A deafening silence from former CJ Davide?

Last Monday, we had rains the whole day and night and as I drove along Salinas Drive yesterday morning, the whole stretch of the road was littered with debris, mostly plastic and paper strewn all over the road. This was proof that because of the rains, Salinas Drive once more became a river. The debris is also proof that the people who live up in the hills and mountains never threw their garbage in the proper receptacles or no one picked up their garbage to throw it in the dumpsite. As the old saying goes, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” How far away we have turned our backs from God!

Remember the slogan that then Mayor Tomas Osmeña used, “Cebu, a City Next to None!” That was of course in reference to Singapore, which many Cebuanos looked up as an example of what Cebu could become if we pushed the right buttons. But that political slogan may have perked up our idealism and motivated us to move Cebu to greater heights especially when we bagged the prestigious 8th place as Best Place to Live in Asia. But in the end, it only resulted in cementing the political power of the Osmeña family who ruled Cebu for more than two decades.

Once more Cebuanos ought to ask that poignant question whether or not Cebu can really be a Singapore… a City Next to None? Gauging from the debris field along Salinas Drive yesterday and the flooding along Consolacion, I don’t think we can be the next Singapore… not even close. This is due to our bad attitude, which we never try to correct.

When I see jeepneys running at night without their headlights and thus causing a grave danger to oncoming motorists or pedestrians crossing the street… that’s one bad attitude we should have fixed a long time ago. But then our local government officials don’t have the political will to rid our streets with drivers that pose a grave danger to other motorists.

At this point, it is time to ask ourselves who should lead Cebu into the future? Can we rely on our current political leadership? Based on the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, we have seen how our political leaders played too much politics… and thus simply signed the impeachment complaint without even going to a debate on this issue. Shame on those who signed that complaint! That’s what I call a bad attitude.

If you remember way back in the 2003, there was also an impeachment attempt against our fellow Cebuano, former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr., which was signed by 93 Congressmen or 41% of the House of Representatives. That complaint was about the misuse of the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF). Thankfully, Cebuanos turned out in droves to support Chief Justice Davide, not only personally, but because we wanted the Judiciary to be independent from the Legislative mob rule.

Somehow in this new impeachment complaint against CJ Corona, former Chief Justice Davide’s silence is quite deafening. We know that he supports Pres. PNoy, but shouldn’t he also be defending the very institution that he used to lead? Or is the former Chief Justice telling us that those accusations against CJ Corona (some are similar to his own complaint) are valid? Regardless of his stand, we would like to hear from the former Chief Justice so we can evaluate his thoughts on the coming impeachment trial of CJ Corona. As I’ve said already, now is the time for statesmanship, not politicking as we are already nauseated by ugly politics that destroys our democracy.

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If there’s anything I’m proud to be a Filipino, it is that in times of crisis, we go out of our way to help our beleaguered brethren and this year’s finest hour is how Filipinos helped or shared whatever blessings they had to help the victims of Typhoon Sendong that devastated Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City and Dumaguete City. I gathered from news reports that the Philippine Navy has already sent a vessel loaded with relief goods to bring to Mindanao.

Even the international community came out to help. I even got a personal letter from the Embassy of the Republic of Korea (though it was wrongly addressed as Shooting Straight of the Philippine Daily Inquirer) with a letter from President Lee Myung-bak expressing his deepest condolences to the Philippines and extending humanitarian aid. The United States also sent more than P34 Million in logistic support like water distribution and temporary shelters. Our Rotarians in Cebu also did a vigorous donation campaign for aid or donations in kind.

Globe Telecom immediately responded to the call for communication services by setting up “Libreng Tawag” operations in the devastated areas in Northern Mindanao and Negros Oriental even opening up a GCash donation facility to aid in the relief operations. They already got close to P350,000 in donations through the GCash program. Kudos to Globe Telecom.

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