Good Morning Judge: The collapse of Colgante Bridge

IN A live interview last night (Sept. 20) over a television program hosted by Ramon Tulfo, President Rodrigo R. Duterte admitted that he lied over the dollar deposits allegedly in the name of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV in Singapore and Hongkong in order to “trick” the senator to come out with an admission of said dollar deposits. On the part of the senator, in order to prove that he does not have any account in his name in DBS Alexandra branch and Hongkong Shanghai Bank Raffles branch, he went personally to Singapore and Hongkong where the bank officials told him he “had no account with them.” To this writer, it is immaterial whether Senator Trillanes maintains an account with said banks or not. That’s none of our business. But what’s material is the admission by the President himself that he “deliberately lied” about the account number in order to “trick” the senator. For a President to lie is very unpresidential as correctly observed by some political pundits. His credibility as President of this country is very much eroded by said admission. Next time he speaks in any public forum, his listeners wouldn’t know whether he is telling the truth or not. This is quite unfortunate for us Filipinos to have a liar for a President. Today, September 21, has been declared by the President as non-working day for all public and private offices although he does not call it a non-working holiday. The purpose is to commemorate the declaration of Martial by then President Ferdinand E. Marcos. I remember that as a prelude to Martial Law, the late President first suspended the writ of habeas corpus and all bearers of licensed and unlicensed firearms were ordered to deposit them with the now defunct Philippine Constabulary (PC). All political activists were arrested and detained even without the benefit of a warrant of arrest. Few, however, remember that Bicolanos were then celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Penafrancia. And the most unfortunate incident that occurred 45 years ago was the collapse of the Colgante bridge where hundreds of devotees of “Ina” persished. I quite remember that I was among the members of the Naga City Jaycees who helped in retrieving dead bodies from the site of the fallen bridge and had them laid at the yard of the then DZRB radio station (now the ABS-CBN Radio and TV station} along Panganiban Avenue for identification by their relatives. We were able to retrieve about 30 dead victims who were later identified by their relatives except for one unidentified body which we later helped interned at Concepcion Pequena public cemetery. TRIVIA: Congratulations to Gil Malanyaon of AdeNU high school batch ‘54 who will be celebrating his 79th birth anniversary on September 25 with a luncheon-fellowship with his batchmates and their respective spouses at the Bob Marlin Resto-Bar. QUOTATION OF THE WEEK: “TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE, NO MIRACLE IS NEEDED. TO THOSE WHO DO NOT, NO MIRACLE IS SUFFICIENT,” ANONYMOUS FOR OUR WORD OF LIFE: “THAT IS WHY WE LABOR AND STRIVE, BECAUSE WE HAVE PUT OUR HOPE IN THE LIVING GOD...” 1 TIM 4:10