Et tu Clavel?

As the old saying goes, "Be careful with what you are asking for you just might get it!" Here, we have a very nosey Senate or Congress asking for the whereabouts of former Comelec Commissioner Virgilio "Garci" Garcillano, but now he is back, Garci has only caused further embarrassment to an already embarrassing situation. It turned out that aside from Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA), Garci was called by so many elective officials, including Sen. Panfilo Lacson, Sen. Jamby Madrigal, Rep. Francis Escudero, lawyer Liwayway Vinzons Chato and our very own Rep. Clavel Asas Martinez from the 5th District.

In Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" we read about the final moments of the great Julius Caesar that after he was stabbed in the back by his own peers in the Senate, he turned around to see the last dagger that was plunged into his back was that of his best friend, Brutus. Thus, Caesar's last words were, "Et tu Brute?" Then Caesar fell and died. While Pres. Arroyo was also stabbed in the back, at least she did not die. However, she too can echo the words of Julius Caesar to Rep. Clavel Asas Martinez, "Et tu Clavel?" She can also say this to Sen. Ping Lacson and Rep. Escudero!

The names I mentioned are the very people who dared ask for the resignation of Pres. Arroyo for the "Hello Garci" tapes. What have they got to say for themselves, especially Rep. Clavel Martinez? As yesterday's The Freeman editorial blared, "The pots calling the kettle black are in the cupboard hidden." The middle class didn't buy all that finger pointing by the politicians in the Hello Garci case because the majority of the Filipino people already knew that these politicians are no different from Pres. Arroyo. They also called Garci. The difference is that they were not caught on wiretapped tape!

Garci is not the only commissioner in the Comelec; there's an entire board of them armed with cellphones. Not to mention the Regional and Provincial Officers belonging to the Comelec from all the regions and provinces of the Philippines. For sure, those small time officials also placed calls to the Comelec in their respective regions.

I submit that I earlier thought that we cannot extract anything from Garci, but in the end, this revelation tells the Filipino people a whole lot about the impropriety committed not by the President, but all elective officials as well including for sure those who lose their election bid.

In short, those who demanded the resignation of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) for her "mea culpa" in admitting that she talked with Garci should also resign out of delicadeza. Of course, it would take a miracle even if just one of those politicians would quit their positions now that the cat is out of the bag that they too called Garci.

Certainly, this national outcry has been most embarrassing for our self-serving politicians. It turns out now that many of them are guilty that we're only getting this story from Garci. For sure the other Comelec Commissioners will reveal how many more called on them to protect their ballots or worse, even cheat for them! This is how ugly our political system has become and it is right to totally overhaul our system of governance where these things would be the exception, rather than the rule.

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That we are experiencing a Korean invasion with direct flights from Seoul is a strange phenomenon that can be explained only by the efficiency of the Koreans. They come for a long vacation in Cebu, while at the same time, they are opening small English language schools operated by Koreans so when they Korean vacationers go home, they didn't only have fun in the sun, but at the same time, they learned how to speak English in Cebu.

The Korean invasion has created a ripple of economic activities in Cebu, filling up taxis, hotel rooms, golf courses and restaurants. Surely the Bureau of Immigration (BID) knew what the Koreans were doing, when all of the sudden, the BID pulled out an old Memorandum Order No. ADD-02-006 signed by then Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo on Feb.5, 2002, exacting an Accreditation fee of P50,000 per foreigner who teaches in short term English language schools.

Now, I'm not against the BID getting a small share in this growing industry, but P50 thousand a pop is just too much. It's more of a fine than a fee! I'm afraid that this might just reverse the current trend and the Koreans may find another country willing to accept them. There's an old saying, which goes, "Do not kill the goose that lays the golden egg!" In this case, we're not only getting the golden egg, we're also cooking the goose!

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