How many more spins?

In the past few days, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez has been spinning one story after another in a futile attempt to justify the terrible violation of human rights Wednesday at the Iloilo Provincial Capitol. The police tried to eject Iloilo Governor Niel Tupas from his post as governor of the province.

First, Raul claimed that truckloads of goods and NPA guerillas were being transported to the capitol at night. Unfortunately, that was a report that never was validated. Not even by the police.

That also included another canard about inmates of the provincial rehabilitation center released and armed to provide additional help for Tupas. And also turned out like a boy crying wolf several times.

Now, Gonzalez is demanding that the Department of Interior and Local Government probe the Philippine Air Force for having dispatched a C-130 plane with PAF personnel, mostly classmates of a son of Governor Niel Tupas, and ready to defend him.

That plane reportedly "landed somewhere in the province on the day of the capitol siege."

The tales are growing taller and taller. Just like Pinocchio's nose.

And Justice Secretary Gonzalez said he is quitting government service because he wants to run in lieu of his son for congressman of the lone city district.

It seems that Gonzalez just could not bear the wheel of fortune knocking at his doorsteps. He still nurses the ambition that despite what happened to Tupas, he will still grab the congressional race. Most likely against Senate President Franklin Drilon.

You know, I seldom pin my perceptions on those of local residents or sympathizers. But yesterday, although there were a lot of locals in Iloilo City and Sta. Barbara, I listened to Antique Governor Sally Zaldivar-Perez and former President Fidel V. Ramos as well as other officials of the National Historical Institute.

And the common perception is that the Iloilo capitol incident has outraged the entire nation. And even the Commission on Human Rights, whom Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez had accused of forming their judgment about the incident based only on watching TV footages, agreed that the fallout was devastating to the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The irony, said Antique Governor Perez, chairman of the Western Visayas Regional Development Council, is that the President had nothing to do with the mess.

She even gave the nod to the requests of both Gov. Perez and Bohol Governor Enrico Aumentado for 72 hours to convince Tupas to vacate his post if served the Ombudsman order of suspension.

Amid all the welter of most bizarre claims about smuggled weapons and trove of arms, the police managed to produce only one single Baby Armalite with 19 rounds of ammunition. And that was supposed to battle the 200 policemen who went to the capitol to eject Tupas.

As I had earlier said, the tales are getting more bizarre and incredible. But they still insist on them. Well, perhaps …

Yesterday, when I came in from Iloilo where I had attended the Sta. Barbara Golf Course centenary celebration, I found myself confronted by another bizarre turn of events.

It seems that Mapalad members tried to get in touch with several radiomen asking them to go to Hacienda Malaga in La Castellana where the DAR was reportedly poised to install agrarian reform beneficiaries.

DAR officials, however, denied having scheduled such installation. And mediamen found themselves confronted by mediamen from outside the province.

Funnier still. Two employees of Bob Cuenca, the owner of the hacienda, landed in the hospital yesterday with wounds.

There was also at the same time, a conference of the TFM in Davao. And the timing of the alarms in Negros seemed designed to project the Davao confab.

Luckily, the DAR officials said they are verifying if TFM members tried to install themselves and they were going to file the corresponding charges against them.

Curious. Don't you think so? Even local broadcasters were turned off yesterday by such strange maneuvers.*

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