Carts before horses

Atty. Rowena V. Guanzon of the U.P. College of Law and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government served as municipal mayor, UP law professor, a Commissioner at the Commission on Audit before being appointed to the Commission on Elections. When her former chair Andres D. Bautista resigned, Comm. Guanzon inherited the mantle of Commissioner with the most outstanding qualification, going by educational attainment and public service experience.

Hands down, Comm. Guanzon’s record at the Comelec has been outstanding. She was breathtakingly independent. Ask Ronald Cardema of Duterte Youth and even chairman Andy Bautista. Their clashes became fodder for tri-media print and airspace. Not even 2016 presidential candidates Grace Poe and Rodrigo Roa Duterte were spared a piece of her mind. The Comelec’s credibility as an institution was strengthened by having Comm. Guanzon in its ranks.

Independence or vigilantism. However you process her pre-emptive final acts of broadcasting her dissent to the yet unwritten ponencia on the consolidated Marcos disqualification cases and of publicly levelling insinuations against a fellow commissioner, you have to concede that she has earned the right X times over to speak her mind. Too bad, though, about the damaging effects on the very credibility and independence of the institution she would protect from being gamed. When she boldly reminded chairman Bautista in 2016 that she was not his subordinate, the premise was clear that the Commission acts collegially. No one commissioner (or chairman) is above it.

Transparency got a big boost as the public was handed a front seat into the Comelec’s inner sanctum and the politics in how their decisions are made (or not). But transparent becomes opaque when there are more than 50 shades to reading her agenda. In the end, this Queen’s gambit paid off in that her precious, personal position was publicized. But it failed to checkmate the division and force an earlier endgame.

It’s in the air. Senator Dick Gordon must have reached the same Rubicon when releasing the draft Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) report on the Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation procurement. As BRC chair, Sen. Gordon has seized his moment, often taking solo billing in exposing the irregularities unearthed by the probe.

The BRC report tracks the findings of the House committee on good government and accountability on the liability of (a) Pharmally corporate officials for estafa and (b) of two lesser DBM-Procurement Service officials for falsification of documents. Even with its surprisingly friendly approach, the House panel still confirmed the questionable nature of the procurement.

The Senate BRC report, however, goes steps further to include Lloyd Christopher Lao, Warren Liong and Sec. Francisco Duque. The recommendation is to charge them with: fraud against the public treasury, graft & corruption and plunder. For the Pharmally officers, additionally, there are perjury/false testimony, disobedience to summons of Congress, violation of Bayanihan Act, Revised Corporation Code and Government Procurement Act. For Michael Yang and Co., the recommendation is deportation and graft charges.

The back and forth between the BRC and Malacañang has been a fertile ground for educating us on the natural tension between Legislative oversight and Executive privilege. Unlike the Comelec infighting, however, this sort of partisan wrangling is de rigeur for political bodies. The entire Blue Ribbon investigation is precisely part of checks and balance in action.

Twisting in the wind. The House report was duly approved by the House committee members but the Senate report has not gotten the same institutional reinforcement from the senators. Even staunch oppositionist Sen. Panfilo Lacson will have words with Sen. Gordon on the recommendation to charge President Rodrigo Roa Duterte after his term for actions constituting “betrayal of the public trust.”

The Senate adjourned last Thursday without acting on the BRC report. They will resume in May, after elections when they convene to canvass the election results and proclaim our next president.

For now, like Comm. Guanzon’s separate opinion, it’s a draft.

Year of the tiger, eye of the tiger. Whatever else happens this 2022, in sports we can already consider it a banner year. It began with the impressive win of Mark “Magnifico” Magsayo over WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. The latter was known as boxing’s longest reigning champion, having held his belt for seven years.

We are a nation accustomed to having a boxing world champion. Since Pancho Villa’s 1923 victory, the Philippines has been No. 9 worldwide in champions produced. Senator Emmanuel D. Pacquiao alone, with his 8 division belts, was a champion for 23 years. Magsayo joins Jerwin Ancajas, Joh Riel Casimero, Rene Cuarto and Nonito Donaire as the country’s reigning world champs in their divisions.

2021 US Women’s Open champion Yuka Saso of San Ildefonso, Bulacan, a.k.a. TOTGA, now plays for the colors of her other native country, Japan. Yuka has been right in the mix in the first two US LPGA tournaments she entered. She was 6th in her first tourney and 3rd last week, against the best players in the world. Combined, her total purse for January alone is at P10.2 million. She has regained her high rank as world No. 7.

But, hands down, the year’s cinderella story is the Philippine Women’s National Football Team and their shock qualification for the 2023 FIFA World Cup (WC). At the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in India, they collected their first ever win (in 14 tries) against highly rated Thailand, blanked Indonesia 6-0 and held mighty Australia to a draw in the first half of their match. In the quarterfinals, they downed Chinese Taipei in a dramatic penalty shoot-out to advance to the semis. All in all, it was a well-deserved result to land in the semis with super teams China, Japan and South Korea. It also came with the sweet bonus of clinching outright WC qualification. This is truly historical for the country.

The core of the team is comprised of Pinays who collected their experience abroad, whose heritage afforded them the opportunity at higher level exposure in the sport. It’s the Azkals story retold – to even better results.