite your shameful display?

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President Arroyo announced in Cebu that there will be a Cabinet revamp soon. This is after many fence sitters and speculators have already finished revamping the Cabinet in a flight of fancy. I fully support this presidential move because a revamp is always an injection of wisdom and vigor to the presidency, a chance for the President to exercise her prerogative on such an essential force in her administration. And, as I always said, “Change is always for the better.”

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