Manny Pacquiao and BREDCO

An item in one of the sports pages caught my attention Sunday. It said that Manny Pacquiao has set up his own office at the Tektite East Tower, I think at Ortigas Avenue or somewhere in Makati. It also said that the well-furnished office has a floor space of 109 square meters, and that he is paying P50,000 a month as rental. My! That means P600,000 a year, only P200,000 less than what BREDCO is paying Bacolod City which is P800,000. I'm not too good at computations, but I think that is about P66,650 a month only. How many hectares does the reclamation area have, by the way?

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The controversial People's Initiative has created such a ruckus that people are distracted from other ongoing issues. Perhaps that is the intent of it all? Now people have been giving their own interpretation of "PI", originally meant to be "People's Initiative". The new names are "Palace Initiative," "Political Initiative" and "Presidential Initiative". I'm sure more interpretations are forthcoming, because Pinoys are geniuses at name-calling.

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But could last Saturday's activities have been an exercise in futility? So many solons, both pro and anti administration, are chafing against it, saying there is no provision allowing it in the Constitution. Senator Miriam Santiago, Mar Roxas, Kiko Pangilinan and several others have stressed this, but it look as if some sectors want to ram it down the people's throats. Poor Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos, he is caught in the crossfire this time. The solons are ganging up on him, but he has also to consider that Malacañang can hold the voting machines issue over his head.

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What many are questioning is the fact that a government agency, the Department of Interior and Local Government, is the one most interested in pursuing the initiative. In the local barangays, the DILG people are the ones telling the media about the gathering. But, as a congressman from Agusan del Sur said, the "assemblies" supposedly took up gender issues, barangay concerns and "blah-blah-blah", after which came the signing. He called it a "great deceit" and added, "I don't think they are being fair and truthful to the people". Who's talking about fairness here?

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Meanwhile, the Department of Education has warned that schools with abusive teachers will be closed. Why? Would it not be better to remove the abusive teachers and the principal abetting them than to punish the entire studentry? That sounds like a knee-jerk reaction, one that could make the officials appear strict and stern, but not a solution to the problem at all. Maybe the DepEd official who announced that was in a bad mood because this week, the Supreme Court gave a ruling against another abusive teacher.

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The High Court turned down the petition of elementary teacher Laila de Ocampo to dismiss the resolution of the Justice Department recommending her prosecution. What did Ms. De Ocampo do? She banged the heads of two nine-year-old pupils who were said to be unruly. One of them, Ronald Vacarra, complained of dizziness when he got home and later vomitted continuously until his parents took him to the hospital. An x-ray showed that his skull had cracked. He died on Dec. 9, 1999, two or three days later. I agree with Mike Luz that that there are thousands and thousands of very good and very kind teachers, but it seems DepEd also has some Terrorist Teachers there.

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Now, now. Former San Juan Mayor and presidential son Jinggoy Estrada is challenging presidential spouse Mike Arroyo to a debate on smuggling to be held at the EDSA Shrine or the Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila. Why not Plaza Miranda? The late beloved President Ramon Magsaysay was noted for saying of every issue: "Can we defend this at Plaza Miranda?" On second thought, why don't they hold the debate at, say, the Araneta Coliseum or the Rizal Memorial Stadium? This way they can charge entrance fees to the thousands sure to flock to it. The money collected will be given to the foundation of whoever wins the word war.

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A late report that came in while this was being written says that the ceiling of the new international airport supposed to be opened on Thursday has collapsed, in the portion right over the arrival area. Is that a bad luck sign? Of course the inauguration rites are being postponed, another portion might fall on the VIPs cutting the ribbon or going around the place. The airport reportedly cost $650 million. Where's the engineer, the contractor? Have they been paid already?*

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