If we had a national I.D. system, we could identify the real Rajas - BY THE WAY By Max V. Soliven

Of course there could be two Delia Rajas – or even three or four. As in the case of the "Jose Velarde" cheques and bank account, there could be a dozen Jose Velardes, or even Jose Valhallas. President Estrada, in his acting days, even had an assistant and buddy named Jose Rolando Velarde – but he died some years ago.

Is it as William Shakespeare asked: "What’s in a name?" (The Literature majors among our readers could intone what comes next: "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.") What they’ve been discussing, however, in the open-ended impeachment trial, is not something sweet, but something smelly and rotten, as another character of Bill Shakes, Hamlet, would have parodied: "There’s something rotten in the kingdom of Denmark."

The "Melancholy Danes" may never forgive Shakespeare for creating the impression that Danes are not jolly, which they are – almost excessively – when they’re in the blissful state of acquavit, or liquor of the Aälborg variety.

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At yesterday’s proceedings, prosecution witness Caridad Rodenas, cashier of the Mandaluyong City Land Bank branch, was asked by defense counsel Sigfrid "Sig" Fortun to identify one Delia Rajas among those present in the gallery. (If you will recall, witness Rodenas had testified earlier that Delia Rajas, with Alma Alfaro and Eleuterio Tan, were the persons who transacted, with her bank, the Virginia tobacco tax rebate money which Ilocos Sur Gov. "Chavit" Singson claimed had been delivered by Charlie "Atong" Ang to the President’s Polk Street residence in North Greenhills.)

Rodenas said that if she were to see "Delia Rajas" again, and if the lady’s personal appearance had not changed, she would be able to identify her among the persons inside the Senate session hall. Defense counsel Fortun subsequently assured the impeachment body and presiding Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. that Rajas was indeed present in the session hall.

Urged to make the rounds of the gallery, Rodenas on the other hand was unable to identify and point to the Delia Rajas, if she was present, whom she had seen at the bank for that transaction. Ms. Rodenas recognized nobody present, and when a "Delia Rajas" was pointed out to her, Rodenas noted, the person presented was not the same who had been in the bank. The Delia Rajas brought forth, it turned out, was a cook of the mother of Atong Ang, Mrs. Catalina Ang. Thus, the exercise that witness Rodenas was put through was pointless.

The point or objection raised by Senator Raul Roco, therefore, was not only well-taken but called for. He indicated that defense counsel Fortun was, in effect, tricking the witness and foisting something "improper" on the Senators-judges of the impeachment body. Both Roco and Senator Franklin Drilon were right in raising the ethical propriety of what even Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago described as an "unconventional" ploy resorted to by defense counsel Fortun in testing the credibility of witness Rodenas.

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Let me say it again, although it’s unpopular among self-styled "libertarians", holey moleys, and cause-oriented groups (who resent being referred to as Leftists). If we only adopted a National ID. System, we would be able to identify each "Delia Rajas", or, for that matter, every real "Jose Velarde", and distinguished them from the fake ones. A National I.D. card is like a passport, after all: it tells those you’re dealing with who you are, and where you were born. It also gives your address, carries your photograph, and indicates where you came from. What’s the big deal about an I.D. card?

Those who have stubbornly blocked the idea and continue to reject it, loudly claim that it could become the "weapon of dictatorship." Excuse me. If anybody in power wanted to be a dictator (and could pull it off, like the real Macoy), he or she wouldn’t need to inspect a national I.D. card. As the French inspector (Claude Rains) told his policemen, to protect Humphrey Bogart after the hero of Casablanca had shot down the Nazi colonel to defend Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid: "Round up the usual suspects!"

In sum, if a tyrant or citation wanted to "round you up", he wouldn’t need an I.D. card to track you down. He’d send his storm troopers or military goons to simply pick you up. He’d know who his enemies were. The usual "protest" groups in our society and in media have, thus far, torpedoed every effort in the previous Ramos administration and in the current Estrada regime to establish an I.D. system. Why? Are people ashamed of their real identities? Do they think they’ll find "safety" in disguising their identities? If you ask me, only individuals who plan to deceive others, or pass themselves off as somebody else, or are planning a crime (or fleeing from one) don’t want to be identified. Squatters, for instance, would have to admit for the record from what province they materialized. Is this wrong?

Susmariosep. Sometimes we act ridiculously. Almost as ridiculously as the Americans who absolutely prohibit smoking in most places (restaurants, etc.) because they insist that even "second-hand smoke can kill you." On the other hand, they don’t ban the acquisition of guns, even the deadliest of automatic weapons. Anybody can get his hands on one. Don’t guns kill faster than cigarette, cigar or pipe smoke? For that matter, although not as horrible as drugs, liquor can kill too and is also addictive. Ask ’em in Malacañang.

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Speaking of Delia Rajas being only the cook of Atong Ang’s mother (yes, Virginia, Ang has a mother), why shouldn’t a cook have big money in the bank?

In Thailand, the exit polls from last Saturday’s election have already revealed that challenger Thaksin Shinawatra, the multibillionaire tycoon, and the Thai Rak Thai (Thai Loves Thai), his self-invented opposition party, have already racked up a landslide victory.

Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, head of the Democrat Party and the ruling coalition, seeing Thaksin’s populist group winning more than half of the 500 seats in parliament (as against his own party’s estimated 129 seats in the House) has virtually conceded the election. In short, Thaksin will probably be proclaimed the next Prime Minister.

But wait. Even if the telecommunications tycoon becomes Prime Minister, his "reign" could still be cut short. In a decision which came less than two weeks before the polls, the tough, no-nonsense National Counter Corruption Commission (established in 1998) charged last January 6 that Thaksin had acted "dishonestly" by giving false or deliberately incomplete information in his statement of assets and liabilities, which all government officials must submit in taking office or departing from it. (Thaksin, in the past, had occupied two Cabinet posts.) Despite his overwhelming "election", then, his case is still pending in the Constitutional Court, which could hand down a judgment convicting him and, thereby, banning Thaksin from holding a government position for five years. If this happens, Thaksin has already said, he would yield the Prime Ministership, but remain in his triumphant party’s decision-making leadership, calling the shots from behind.

Why did Thaksin get into trouble? The NCCC charged that Thaksin, who continues to protest his "innocence", lied about an undeclared 647.6 million baht (about $15.4 million), or something like 2.5 percent of his over 20 billion baht fortune. Thaksin alleged that the omissions had been the fault of his wife’s secretary, who he maintained was ignorant of the law’s strictures concerning asset declarations. The Commission insisted that Thaksin had tried to conceal millions by putting these large amounts in the name of his driver, security guards, and other helpers!

There you are. Was the driver’s name Thun Velardakit Josevassong? Just kidding. But you might glimpse a parallel. Thaksin must be saying: "The voters knew all about those accusations, but they elected me and my Thai Loves Thai Party, anyway." Sounds familiar, somehow.

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I’m glad that it came from Ambassador Ernie Maceda’s own lips, as quoted by our STAR reporters, that he might be tapped as the campaign manager of the ruling administration coalition, the Lapian ng Masang Pilipino or LAMP in the coming May 14 elections.

This is, in case you’ve forgotten, a crucial election since the seats at stake include 12 in the Senate (and the elected or reelected Senators would become Senators-judges if the impeachment trial drags on beyond May). The coming elections would also constitute (unless he’s convicted, which is still iffy) a referendum on Mr. Estrada and his administration.

For a moment, many people – including yours truly – were terrified at the assertion the other day by Palace Political Affairs consultant Lito Banayo, the former Philippine Tourism Authority chairman, that Maceda might be named the new Chairman of the Commission on Elections. Wow! As the joke used to be about US President Richard M. Nixon: "Would you buy a used car from this man?" Okay, Ernie is not in the used-car business, but Banayo’s suggestion threw not a few persons into a panic.

When I met Ernie yesterday morning in the Club Filipino, he averred he did not resent anything, and remained ready to help the President in any way he was wanted. (He has been expressing "puzzlement" as to why columnists are writing that he was "sulking" because he got neither the Executive Secretaryship nor the post of Agriculture Secretary.) He states that he’s out as Ambassador to the US because he’s now on terminal leave. Those holding the fort in Washington, DC, as the incoming George W. Bush "team" prepares to take over the helm on January 20 from the exiting President Bill Clinton, he told me, "are both competent and bright, so we need not worry." These are Ambassador Ariel Abadilla, the chargé d’affaires, and Minister-Counsellor Evan Garcia (a son of Ambassador Delfin Garcia) "who’s one of the most canny and gifted young diplomats we have," Maceda added.

And so, the next question is: Will Ernie get one of the Cabinet posts to be vacated?

Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Ramon "Eki" Cardenas, it’s bruited about, is also in line for a Cabinet post. Which one is it? The Trade and Industry Secretaryship, left vacant since former DTI Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas ran away from it (for his "life")? Or the Department of Interior and Local Government, with the top post soon to be vacated by the formidable Fred Lim, who’s bent on running for his former job as Mayor of Manila? Or, if Vicente "Jun" Rivera decides to re-enter politics, the post of Secretary of Transportation and Communications (DOTC)?

Cardenas is well qualified for any of the three.

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THE ROVING EYE . . . This item qualifies as "verrrrry interesting." At Tagaytay Midlands last weekend, who do you think bumped into each other at lunchtime in the clubhouse? None other than former Finance Secretary Ed Espiritu and his wife (yep, he’s in town – as a prosecution "witness"?) and – at another table – the President’s defense counsel, former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza. The two were apparently surprised to see each other, but, after his meal, Mendoza walked over to Espiritu and the two stood talking for 27 minutes – until Mendoza’s wife called him to the driveway because their car (I think a Lexus) was there, idling, and burning up gasoline. Alas, there was no television "microphone" concealed nearby, as in the Senate session hall, so we didn’t manage to pick up the topic of conversation. Certainly, it wasn’t the weather . . . Who’ll be the next boss of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) when its chairman, Jejomar Binay, resigns from the MMDA to make another run for his former post, the Makati mayorship? (The post was kept "warm" for him by his wife, Dr. Elenita Binay.) The scuttlebutt is that the MMDA top honcho will be Marikina Mayor Bayani Fernando, who did a crackerjack job, but can’t run for another term. If so, that’s good news. He might be able to collect and dispose of the garbage – although the Antique folk don’t want it dumped in Semirara. Where then? In the Pasig River?