E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
Committee Report No. 66
Sunday, 04 13, 2003
Committee Report No. 66 of the Senate committees on public order and blue ribbon, respectively, on the inquiry into the veracity of the claims and statements of Ador Mawanay linking Sen. Ping Lacson, among others, to organized criminal activities such as kidnap-for-ransom, summary execution, smuggling and illegal drug transactions, came up with this recommendation: Admonish and strongly reprimand Col. Victor Corpus of the Isafp and his men “for presenting witness Ador Mawanay, whose testimony the committees found to be unreliable and without credence.”
Proposed Senate Resolution No. 49, which set the Senate probe into motion, was premised on the claims and statements of Mawanay, who served as the principal witness of the committees. All others who were presented, including Mary “Rosebud” Ong, were corroborating witnesses. A corroborating testimony is one supplementary to that already given and tending to strengthen or confirm it. Oddly, though, while the principal witness (Mawanay) was labeled as “unreliable and without credence,” the testimony of the other witnesses who were there merely to corroborate him were admitted by the committees. If the principal witness is not believable, and his testimony (which is unreliable) has not thereby established anything, then there is nothing in his testimony that can be corroborated. If all statements and claims of the principal witness – who is expected to make out and establish the case against Lacson, et al. – are not credible and have not established the culpability of the latter, then there is nothing to corroborate or to strengthen or confirm, much less add weight or credibility to.
A dissent to the report, submitted by Sen. Ed Angara, clearly spelled out this irony: “P.S. Resolution 49 which initiated the investigations calls for an inquiry into the claims and statements of principal witness Ador Mawanay linking high ranking officials of the defunct PAOCTF to organized criminal activities. It should be noted that the committees themselves have found Ador Mawanay unreliable; but strangely, the corroborating testimony of Mary Ong was given credence in the report. If the testimony of the principal witness was found to be wanting in truth, then it is difficult to believe that a case will be established by a mere corroborating witness.”
Report No. 66 has been submitted to the senators for their signatures. To those senators who signed the report long before Mawanay went public to recant his previous accusations against Lacson, et al., in all likelihood they will change their votes when the report is finally submitted for approval in plenary when the Senate resumes its sessions next week.
For having testified falsely, Mawanay could be cited for contempt by the Senate committees before whom he presented his coached and made-up stories. In addition, he could be haled to court for perjury. Mawanay has done damage to the Senate and to the integrity of its proceedings. It is about time Sen. Jun Magsaysay follows up on his threat to teach Mawanay a lesson, by filing the appropriate charges against the latter.
000 --- 000
Republic Act No. 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, requires public officials to act with dispatch on all matters referred to them, and not later than 15 working days from referral. Employees of the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) are poised to file appropriate charges against the administrator of the LRTA, for his failure to act on their claim for backwages and benefits, despite the release to him by the Department of Budget and Management of the necessary funds. The employees, who claim to have been given the run-around by the administrator, have been clamoring for the release of their claims for the past three years. Public officials, who turn a deaf ear to the plight of hapless employees who have legitimate claims, deserve to be punished.
000 --- 000
The reported silence of the Catholic Church over the massacre of the Rafanan family of Ilocos Sur, political adversaries of former Gov. Chavit Singson, is very frustrating and makes one wonder what is in the Church that makes it suddenly uninvolved and unmoved despite the growing denunciations against this kind of injustice. Renelyn Rafanan, a survivor of the massacre, summed it all up when she said during the necrological services for her mother, brother, and security aide: “I feel that the criminals in society are treated better by the Church, since the Church leaders stand up and fight for a criminal.” Why, indeed. This Lent, may the Church re-examine where it exactly stands. Whether on the side of the victims, or on the side of the perpetrators of the massacre. That should not be hard to figure out.
000 --- 000
Executive Director Edwin Pascua Acoba, about whose travails in the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) we wrote about seven columns ago, died last Thursday. Acoba has left behind an effectively working local scholarship program benefiting thousands of young men and women interested in pursuing a career in agriculture and fishery. A week before he died, Acoba was at the Senate lobbying for an increase in the counterpart funding for the Fulbright overseas scholarships in agriculture; he got a P50-million increase. Before ATI, Acoba was tapped by then Secretary of Agriculture Ed Angara to head the National Agricultural and Fishery Council (NAFC), where Acoba was successful in mobilizing the various provincial and municipal agricultural councils for increased agricultural productivity, and in the putting up of strategically-located post-harvest facilities. Acoba is survived by his wife Marie Lou and children Mitet, Raymond and Ilai.
For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph
No comments:
Post a Comment