Shades of Salome!

I wracked my brains trying to remember who it was in distant history who, like vice mayor, and past and future mayor of Davao City Rudy Duterte, had demanded for the head of somebody. Last night, it dawned on me: it was Salome in the Bible story who had asked King Herod for the head of St. John the Baptist, as a prize for pleasing him with her famous dance of the seven veils!

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It was not a laughing matter, to see and hear the reports that Duterte, angered by the implication of his son by an allegedly notorious car theft syndicate, had offered a bounty of about P5 million for the life of the syndicate head, a certain Ryan Yu, with a separate P2 million for his head. Of course Human Rights advocates figuratively went up in arms, and even the President was shocked. Malacañang, expectedly, reminded the vice mayor to adhere to due process. It will be interesting to watch the developments in this case.

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President Aquino is again being taken to task by those who were appalled by his statement that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and ousted Chief Justice Renato Corona may soon have a reunion in jail. Some, mostly Arroyo supporters, called it insensitive and others ungentlemanly. Malacañang said it was made as a joke, but of course Arroyo and Corona partisans found an opportunity to get back at Aquino, who, it must be admitted, does put his foot in his mouth sometimes, or gets to sound like Britain’s still uncrowned heir apparent, Prince Charles.

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It was unfortunate, but probably President Aquino can hardly find time to rue his words, basking as he must in all the praises he got from the countries he had been visiting. Especially in New Zealand where the Premier Barry O’Farrel had been calling him a “phenomenon” that he was very proud to host. Well, phenomenon or not, the President was able to bond with the Pinoy communities in both Australia and New Zealand, and we hope he was also able to make the leaders and businessmen of those countries see that it will be more fun to invest in the Philippines.

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But wasn’t it a strange coincidence that, shortly after PNoy said that, reports from Europe said that the former president of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi had been found guilty by the court of graft and tax fraud, and sentenced to six years in prison? The same reports, however, also said that Berlusconi would appeal to a higher court and that could take years and years. So Italian law and courts are no different from our own, and Berlusconi may have all the time yet to go around before his cases are resolved with finality. As for Corona, he continues to tell the media that the charges against him by the Bureau of Internal Revenue are all politically motivated and were brought on by his court’s decision on Hacienda Luisita.

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But one can’t help wondering how the Hacienda Luisita case could be relevant to the fact that BIR Commissioner Kim Henares insists that she has all the goods on him, for not filing his income tax Returns for the years 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2010, when all of us miserable citizens had to pay through the nose via salary deductions in withholding taxes? Who exempted him and his family from such obligations to the state? Note that he does not say that he has paid, but only claims that this is all due to the Hda. Luisita case. By the way, the former president is due to be arraigned today, unless her neck problem or that Ischemia gets in the way. As for Corona, surely he knows that the American government could not pin anything on notorious gangster Al Capone, until the Internal Revenue Service nailed him down for tax deficiency.

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On Friday last week, my sister Perla and I sailed to Iloilo to attend the coming-out party of our niece, grand-niece, that is, at the Sarabia Manor. Although we had initial misgivings about going because of the bad weather being predicted then, the trip going there was very fine, probably the proverbial calm after the storm. Since we had not taken sea trips for some time now, however, I was appalled by the conditions in the Weesam vessel that we took. For one, the ramp going up was still makeshift and really a horror for senior citizens. Then the restroom that was located right at the entrance, was dirty and smelly, there was no water, only a pail ostensibly to be used for flushing. Worse, the door would get stuck and the girl I followed was red-faced with exertion when she came out.

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There were signs warning against placing objects in the aisle, but several passengers did just that, put their bags and suitcases right there, and nobody called their attention. The trip home was quite rugged and sometimes the pieces of luggage would topple over, further blocking the aisle, but who cared? How in the world would such accommodations attract tourists especially foreign ones, of whom many who came for the MassKara festival were said to be planning to proceed to Boracay, and had to take such boats going there? One can only squirm.*

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