An incomprehensible twist of fate

When my daughter Belynda called me, sometime in June, that she was coming home this month, I pleaded with her to come before December 21, 2012. She was curious why I was specific on a certain day of her homecoming. Her plan was to visit us in the last week of December because her leave is brief and she wanted to stay with us for an important January celebration.

I could not tell her then that I was influenced (?) by a series of television shows forecasting an unknown event, predicted by doomsday soothsayers to be dreadful, to take place on that date. That the Mayan calendar apparently only scripted December 21, 2012, but did not etch on their walls what was to come made my position quite ridiculous. When in July, I could no longer suppress the information regarding that unknown something, Belynda laughed.  Of course, she apologized for laughing.

What took place several days ago also looked like a dry run of a dreadful Mayan event. Someone from the provincial government sent me a text inquiring for a certain document I was supposed to be familiar with. It referred to a project that Her Honor, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, pursued, the codification of the ordinances of the province.

Gov. Gwen, well she might have been recently suspended but that fact does not take away the tremendous leadership she had shown, dreamt “of putting into codes the various ordinances that our previous leaders cast” because “coming, as I do, from a family of lawyers, I believe that x x it is important to recognize the role of laws in our society”. That summed up her enthusiasm to work for the reality of a dream.

The task of codifying the ordinances of the province fell on my aging shoulder but the experience was worth more than its value in gold. From the bidding process which was, to a private citizen like me, most meticulous and daunting until I submitted all the draft codes, the zeal of the governor and the collective support of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, led by the Honorable Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, now the acting governor, provided all that I spiritually needed to finish the work head of time. I submitted the last draft code in July 2012 and so I thought, I was done.

Thinking that the late request for a document was purely routine, I complied with it as fast as I could. After all, everything was above board. But, the simple request was followed with some inquiries that my lawyer’s instinct told me something was afoot. So, I quickly answered every question coming my way with a huge amount of transparency, if only to help whoever was looking for something find out what he set himself up to do.

Then, came the suspension of Gov. Gwen. A day later, I saw on television the alleged causes of action against the governor. The codification project was one such issue that it explained what the earlier questions were for.

If indeed the codification is one cross Gov. Gwen is to bear, I am sure that in the days to come, investigating authorities will come face to face with hard facts. They will realize that I was asked to submit a proposal to codify the ordinances of the province to the office of the vice governor and the provincial board, in 2010 yet. Gov. Gwen was not in the picture although, I was told, she wanted Cebu to be the first province to have its ordinances codified.  

Probably, the late Vice Governor Gregorio Sanchez, either did not believe in the project or did not find merit in my proposal. He must have seen the garbage can as the fitting resting place for my proposal because he did not even find it necessary to accord me with a reply. But, when he crossed the great barrier, the Sanggunian Panlalawigan revved it up and apparently after taking the issue with the governor, the board found the energy to pursue an otherwise dead program.

Sadly, the objective that the Sanggunian Members and the Vice Governor, now Acting Gov. Magpale, pursued and completed with dignified vigor is a matter for which Gov. Gwen is crucified. What an incomprehensible twist of fate!

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