Ungentlemanly and undiplomatic

I am bewildered by the action of President Bongbong Marcos who “invited” Ambassador Marie Fontanel of France and Czech Republic Chargé d’Affaires Eva Tenzin to express disappointment that Zaldy Co was never arrested or imprisoned in their country or in Europe.

It was bad enough that several government officials had committed a major political and communication blunder by blabbering fake news, but whoever advised the President to call the ambassadors to Malacañang to express his disappointment was not helping PBBM.

Such an “incident” like the non-arrest of Zaldy Co is diplomatically left to the secretary of Foreign Affairs to handle verbally or officially and in writing for emphasis. Inviting ambassadors to lament over a non-arrest, no matter who, is an overkill. It’s like crying over spilled milk.

Yes, the President is disappointed, perhaps even embarrassed. But who caused the embarrassment? Was it not his own bunch of over eager sidekicks who leaked and later made a big show of the arrest that never happened or never stuck?

What did the President hope to gain, an official apology or a lengthy explanation on the laws and circumstances covering the non-arrest of Zaldy Co?

Once again, the government wasted time and resources on something the PBBM administration could have nipped in the bud by exercising the same so-called political will when they grabbed and deported former president Digong Duterte.

Instead of a now suspected stage show or zarzuela of inviting foreign diplomats to express his disappointment, PBBM should investigate and punish the people who fed him wrong or incomplete information.

If the miscommunication and non-arrest of Zaldy Co was serious enough to merit calling foreign diplomats, then PBBM should not be content with mere apologies from guilty government officials. They should be fired.

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Word from San Miguel Corporation is that in about two to three weeks, all the smoke and haze coming out of the Navotas landfill will be put out using six units of 3,000-ton barges that will dump soil over the landfill.

After smothering the combusting garbage, garbage compacting equipment will be sent in to compress the garbage and topsoil to a density from 10 meters to five meters, which will effectively deplete much of the air space for fires to burn underneath.

SMC also continues with its commitment to help reduce flooding and cleaning up rivers around Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

No less than Ramon Ang, president/CEO of San Miguel, has expressed willingness to help form a “flood control volunteer brigade,” much like the volunteer fire brigades that have successfully put fires under control nationwide.

Now that there is no more money to be made by politicians from ghost flood control projects, why not let the private sector and volunteers help fix the problems in their areas?

For instance, the SMC leader shared how the Manggahan Floodway has become heavily silted. The floodway serves as a back-up route for heavy rainfall heading towards the Marikina River. But with the silt blocking the flow, we can expect floods along the path of the Marikina River in the next rainy season.

I believe the matter has already been brought to the attention of DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon. Here’s a good chance for continuing cooperation between SMC and DPWH.

As far as resolving the flood control controversy, RSA shared that the best, simplest and least costly is to bring back all the rivers to their natural state. I saw how this was done in Guangzhou, China and their seven rivers.

In the Philippines, there are places where people might say “a river ran through it,” but with the volunteer brigade, we could quote the movie, “A river runs through it.”

Will he or won’t he?

That is the big question now being asked in business circles as well as among opinion writers and with that question, bets are on if President Bongbong Marcos will go after his cousin, former speaker Martin Romualdez.

The second question is: will Martin Romualdez allow Malacañang to “throw him under the bus” without dragging the Marcos-Romualdez clan with him? If no one comes to his defense, will he take “Cong. Tractors” as well?

Will Malacañang go the biblical way, following the principle of Caiaphas: “It is better that one man suffers instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish” (John 11:49-50).

So far, the sentiments from businessmen, media and politicians is that BBM will cut ties with his cousin and “feed him to the lions” a few weeks before the next State of the Nation Address or SONA 2026.

How will Malacañang extricate or insulate themselves from the expected counter offensive that Martin Romualdez may launch? Rumors are already flying that the first casualty of the family feud will be Congressman Sandro Marcos, who is considered a protégé of Martin Romualdez.

While people are amusing and musing over “what might be,” I am hounded by the events during the time of Cory Aquino, who had to fight and survive so many coup d’états as opponents spent so much money to unseat her and grab power.

Such things will bury us deeper and poorer, and that we can all bet on.

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