EDITORIAL - Setbacks meant to happen

Frustration can sometimes father, or mother for that matter, the strangest of ideas. Take the case of Customs commissioner Ruffy Biazon, whose utter failure to curb smuggling led to the idea of abolishing the bureau instead.

Kung walang Customs, e di wala na ring smuggling. Somehow, this idea gives one the creepy feeling of having heard it somewhere, as in kung walang kurap wala na ring mahirap. Either way, the formula just fails to be reassuring.

Another strange idea came following a series of Comelec reversals at the Supreme Court. Better for Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes to resign, it was suggested. Again the creepy logic strikes. If there is no chairman, there is nobody to mope over judicial debacles.

The problem at Customs is not Ruffy Biazon. Unfortunately, he is not the solution either. The problem at Customs is that there is so much money to be made there, everybody cannot but be a part of it. Everybody has his price, it is said. Eventually, that price will be reached.

The alternative is, of course, unthinkable. With everyone so happy, any spoiler of the party will always be in mortal danger, and we have seen examples of this time and again. And so the operative word is to play the game, the only caveat being do not make the fun so brazen.

It was therefore wrong to send in a person like Ruffy Biazon, if the only reason for his mission is as payback for political considerations. There is no doubt the man is imbued with good intentions. But good intentions alone do not realize missions, especially at Customs.

As to Brillantes, the guy was so thankful for his appointment that he has led the Comelec into making all sorts of heady but unrealistic and unachievable regulations, rules that can stand only for as long as they are not legally questioned.

Unfortunately for Brillantes, gone are the days when temerity and awe were the hallmarks of Filipinos confronted with authority. Now, there are many who would dare challenge authority, some simply for the sheer joy of seizing the opportunity to make a challenge.

Even more unfortunately for Brillantes, such challenges against a constitutional body like the Comelec can only be made at the Supreme Court, peopled by those whose own authority and credibility have been severely tested and are quite eager to prove themselves.