A very relevant sign

The Court of Appeals has rebuffed Solicitor General Jose Calida for trying to prevent Nobel Peace Prize awardee Maria Ressa from going to Norway to receive the said award.

The CA’s decision to let Ressa travel is commendable, as it upholds press freedom.

Preventing Ressa from going abroad would have violated her constitutional right to travel, as well as her freedom of expression.

Many of her colleagues, including this columnist, think the Nobel prize was given wrongly, as Ressa – as well as Rappler, a news website she heads – has never been persecuted by the Duterte government, as she keeps on claiming to the outside world.

Ressa was convicted of libel by a Manila court not on account of persecution, but on a case filed by a private individual, Wilfredo Keng.

Keng said Ressa and Rappler destroyed his reputation when they described him as a drug lord and murderer.

However, for Calida to try to bar her from leaving the country to receive the reputable award seems to bolster her claim of persecution.

The solicitor general’s reason for trying to prevent Ressa from leaving was because she might not come back. That reasoning is as flimsy as it is stupid.

Although Ressa is still facing other libel suits, why would she become a fugitive of justice when she would gain nothing from escaping?

Libel is a hazard to the journalism profession. Some journalists even consider libel a badge of honor.

From where I sit, no journalist facing a slew of libel cases who went abroad on business or pleasure ever escaped. We always come back to face the music.

Calida, who seems to be a smart man of the law, may want to read up on the journalism profession, so he would not look or sound stupid.

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“When people are hungry, give them circuses.”

The above statement, attributed to Roman poet Juvenal (between 1 and 2 AD), might as well have been copied by former Pasig City Mayor Bobby Eusebio.

Eusebio blasted Mayor Vico Sotto, who defeated him in the 2019 elections, for the lack of décor in Pasig that seems to make the city lose its Christmas spirit.

But what’s the value of parols (Christmas lanterns) when many people are going hungry because they’re out of work due to the pandemic?

Sotto argued that his administration prioritizes the purchase and distribution of food packs for all households in the city.

But if I were Sotto, a neophyte politician, I would not give dignity to Eusebio’s Facebook posts, as all of it is sourgraping and coming from a trapo (which has a double meaning – traditional politician or rag).

The Eusebio family ruled Pasig for decades, and where had the city gone? To the dogs and drugs!

In 2006, police commandos raided a tiangge (small market), where shabu (crystal meth) was sold openly.

The raid came after this columnist and my brother Erwin reported the existence of the shabu tiangge to Camp Crame authorities. We had informants take videos of the drug deals inside the small market.

During the raid, scores of housewives were caught inside the tiangge which was fenced in by rusting corrugated roofs.

Inside the tiangge, the raiders found small huts where pushers and women who could not afford to pay for the crystal meth would have sex. The huts smelled of semen, no kidding!

Do you know where the shabu tiangge was located? At the back of the Pasig City Hall; both the drug market and city hall were within spitting distance from each other!

It was impossible for the Eusebio family, who ruled the city as a dynasty, not to know about the existence of the shabu tiangge.

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A brotherly but unsolicited advice to people who have yet to get vaccinated: Please do so ASAP.

I don’t know how my entire household could have survived COVID-19, if all of us adults were not vaccinated.

The entire household consisted of myself; my wife Josephine; her sister Norma, who was on vacation for the holidays; my daughter, Gem, and her husband, Art; my three grandchildren, the youngest of whom is two years old; our three household staff members; and our two drivers and my bodyguards.

Except for Josephine and Norma Dumo, the rest of us experienced only mild symptoms, such as a slight fever and a loss of smell and taste which lasted for only a day.

Doctors at The Medical City (TMC), where Josephine and Norma were confined, attributed their “miraculous” survival to the anti-COVID vaccines we adult household members received earlier.

Even if my grandchildren were not vaccinated, they were up and about in a day or two; according to TMC doctors, children have very strong immune systems.

Josephine and Norma were hit badly because they have prior medical conditions: high blood pressure, heart conditions and diabetes.

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A sign prominently displayed at the lobby of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) main office in the Ortigas complex in Pasig City should be a model worth emulating by some people in government and the private sector.

The sign reads:

“Thank you for your gift.

“Our company has a ‘no gift’ policy and does not allow our employees to accept gifts – foodstuff, tokens or any other form of gratuity – from suppliers, partners and other stakeholders.

“We appreciate your generosity during this season of giving but we also think that it is important to set professional boundaries and implement good governance across our company.

“We accept with gratitude your gesture, and we value the opportunity to work with you.

“Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.”

Under the message is the logo of the San Miguel Corporation.