Raul Roco promises to show us all he’s alive, well, and running for president

Through his "John the Baptist", namely Reli German, the "missing" former Senator and DECS Secretary Raul Roco promised to see us today to demonstrate that he’s not sick, but full of energy, and running hard for the Presidency.

We breathlessly await his arrival, hopefully not sounding like Doubting Thomas of the New Testament who had to feel with his own fingers the wounds in the hands and side of Jesus in order to be convinced that Christ had truly risen from the dead. Blessed, indeed, are those who have not seen, but still believe – as the Bible points out – but we hardbitten journalists have been nakoryente so often, by our own eagerness quite frequently, that we tend to side with Thomas and his doubts.

For all you know, Raul may even bounce into the Tuesday Club today to proclaim his resurrection.

In the meantime, our friend Reli, his prophet, explained the reason he’s not been seen for the past few weeks (or heard from) is that Raul returned only last week – just before the Ninoy death anniversary commemoration – from a speech-making and barnstorming tour of the United States. He had been covering both the east coast and the west coast, Reli asserted.

Reli further averred that Raul had, contrary to popular misconception, made a "statement" about the Oakwood mutiny, "but it had been drowned in the deluge of news about that event". He said that The STAR was one of the few newspapers that published the statement – but this writer confesses: I didn’t spot it. Is it possible I’ve grown cross-eyed from strain, or else our editors buried it somewhere in the inside pages, along with the classified ads?

To be candid, Raul’s silence has been deafening, with regard to the al-Ghozi "escape", the Oakwood rebellion and its aftermath, the case of the fugitive Gringo Honasan, the weird suspension by the Court of Appeals Fifth Division of no less than the Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and other ranking BSP officials, the sudden frenzy over the mysterious "Jose Pidal", and so forth.

Why was Raul campaigning in the US where so few "overseas voters" have thus far registered themselves? Is Roco an opposition candidate, or is he hoping to be the Administration candidate, or what? That’s what some are already beginning to puzzle about. Any self-respecting opposition bet would already have extracted lots of media mileage by sharply commenting on those exciting and exasperating events.

Wasn’t it the great showman and circus barker, P.T. Barnum, who once said, "I don’t care what you say about me, as long as you spell my name right?"

Raul had better resurface fast. They’re not misspelling his name yet, but already quite a number of people seem to have forgotten he’s a candidate. Why, in the latest Pulse Asia "Ulat ng Bayan" survey, Roco was even outpointed by President GMA, who bagged 21 percent while Roco slid down to only 16 percent. Noli de Castro of ABS-CBN-Senate, though, still leads the pack with 29 percent, while fellow Senator (and ABS-CBN’er) Loren Legarda has edged up to 12 percent.

Sus, Raul. Rejoin the race and demonstrate that you’re running, not creeping along!

* * *

The bank robbery and shoot-out yesterday afternoon right in the heart of Makati’s financial district is another blow to the "peace and order" image of the embattled GMA administration.

Can you beat it? Fifteen Armalite-toting men, some of them disguised in military uniforms, barged into the Citibank Center along the Paseo de Roxas, and – well, robbed the bank. A Makati police patrol car came along, reportedly by sheer chance, and to their credit, the cops engaged the gunmen in a firefight. This didn’t last long, however, and the bandits got away with their loot, aboard two white vans and a Revo.

The first news I got about this bold raid on Citibank (they even shot up an armored van of the bank which arrived within seconds of the start of their caper) came from our friend, Spanish journalist and longtime Philippine resident Jose "Pepe" Rodriguez. Pepito, the author of two bestsellers about our history and society – first Cronicas, then the recently published and beautiful picture book about our First Ladies – has been threatening to publish a third and even more fascinating book about "The Second Ladies", but that’s not my story today.

He came rushing over to the Glorietta at 3:45 p.m. yesterday to keep an appointment to have coffee with Tower Club managing director and CCA president for Asia, Arthur Lopez, and yours truly, a bit out of breath. He reported that he had just come from a "firefight" only a few blocks away.

I initially thought Pepe was kidding, but he seriously narrated what had occurred. He had been cruising along in his car almost behind the Citibank building, when everybody was sent into a panic by sounds of gunfire coming from that direction.

Rodriguez jumped out of his car and found himself "directing traffic" in the middle of the road, because owners and drivers began to abandon their vehicles to dive for cover nearby – "and I knew I had to prevent my car from getting stuck in the prevailing traffic jam." Finally, with his driver doing some fancy maneuvering, Pepe managed to extricate himself and his car from the sticky situation.

The interesting part of this anecdote is that Rodriguez had recently relocated to Madrid, where he is now holding an executive post in the head office of his old news agency, EFE (he had been the Manila Bureau Chief of EFE for 17 years before his previous "retirement"). Pepe came back to Manila a week ago to tie up come of the loose ends and help his wife, Lulu Coching Rodriguez (the famous portrait artist), pack up their household stuff. Sanamagan, Pepe exclaimed yesterday, "this was an explosive homecoming!"

I could tell you he’s tempted to take the next plane back to his new residence in a Madrid residential district "where it’s safer". But Pepe truly loves Manila and the Philippines, "gun battles and all", and where there‘s excitement and drama. And political zarzuelas as well. Indeed, he hates to leave all that behind!

Other foreigners and would-be "investors" aren’t that understanding, or brimming over with such affection for us. So the Makati robbery, on the heels of the Oakwood "rebellion", just isn’t reassuring for anyone.

In the preoccupation of Malacañang, our jittery military (yes, it still seethes with coup rumors and discontents), and our discombobulated police establishment – still reeling from the embarrassment of al-Ghozi and other intrigues – I trust they haven’t forgotten that we have other deadly enemies.

Among the worst are the criminal gangs, the kidnappers, the drug lords, and the other, murderous and well-armed rebels like the Communist New People’s Army, the Jemaah Islamiyah, the Moro insurgents (despite the peace initiatives with the MILF) and other baddies. These groups have been taking advantage of the coup-coup anxieties and chases to mount ambushes, raids and undertake their criminal activities.

* * *

I haven’t even been able to write about my meeting with Undersecretary (and retired General) Anselmo S. Avenido Jr., of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and his senior deputies in the lobby lounge of the Makati Shangri-La Hotel a few days ago, because in other sectors it’s been virtually "a crisis a minute".

Usec Avenido assured me, however, that the PDEA isn’t distracted or asleep, and has been going full blast against the drug syndicates within the 90-day deadline set by the President. How can the war against the drug czars be won in three months? That’s what I asked Avenido – another PMA’yer, I believe even a baron of the academy by the way. He frankly said that they were doing their best, getting results, but the 90 days had only been largely symbolical.

Good luck, then, General: We’ll have a few meaningful statistics to publish later, but I don’t want to cram them into this column.

* * *

I’ve already written an "erratum" the other day, apologizing for the snafu (lapsus mentis, mostly, and a mix-up in my notes) of quoting retired Rear Admiral Eriberto C. Varona of PMA Class 1966, when it was actually the Class President, retired Lt. Gen. Victor Mayo, the former Armed Forces Vice Chief of Staff and ex-Superintendent of the Philippine Military Academy to whom I’d spoken. Sorry, Admiral Varona, and sorry, General Mayo, about the mix-up. I’m red with embarrassment. My only defense for the gaffe, must be approaching senility, and malnutrition owing to a shortage of bagoong.

The Rear Admiral even passed me a note politely saying "you might have mistaken me for someone else" since, among other things, I had called him "Ed Varona" since he is Eriberto or Bert, not Ed. What a dopey mistake that was. Of course, I know him as Eriberto Varona – as I had addressed him when I spoke to him not last Saturday, but three weeks ago on another subject. Admiral Varona was not just the commencement speaker at our O.B. Montessori high school graduation three years ago, as I recall, but his lovely daughter, Fatima, had played a very beautiful Blessed Virgin Mary in the school’s "Prince of Peace" Christmas pageant that very same year.

As for what our friend, former PMA Superintendent and retired Lt. General Mayo really said, as already remarked, I found it both revealing and somewhat disquieting. He had told me that when he was PMA Superintendent in 1997-98, he had taken a survey of his cadets and discovered that 90 percent of them had been severely treated by one or both their parents, and many had been subjected to child abuse by some of their elders when they were children. In short, General Mayo seemed to be trying to say that it was not fair that the PMA was being dunned as being an academy that produced troublemakers and mutineers because the problems of most cadets had started with their childhood and earlier upbringing. He also pointed out that most of the PMA cadets had come from lower middle class and "poor" families, unlike the elite private schools, and many of its plebes had enrolled believing the Academy to be their only ticket to a good college education.

I thank General Mayo for his candor and perception, but this insight simply underscores the urgent need for a more rigid screening of applicants for the PMA, a more thorough psychological testing, and tougher rules governing admission. Imagine this: We may be putting weapons and the instilling of military skills into the hands of young men and women already psychologically wounded by traumas and disappointments experienced in their childhood and their pre-teen adolescence.

Incidentally, let’s not discount either the wellknown "messianic complex" which lurks in the military mind, not only here, but in every country. (Why do you think that expression, used worldwide, "Young Turks", was first coined?)

And let’s not forget why Gringo Honasan – and, it must be said, Panfilo "Ping" Lacson – are so annoyingly popular among the broad population. The mystique of the rebel and even the outlaw has been strong throughout our history. The history of this country has been one steeped in "rebellion".

During Spanish colonial rule and the American regime, the rebel and revolutionary have been our "heroes", and patriotism has become synonymous with rebellion. This is why, rightly or wrongly, those two strike the popular imagination.