Even drunks can remember - Gotcha

Is the PNP all that bad, Criminal Investigation Group Gen. Lucas Managuelod asks. Compare these statistics: New York City, with eight million people, has 42,000 cops. Metro Manila, with a day population of 11 million, has only 13,000. NYPD has 1,200 prowl cars and 2,000 motorcycles; PNP-NCR has only 250 cars and 200 motorbikes, 50 of which are personal property of policemen. NYPD has 24-hour chopper and river boat patrols; PNP-NCR has none. NYPD has modern investigation and communication gear, even DNA test labs; PNP personnel in Metro Manila have to buy their own uniform.

Yet New York has 500 killings a year; Metro Manila has 300. New York had 13,000 car thefts in 1999; Metro Manila had 1,360. With its crime prevention record, Managuelod asks, what more if PNP has sufficient manpower and modern equipment.

What we see only in movie night scenes, we're now watching in real light of day. A President is denying what he read from the text of a speech and is instead imagining things he supposedly said.

In the movies, the stereotype drunk is reminded upon sobering up of harsh lines he uttered the night before. He regrets having one drink too many, then apologizes for words he never meant.

Not Joseph Estrada, who presumably was sober when he spoke at Wednesday's early-morning Prayer Breakfast with Cardinal Sin, Vice President Macapagal, Senate President Ople, Speaker Villar and ex-President Ramos. As TV cameras and radio tapes rolled, Estrada said: "I'm glad this religious undertaking comes at a time when the whole nation is facing the difficult trials of economic and political problems. I need not dispute nor deny the displeasure of many regarding the crisis that grips the country at present."

When the papers bannered the next day his admission of crisis, he fumed at journalists in general for headlining it. Without rechecking his text, he insisted that what he said was that RP had "overcome (regional) crisis, the first (Asian nation) to emerge from it."

Drunkards will admit it only to or among themselves: they do remember what they said in moments of stupor, just that they couldn't control themselves blurting out painful words. Not remembering is just a convenient excuse.

Not for Estrada. In the movie in his mind, he saw newspapers destabilizing his reign.

It wasn't the first time that Estrada disowned lines he said in a speech or on tape. In his first State of the Nation in July `98, he declared that the country was bankrupt. When realization set in that nobody would invest in a bankrupt Philippines Inc., he claimed that what he said was that Ramos had left him with no funds in the treasury. The claim wasn't true either, but the press and business community left it at that, for they were then honeymooning with a new President.

At the height of public furor over Cabinet use of smuggled cars, Estrada described Toyota Land Cruisers and Mitsubishi Pajeros as mere jeeps. He kept saying later that he never did so, despite radio tapes.

Estrada frequently disputes even statements issued for him by his presidential spokesman. Which is probably why Jerry Barican said that a spokesman has a shelf life of only six months and is thus asking for a foreign posting.

There's no such short shelf life for a spokesman of a learned leader, truth to tell. Still, it can be said that, close as they claim to be to him, Barican and even Executive Secretary Ronnie Zamora show that they don't really know Estrada that well whenever he contradicts them.

Contradicting his own words is something else, though. That's why Sen. Juan Flavier's suggestion that Estrada fire his ghostwriters is unfair.

Ghostwriters are called such because they should remain ghosts. The speaker is deemed to have written the speech himself, and merely had a wordsmith arrange his thoughts into memorable lines and sound bites. A President is expected to put his own ideas into his speeches, and review the text for accuracy before delivery. He does not read it merely to get the pronouncement of tricky words right.

Actor Estrada is different. For him the text of a speech is just another movie script to be delivered with proper intonation and emotion. After which, he tosses it aside and moves on to the next movie set. Sadly for us, no director is there to yell at Estrada: "Cut, lights out, packup."

INTERACTION. C.D., aol.com: "The Senate President you talked about (Gotcha, 26 Jan. 2000), wasn't he the same spokesman for Dictator Marcos?"

Victor Sumagaysay, marin.org: "Blas Ople believes Yasay lied in his Senate testimony on Erap and Best World to keep his job. Coming from somebody who believed in Marcos just to keep his Cabinet job, Ople's defense of Erap without looking at facts is not surprising."

Gotcha, C.D., Victor.

Ma. Florean Bordas, Albay: "Re Interaction (Gotcha, 24 Jan. 2000), my opinion is that Sec. Fred Lim is violating Ordinance No. 7926 that authorizes the Manila mayor to spray-paint. He's no longer mayor, Lito Atienza is."

Ronito Rabano, hotmail.com: "How come human rights advocates are mum about crime victims? They ignore how rapists and killers destroy victims, families and friends."

You think they're all mixed up, too, Florean, Ronito?

Cid Jones, yahoo.com: "So, a third office (chief of staff) is about to be added to the confusion between OES and PMS. The solution is to rein in PMS and put it under OES."

But that won't serve his aim to divide and rule, Cid.

Jay Entruda, Iowa: "Mail thieves, whether postmaster or mailman, should have the courtesy to reseal envelopes they divest of cash, then deliver them. They should do this as a matter of obligation even if they don't find cash. Been writing regularly to my kids in Davao City. Only three out of every ten letters reached them last two years. Is mail theft no longer a crime there?"

It's a crime Jay, and it pays.

B. Simpao, aol.com: "Not a peep from postal officials despite numerous complaints thru your column. Got me a name here: Lorenzo B. Laurel, e-mail: [email protected]. Readers who got mail bugs can direct questions and info to him. Laurel is Fil-Am, a top-ranking postal inspector in San Francisco with Pacific-rim area of operation. He goes to RP often to help protect the interest of the US Postal Service. He helped organize the Postal Inspectors Unit there and would know whom to contact for help."

Sock it to `em. B.

Greg Campomanes, earthlink.net: "Look who's talking. Erap is chiding Yasay for staying in office. Aren't Filipinos chiding him for the same?"

Benjie Alvarez, BF-Parañaque: "I agree with Erap: The stock market would react well if Yasay resigns. But if he wants a bull run, he should resign."

He doesn't take unsolicited advice, Greg, Benjie.

Danny Maclan, yahoo.com: "Riddle: What's the difference between Erap's political `caucus' and a `cactus'? In a cactus, the pricks are on the outside."

You're insulting the cactus, Danny.

Thank you, Divina Japa, Amando Dayrit, Ron Bruer, Jim Soliven, Rais Bagayo, Ginny Cruz, Bart Gan, Patsy Arlington.

HIS BODY. Risk of sexual dysfunction is commonly associated with surgical removal of the prostate gland. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds the risk higher than previously thought.

HER BODY. Women should not use drugs for severe acne before or during pregnancy because they can cause severe birth defects, US health officials warn.

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