By Alex P. Vidal
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” —Desmond Tutu
NOT all cases of murder involving journalists in the Philippines came almost a cinch away to being solved like the killing of tough-talking broadcaster Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa of dwBL radio station in Metro Manila on October 3.
For a while, we heaved a sight of relief when confessed gunman Joel Escorial was finally identified and surrendered to the police in only two weeks after the slay when a P6 million bounty was offered for the tipsters.
Like some fellow journalists who have been following the progress of the investigation of Mabasa’s case, I didn’t write an opinion yet about Escorial’s capture. We waited for more developments; more heads to fall; more arrests, if possible.
He pointed to a certain Crisanto Palana Villamor, an inmate in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), as the alleged “middleman” after identifying his cohorts Israel Dimaculangan and his brother Edmon, and a certain Orly or Orlando as among those who “planned and executed” the assassination with the “inducement” of Villamor who promised to pay them P550,000.
We monitored the developments and have nothing but praises for Interior Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. and his team of police investigators.
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We thought Mabasa’s case would be exceptional in as far as the quick solution of the case was concerned. But as soon as the confessed triggerman and his fellow “hired” killers underwent inquest proceedings for murder, the alleged “middleman” Villamor suddenly “died” as reported on October 18.
The police and the Department of Justice (DoJ) have been scrambling to explain the circumstances behind Villamor’s alleged sudden death.
So far, none of the actors deserved the Famas. The more they talked, the more people noticed either they didn’t understand what they were saying, or they were part of the suspected cover-up.
All suspicions now point to a murder, or Villamor was probably silenced in order to shield the mastermind or masterminds. As usual, a dead man tells no tale.
The charade obviously has all the suspected signature of a mob hit—right inside a supposed to be secured institution?
What are the chances that the mastermind or masterminds will ever be known? Authorities said they have “secured” another “middleman” who is also an inmate (meaning there were two).
How soon can this other one stay “alive”? Will he ever be seen again?
With no assurance from authorities that the mastermind or masterminds might still be identified now that Villamor is gone, everyone is now literally and figuratively facing a blank wall.
Justice Secretary Boying Remulla was correct to suspend Bureau of Correction (BoC) Director General Gerald Bantag, who must have been caught only between the devil and the deep blue sea.
The solution of this treacherous and senseless murder was (once) so near and yet (it proved to be) so far.
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I made a prediction before the start of the official campaign period of the May 2022 presidential election that retired boxer Senator Manny Pacquiao might stage a comeback in the ring after his defeat in the presidential election.
There have been reports that he was indeed contemplating to fight seriously again and has, in fact, been taunting his fellow boxing senior citizens like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and other retired former world champions in order to be noticed.
Because of the noise that he reportedly made and owing to his celebrity image, Pacquiao might succeed in convincing promoters to back his desire to fight again, but he will not be bankable anymore; he will no longer be a monster who used to devour his prey with gusto.
In fact, he might end up in a deplorable physical shape (God forbid) if his 44-year-old body can no longer receive and absorb brutal punishments.
Pacquiao is a pugilist by heart and mind. He was never meant to be a politician, but his celebrity status had brought him to politics, a strange territory tailor-made only for the talkative, the deceivers, and the plunderers, not for a ring warrior with abundance of athletic talent meant to entertain and make sports fans happy.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)
