Aguirre's fate
I was attending the Road to Judicial Reforms forum the other day at the University of the Philippines Cebu campus when I received word from my seatmate, fellow lawyer Jay Pujanes, that Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II had resigned.
While listening to the forum's main speaker Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno responding to questions from the audience, my attention was immediately drawn to Jay's breaking news.
Though it had been what people were talking about since the start of the week, news about Aguirre's impending exit was still met with some skepticism. That is considering that he was boldly making wind just over a week ago, accusing Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña of having pocketed money from the illegal drugs trade.
Aguirre's accusation was supposed to be based on a sworn statement of an alleged bagman of slain suspected drug lord Jeffrey "Jaguar" Diaz. Osmeña has responded to the accusation with his trademark taunting grin, confident that Aguirre's accusation will not fly. For one, both the PNP and PDEA have categorically declared that Osmeña's name is nowhere found in their drug list.
For another, the allegation against Osmeña came from a more or less tainted source who was placed under the Witness Protection Program by Aguirre's own department. While a sworn statement indeed carries some weight, under the circumstances it is a feeble declaration until subjected to a rigorous cross-examination in a court of law, which could either destroy or inadvertently bolster the allegation.
It also did not help Aguirre that the person he was trying to drag into this drug mess comes from one of Cebu's illustrious political families. It's a historical context that calls for more than just dragging a local leader's name through the mire.
It is the same even in the case of President Duterte reading the name of former mayor Michael Rama from a list of alleged drug protectors. It may be a fatal blow to Rama's already flagging political career, but not to his personal reputation. Nobody in Cebu seriously believes that Rama is involved in the illegal drugs trade. We don't really give much weight to what national leaders say about our local leaders.
In fact, what Aguirre did to Osmeña merely succeeded in exposing himself as a reckless person dangerously at the helm of a department whose mission is supposed to be anchored on the principles of transparency, accountability, fairness, and truth. Either the good secretary was not getting good advice or not minding any advice given to him by those in the know about Cebu's political dynamics and temperament.
In any case, Aguirre's hold on his position as a Cabinet member was already precarious from the time his department cleared Peter Lim and Kerwin Espinosa of drug charges, passing the blame instead to the police for not building a strong case.
That he dipped his finger, rightly or wrongly, in Cebu's politics only made his recent departure from Duterte's Cabinet more significant or interesting for us in Cebu.
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I would like to congratulate Palm Grass Hotel, the Cebu heritage hotel, for its first anniversary last April 3. True to its vision to promote local heritage, the hotel last Tuesday highlighted the 120th Anniversary of the Battle of Tres de Abril as the main feature of its anniversary celebration.
Palm Grass aims to inspire all who come to the hotel, especially the youth, about the story of Cebu and our heroes. A few months back, Palm Grass was able to share with grade school students of the Colegio del Sto. Niño, Cebu's history and the story of Leon Kilat.
The hotel invited some members of media to their dinner program. I came in late from a prior dinner appointment but I was still able to catch the replay of the videos on the victorious Battle of Tres de Abril created by Cebu college students and Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific Focus Features. The video production was another Palm Grass Hotel project created with Video Creator Prospero Laput of Asia-Pacific Focus Features and selected University of the Philippines Cebu and University of San Carlos students.
The first video, "Padayon, Sizts! (#KilatLove4Cebu)", is a modern retelling of what happened in the uprising 120 years ago. The second video, "Suroy-Saysay (A Tres de Abril heritage walk)," is a light but probing conversation with Leon Kilat book author Emil Justimbaste regarding the heroes and events of the 1898 Cebu Revolution. These videos can be viewed on YouTube and the hotel's social media page.
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