Port Irene’s mystery

Man at the Market

Jesse E.L. Bacon II

07/25/2008

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile was quoted by the papers yesterday as having admitted that if smuggling will ever happen in Port Irene in Cagayan, his political turf, it could only be done by him but in the same breath, he denied that smuggling is happening there.

Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) head Antonio Villar, on the other hand, publicly admitted it was Enrile himself who requested his office to investigate whether smuggling is happening in Port Irene but would not categorically say that indeed there is no smuggling happening there. He, however, said his office is presently monitoring the situation in Port Irene but would not divulge anything other than this.

Enrile further admitted that it is his son-in-law, James Kocher, who operates the fully-fenced 50-hectare second hand vehicle yard in Port Irene. But he denies that imported luxury cars and other sports utility vehicles can freely leave the vehicle yard without paying the right taxes to the government. In fact, he explained, the vehicle yard is enclosed with a 10-foot tall fence to ensure that no vehicle can leave without paying the right duties.

Port Irene hogged the limelight when Enrile himself held a press conference together with Kocher to deny insinuations the imported vehicles that they admit are being unloaded in the port are all smuggled. But because of the Supreme Court ruling that importation of used or second hand vehicles is illegal, Enrile then lambasted the high court for what he described as an erroneous ruling.

This columnist believes that there is more than meets the eye here as far as this controversy is concerned. The fact that PASG’s Villar could not come up with a categorical answer whether smuggling is indeed happening in Port Irene tells a lot.

This is one controversy that is worth watching because it involves a close political ally of Mrs. Arroyo and a no-nonsense anti-smuggling czar.

oOo

After reading the Inquirer’s editorial on Wednesday about how “so young — and so out of touch” Sen. Chiz Escudero is, I could not help but ask my kids to read it so they’ll not end up gullibly believing the propaganda and rhetoric the senator from Bicolandia spews. Chiz is only unmasking himself and that he and his party will do everything to get Mrs. Arroyo’s blessing to be her candidate and the Nationalist People’s Coalition her anointed party in 2010.

When greed, regardless of whether it is economic, political or social, consumes a man, he will surely stop at nothing if only to satisfy such greed. Escudero just showed how evil greed is the moment it becomes the controlling consideration in man’s every disposition. And it is compounded if masked as selfless intentions for the general weal such as what Escudero and his party are doing.

Escudero’s “wise” counsel for Mrs. Arroyo to be given the chance to finish her term despite the multi-billion peso scandals rocking her administration is not so much for the benefit of the embattled Malacañang occupant but for his, and the party’s benefit, and is thus very selfish. He knows that all Filipinos now spit on Mrs. Arroyo as their leader. But he still dreams of being anointed by Mrs. Arroyo.

It is very paradoxical for presidential wannabes to dream of coveting Mrs. Arroyo’s endorsement at a time when no one believes her anymore. Those presidential wannabes must be after the largesse Mrs. Arroyo can dispense with in wild abandon to ensure the victory of her anointed candidate just as she did to ensure her own victory in the 2004 presidential race. So, any presidential wannabe who dreams of coveting Mrs. Arroyo’s anointment in 2010 is thus, not for the cleansing of the marred electoral process, but for its perpetuation as long as it will benefit him. If this is not selfishness in the highest order and in the vilest manner, what is?

Such is Chiz Escudero, so young — and so out of touch, to quote the Inquirer’s editorial. It is just unfortunate that he has allowed himself to be totally consumed by his political ambition that he is now willing to part with the idealism of the youth in favor of the rotten politics of the trapos.

(jelbacon@yahoo.com for reactions)

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