Hide-and-Seek

Being informed that former Senator Gringo Honasan is now subject of a nation-wide manhunt by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, I could not help but remember his being at the top of the most-wanted list of our law enforcement institution during the Cory Administration and now he is again a back to the being wanted. One full cycle from hiding to being found, escaped, found, elected to the Senate, back to being a subject of a search and arrest effort. Indeed the high and low of (political) life is being dramatically shown in real life and reveal that the daily choices we make determine direction and location of where we stand tomorrow.

Last August this column wrote also on hide-and-seek, that time it was Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano who was nowhere to be found. Still also to be found is former Agriculture Undersecretary "Jocjoc" Bolante. The former took time to finally appear before the Senate while the latter is still considering the summons. In due time the hiding will be found, the defiant broken to be compliant. Meanwhile, we citizens continue with our daily lives solving problems, addressing needs and doing our best to learn to live with less to enable to give more, entrusting our leaders to think, act and decide for the common good truthfully righteous. We are certain that the truth has its way of revealing itself at its perfect time and hopefully sooner rather than later the various national issues are resolved before we indeed, as one columnist has declared, are unable to handle the truth of who we are and what we have become as a people. Hide-and-seek is an enjoyable game for the children, however when played on the national level by public officials, the process is extremely dangerous to our children's' future.

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The resignation of Solicitor General Alfredo Benipayo because "he wanted to go back to private life", in my opinion, is a decision based on the realization that his continued public service would do more harm than good. The next chapter of his story will reveal the opportunity to determine whose good was Solgen Benipayo defending.

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To end, let us remember our days of playing hide and seek and remember those who hide soon get into bigger trouble with this story. The boss of a big company needed to call one of his employees about an urgent problem with one of the main computers. He dialed the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whispered, "Hello?" Feeling put out at the inconvenience of having to talk to a youngster the boss asked, "Is your Daddy home?" "Yes", whispered the small voice. "May I talk with him?" the man asked. To the surprise of the boss, the small voice whispered, "No." Wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, "Is your Mommy there?" "Yes", came the answer. "May I talk with her?" Again the small voice whispered, "No." Knowing that it was not likely that a young child would be left home alone the boss decided he would just leave a message with the person who should be there watching over the child. "Is there any one there besides you?" the boss asked the child. "Yes" whispered the child, "a policeman." Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss asked, "May I speak with the policeman?" "No, he's busy," whispered the child. "Busy doing what?" asked the boss. "Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman", came the whispered answer. Growing concerned and even worried as he heard what sounded like a helicopter through the earpiece on the phone the boss asked, "What is that noise?" "A hello-copper" answered the whispering voice. "What is going on there?" asked the boss, now alarmed. In an awed whispering voice the child answered, "The search team just landed the hello-copper." Alarmed, concerned, and more than just a little frustrated the boss asked, "What are they searching for?" Still whispering, the young voice replied along with a muffled giggle: "Me!"*