Who engineered Mangaoang's ill-fated ouster?

As if we didn't hear it coming when a few weeks ago, there was an obvious, but-not-so-cleverly-planned albeit vicious campaign to oust Bureau of Customs (BoC) Cebu Port Collector Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang from Cebu. The first one I noticed came from my friend David "Boy" Odilao who rattled off statistics about Mangaoang's supposedly poor performance. Odilao wasn't alone; this propaganda against Mangaoang was also coming from other directions via text or email.

One email I got came from that someone who calls himself the Blue Angel, but who refused to give me his or her identification, asking me to write about the coming of a Ms. Grace Caringal to replace Mangaoang. I told this writer that if he cannot even trust me not to publish his name, why should I bother to print his story in the first place? For all I know, Blue Angel could be someone behind the syndicate that assassinated the late Cebu Port Collector Edgardo "Wewe" Lao because the mastermind of his killing has never been brought out in the open. Because they couldn't get rid of Wewe Lao through other means, they had him killed!

Well now it can be told that this concerted effort to oust Collector Mangaoang bore fruit over the weekend and the news came out that indeed, Mangaoang had been replaced by Grace Caringal. It would seem that the powers that be believed in the vicious black propaganda about Mangaoang's poor performance in the Port of Cebu. As we said in our earlier article, the Cebu Port wasn't alone in having revenue problems with the political instability that this nation has been suffering with our quarreling politicians.

Last Wednesday afternoon, I got a text from PR man Cerwin Eviota inviting me to a presscon on behalf of Grace Caringal, the newly designated Collector of Cebu. I texted Cerwin back that I was still in Manila so I couldn't attend his presscon at the Cebu Grand Hotel. But since I was with press people in Manila, I got a text from our connection in Subic that Caringal had a meeting with the Subic Customs personnel to tell them that she was still the Collector in Subic. Obviously, this woman was as "segurista" trying to hold on to two positions to ensure she would hold either one.

Enter the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) from the Court of Appeals (CA) virtually freezing the shuffling of Customs Posts, which meant things had to be in a status quo at least for 60 days. Then came the recall order from no less than the man himself Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, which gave a double whammy to the efforts by those who tried to move heaven and earth to bring Grace Caringal to the Port of Cebu. I had a telephone interview with Ms. Mangaoang about this and all she said was, "This issue obviously strengthens her position from the Court of Appeals." What I gathered from her was, Grace Karingal is now in a bind, that she cannot even hold on to her Subic post as the Teves order sort of rescinds that, which means, she's headed back to her old post at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

This case makes you wonder why in heavens does Grace Caringal or her "handlers" want so badly to get rid of Ms. Mangaoang? Who is behind this caper? The only people out in the open is David Odilao and Cerwin Eviota. I do not believe Odilao is acting on his own, while Eviota is merely a PR man. On the other hand, Ms. Mangaoang was also accused of hiring a PR man. In fairness to her, I called Ms. Mangaoang and no, she didn't refer me to any PR man and answered my queries directly, which tells you that it is not true that she hired a PR man; otherwise that PR man would have called me already.

Let me point out that we're not trying to take sides here. If there's anything going for Ms. Mangaoang, it is that, when I called her to appear before my talkshow, Straight from the Sky, she readily went to the studio for the interview, which was shown, on Nov.21, 2005. She gamely answered all my questions, which revealed that she really had nothing to hide.

During my tv interview, I learned that Ms. Mangaoang graduated Law at the University of the Philippines, Diliman and passed the Bar with a grade of 82.20%. She was best Girl Scout of the Year in her school in Davao City.

As for Ms. Grace Caringal, I'm sorry if I say that she pales in comparison with Ms. Mangaoang, especially when I learned that she's a licensed Pharmacist who graduated from Centro Escolar. Again, we would like to know who was behind the move to bring Caringal to Cebu? As for Ms. Mangaoang, she ought to beef up her security because now those people might get desperate and use other ways to get rid of her, the way they did Wewe Lao.

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