Children of a lesser god

Many years ago, I was told how the sons of famous military and police generals who attended the Philippine Military Academy would go through a regular ritual of intimidation, ridicule and punishment for the slightest mistake. It was the price to pay for “following in the footsteps” of a PMAer and thinking you had it in you.

Every COO or “Child Of Owner” goes through such challenges and intimidation at work and in society in general. It is how weaklings and self-centered individuals channel their frustration for being just an employee or of lower rank; they take it out on the “child,” especially those who were cursed or blessed to have the same name as the successful parent.

What made me remember the PMA story was the “added touch” to the PMA ritual. While you were doing push-ups, squats or worse, doing sit ups with an upper-class man stepping on your stomach, I was told that a small group would be singing to you:

“Sons of God, hear their holy word, gather round the table of the lord. Eat his body, drink his blood and we’ll sing a song of love. Alelu, allelu, allelu, alleluia.”

Moving on to 2023 and watching the news, I came to realize how the media has sensationalized the crimes of “mere mortals” but not the offenses of the children of lesser gods or government officials. Take, for instance, the NAIA screener at the Office for Transport Security who allegedly swallowed $300.

Even before her alleged crime could be proven beyond reasonable doubt, her face had been plastered all over social media, her boss threw her under the bus of judgment and ridicule and, because the only way it can be proven is to detain her and get a stool sample for fecal analysis, no one could say the “s**t” word or propose the procedure!

When the story broke on social media and the news, the focus and hype was all about the $300 being swallowed whole. Authorities and pundits alike even gave their “expert” opinion on how chocolates are normally eaten compared to a roll of $300 that is swallowed! Unless you crumpled old bills one after another, swallowed and flushed them with water, any attempt at swallowing a “roll” would lead to instant choking and gagging.

To be clear, I am not defending or lawyering for the OTS screener. But when you consider other incidents of money disappearing in a flash, Filipinos clearly have double standards when it comes to public judgments.

Right now, the value of $300 is P17,073. When you deduct that amount from P125,000,000 the difference is P124,982,927. So how come no one is raising hell over the P125 million spent in 11 days by the Office of the Vice President?  Except for a few progressive or left leaning individuals in the public space, hardly anyone in Congress, the Senate, media, the ombudsman or COA has called out the Office of the Vice President on how all that money was spent in 11 Days.

If an OTS screener is being held accountable under suspicion, then so should the OVP. There may be no actual crime involved but there is an inherent duty and responsibility on the part of the OVP to explain and clarify matters regarding the speed or haste of spending P125,000,000 in 11 days. No, it is not a laughing matter; no, it should not be addressed with sarcasm or injected with political color.

Fair is fair, the OVP should be given a chance to clarify, the same way the OTS screener should have been processed properly and fairly and made to explain. The OVP has too much to lose in terms of reputation and integrity not to explain how and why they spent the P125 million. It is the OVP’s job, preferably Vice President Sara Duterte herself, and not a task to be passed on to or shouldered by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who was quoted as saying that the P125 million was spent in putting up satellite offices for the OVP.

As for the issue involving the OTS screener, Speaker Martin Romualdez has called out the head of the OTS to tender his resignation. Before accepting the resignation, Romualdez should have a congressional audit on the personal history and background of all OTS personnel. Perhaps somewhere in there lies the answer to why OTS personnel are regularly involved in theft and human trafficking.

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Motorists: Beware of EMBOLDENED individuals actively baiting drivers to fight with them.

A retired senior citizen was happily driving his vintage Mercedes Benz somewhere along Katipunan Avenue last weekend when he found himself stuck behind a cyclist right in the middle of the four-lane road of Katipunan Avenue instead of the bicycle lane or path that Quezon City has put up all over the city.

The senior citizen driver lightly honked his horn at the cyclist to catch his attention and to avoid an accident. But instead, the cyclist stared at the driver and actively blocked and swerved towards his car and antagonized the elder driver until they were already next to the curb. Given that the senior driver was a known public figure and well aware of road rage incidents being shown in media, the driver kept his cool even when the cyclist was challenging him to come out of his car.

The driver told me that the cyclist was clearly baiting him into a fight and was probably hoping to get his every step on a body camera. Too bad for the cyclist, his antics were noticed by security personnel, who took him as an active threat to the driver’s life and grabbed him from behind!