As for the celebrated ex-Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, what did we expect him to say? Why did he surface after months in hiding – partly in Mindanao – but probably abroad, too, despite his protestations. Off to Singapore "in transit"? Off on a British Airways plane? Garci’s travels are becoming as much of a legend as Gulliver’s Travels.
When Garci was holed up in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, I spoke to his custodian, Metro Police Director (General) Vidal Querol – the same PNP National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) who placed his 17,000-strong contingent on full alert Tuesday night after a "plausible" bomb threat was received against US Embassy in Manila – and other Embassies in Metro. (The cops weren’t alert enough, though, to stop two vehicles full of men riddling the First Gent’s LTA building on Perea street in Makati at 4:40 a.m. yesterday morning.
I asked Querol why Garci was in Bagong Diwa camp.
"Is he a prisoner?" Querol, grinning, said "No."
Then: "Is he under the Witness Protection Program?" Again, Querol smilingly shook his head.
Next, I quipped: "Is he there to be protected from becoming a witness?" Querol grinned even more broadly. "No, sir."
Finally, the general amiably said, "Actually, he simply wanted to be kept out of sight, safely away from the swarms of the media." Yeh, people like me. I’m not offended.
But Garci must know, as he found out yesterday, that there’s no way you can keep off The Swarm. This is a country where Cabinet members, and all kinds of officials, can be shaken awake by the ring of their cellphones ("Hello, Hello") at the ungodly hour of 5 o’clock in the morning, and have some radio broadcaster demanding – on air – to have him or her react to something that happened while the official was sleeping.
By golly. Our version of democracy is that everybody be at the mercy of the Media’s cellphone. No wonder La Gloria, the President has rung off. Is it true she changes her cellphone numbers every few days?
There are some countries in this world, I kid thee not, where telephone directories are a State Secret. I used to call these countries Police States, but I found in one or two that you couldn’t even get the number of the police. Perhaps places where officials’ phone numbers are shrouded in mystery, and government bosses are inaccessible, are more sensible than our anarchic society – how can anybody get any work done if they’re forever bothered by the ring tone or the text message?
The above passage may sound frivolous, but I believe it’s a serious comment on what ails our society.
Of course, the US, Australia and Britain have issued warnings and travel advisories – and the Singaporean Embassy has alerted the police to a "threat" against it. The US Embassy has shut down for an indefinite period while the threat is in the air. The biggest casualties thus far have been disappointed visa applicants.
Who are behind these "plausible" threats? Warriors enlightened or unenlightened? The New People’s Army, as some cops mutter? The Jemaah Islamiyah and the Abu Sayyaf? No matter which group we’ll just have to go after them – nab them – or "neutralize" them (that’s the popular buzzword among police and military agencies).
The battle is never over – especially if talking peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) handcuffs our army and police, and prevents them from punching into MILF-claimed "territory" to find terrorist training camps, "rescue" hostages, or grab terrorists. Have you ever tried wading or pushing through the Liguasan Marshes?
Yesterday, our STAR President and CEO Miguel Go Belmonte and this Publisher were with the envoys of these "threatened" embassies, but they were calm and unruffled. We had Ambassador Peter Beckingham of Britain, Ambassador Anthony Hely of Australia, Ambassador Lim Kheng Hua of Singapore, and United States Consul Richard Dale Haynes, among others. The occasion was the luncheon we tendered in honor of the new Ambassador, the Hon. Li Jinjun, of the People’s Republic of China. The affair was also co-hosted by our STARGATE partner, Mr. Jose Manuel "Babe" Romualdez.
I had met Ambassador Li in Beijing before he came to the Philippines and had invited him to be our guest at a welcome lunch or dinner when he arrived in the Philippines.
This is not a Social Column, but may I thank our many friends in the Diplomatic Corps for having come to our luncheon-gathering yesterday in the Tower Club at such short notice, despite threats and alarums, and their abnormally hectic schedules in this season of national days, diplomatic commemorations, and holiday party-giving.
We had Ambassador Peter Sutherland of Canada, Ambassador Anatoly Nebogatov of Russia, Ambassador Ryuichiro Yamazaki of Japan, Ambassador Asha Dvitlyananda of Thailand, Ambassador Dinh Tich of Vietnam, the new Korean Ambassador Hong Jong-ki, whose President is, by the way, arriving in Manila for a state visit on Thursday next week after the East-Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur. Italian Deputy Chief of Mission Mario Alberto Bartoli came, too.
Other friends like Carlos Chan, the modest taipan of the Oishi "empire" were with us, as well as Robin Sy, a past president and emeritus of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce. CCA Vice-President and Tower Club founder Arthur Lopez took time out from his other Board meetings in the Manila Pavilion (where he’s Director) to join us in the welcome for Ambassador Li. (Other Ambassadors were abroad, but they phoned in their regrets).
We’re especially happy our longtime friend, Xiaoyang Xia, bureau chief of Shanghai’s powerful Wen Hui Daily was able to join us.
No, we weren’t partying while "threats" richoteted all over the place, but doom and gloom, and grimness never won the day, nor saved the day in any crisis. Keeping life normal, keeping spirits up (stiffer upper lip and all that as they used to say in the heyday of British phlegm) is what defeats pessimists, doomsayers – and terrorists.
Ambassador Li brought along his "team," led by Deputy Chief of Mission, Mr. Xiao Qian, Mr. Lin Tao, Chief of the Political Section, Mr. Niu Jitao, spokesman, and his articulate interpreter, Mr. Peng Xiubing – although the Ambassador obviously understands English very well.
The Ambassador – a youthful 49 years old – is most fluent in German, having majored in that language, and spent five years in West Germany, from Bonn to Heidelberg. (Born in May 1956 in Jiangsu province, he graduated from the Shanghai International Studies University, later going to school in Heidelberg, Germany, where our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal – Doktor Aleman some of his Calamba townmates used to call him – had also studied in the University’s Augenklinik).
Li, who just spent four years in Yangon (Rangoon) as Ambassador to Myanmar (Burma), is, I discovered, not merely eloquent and charming, but seriously influential in the Party apparatus.
I essay no further comment. We bid him welcome to our country and am confident he will build closer ties between our nation and his – a partnership dictated by geography, tradition, and bloodline.