Time is no advantage

Is Floyd Mayweather practicing self-hypnosis? The way he keeps repeating, like a mantra “I am the best”, “I will win”, gives one an idea that he is trying to convince himself. Lately he is even sounding insecure by claiming that he is better than all those other legendary figures in boxing, like Sugar Ray Robinson, and Muhammad Ali, who, by the way, seems to think Pacquiao is better than him. Maybe he has to do that because he must have heard about all the support and adulation Filipinos are giving Manny Pacquiao, but his fellow Americans do not seem to care for him that way.

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But it is a fallacy for Mayweather and his camp to go on boasting about his alleged “undefeated” record. Boxing records show that he had been beaten several times before he turned professional, but his promoters do not qualify it when they brag about the “undefeated” claim. Anyway, no matter how the fight turns out, he will no longer have the chance to match Manny's record of holding EIGHT world titles at the same time. Meanwhile, one boxer who cannot seem to make up his mind about which to root for is Oscar de la Hoya, the one who should be called “Pretty Boy” instead of Mayweather. But what does De la Hoya say? “My heart is for Manny, but my mind is for Floyd”.

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The Court of Appeals has asked its Ethics Committee to probe the claims of Senator Antonio Trillanes against two of its members who allegedly got paid P25 million each to produce the temporary restraining order that enabled Makati Mayor Junjun Binay to settle back in his office. As we all know, the Ombudsman had ordered the suspension of Binay Jr. for six months, but a speedy TRO managed to stop it. Then came the bombshell from Trillanes who announced that he had evidence that the Binays paid off two justices of the Court of Appeals to secure the TRO.

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Naturally, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales did not like that, believing that her office had been granted the special privilege of not being stalled by such escape hatches as TROs and injunctions in its investigations. After all, theirs – the Ombudsman and the SandiganBayan – are special courts, unlike the usual ones that can let a case drag on for decades. I think there is some hope for the Ombudsman because when the problem was taken to the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice reportedly “dressed down” the Binay lawyers, a development that must not sit well with the Binays who, by the way, have warned that they will not forgive those who have sinned against them. That is according to the daughter who is a congresswoman, who spoke after the daughter, who is a senator, also had her say.

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By the way, their mother, former Makati Mayor Elenita Binay, who inherited the mayorship from her husband, then passed it on to his junior after both of them had served their full terms, has been reported in the news to be seeking for permission from the court to go abroad for medical reasons. She has to do that because she, too, is facing charges, also for overpricing, and is accused on two counts of graft and two courts of malversation. The family must maintain quite a stable of lawyers to defend them from all these.

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Meanwhile, President Aquino has just approved the creation of two more divisions in the Sandiganbayan, and these are expected to augment the existing ones that seem to be overloaded now, especially with the Napoles-related cases, and those of loyal government officials. By the way, some of the accused officials who are reportedly spending a lot to have their cases postponed or delayed, until they prescribe, will not be happy to learn that only this week, a provincial governor was convicted for charges filed more than ten years ago. So those who believe they are truly innocent should, in fact, try to speed up the decision on their cases because time will not be an advantage to them, anyway.

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What an irony it must be to the Law alumni of San Beda when the Binay lawyers who got scolded by the Chief Justice turned out to be San Bedans, too. This, happening just shortly after the school scored by having a topnotcher in the latest bar examination, a woman examinee, at that, and the first female to achieve the honor. The female lawyer who got “dressed down” turned out to be a San Beda graduate, too. Well, you can't win them all.

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A business report yesterday said that the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. is undergoing manpower reduction, and that, so far, three of its vice president have already left. Oh? Is that the reason why the company is giving us such poor service lately? If you have been calling and getting connected immediately recently, count yourself very lucky.*

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