24 August 2005
EDITORIAL: Was Commissioner Al clueless on Garci escape?
IN the Garci escape caper, it’s either Immigration Commissioner Al Fernandez was in on the so-called “conspiracy” or – and we’d rather believe this – he was clueless about what some of his lieutenants were doing apparently at the bidding of unseen hands. It is reported that his associate commissioner, Teddy Delarmente, allegedly a classmate of former PNP chief and now DPWH Secretary Hermogenes A. Ebdane, Jr. went over his head and facilitated Garci’s escape.
A more compelling thought however bugs us, as well as some local immigration officers: Was it actually a grand “set up” they applied to get rid of Al whose position at the BI was earlier rumored being coveted by certain influential Malacanang allies but that they couldn’t find enough goods to anchor their sinister plans on the immigration boss just yet?
Now, if as a Dagupeno at the coffeeshop also suggested, Al must have had some foreknowledge of the whole escape plan which was to be hatched right in his backyard, but that he didn’t reckon with the Department of Foreign Affairs going public with its discovery of Garci’s trail in Singapore, and thus was caught in the backlash, it would look like Al’s been fed to the lions, or to the dogs, or to the crocodiles deliberately.
Like many good men who fall into misfortunes, Al’s bad luck was that the Garcillano episode had to happen during his watch at the Bureau of Immigration. It could have been some other man in there -- but now there’s no escaping the blame because it’s he who’s sitting on the hot seat.
Every Dagupeno and Pangasinense who knows the integrity of Al Fernandez can only hope he can weather this adversity thrown in his lap and that somehow the real culprit behind the Garci flight will be unmasked sooner or later. Dagupenos detest the idea that the multi-term former mayor of Dagupan had somehow been involved in abetting the escape of Garci, and with it, the raw truth about the wiretapped conversation.
A more compelling thought however bugs us, as well as some local immigration officers: Was it actually a grand “set up” they applied to get rid of Al whose position at the BI was earlier rumored being coveted by certain influential Malacanang allies but that they couldn’t find enough goods to anchor their sinister plans on the immigration boss just yet?
Now, if as a Dagupeno at the coffeeshop also suggested, Al must have had some foreknowledge of the whole escape plan which was to be hatched right in his backyard, but that he didn’t reckon with the Department of Foreign Affairs going public with its discovery of Garci’s trail in Singapore, and thus was caught in the backlash, it would look like Al’s been fed to the lions, or to the dogs, or to the crocodiles deliberately.
Like many good men who fall into misfortunes, Al’s bad luck was that the Garcillano episode had to happen during his watch at the Bureau of Immigration. It could have been some other man in there -- but now there’s no escaping the blame because it’s he who’s sitting on the hot seat.
Every Dagupeno and Pangasinense who knows the integrity of Al Fernandez can only hope he can weather this adversity thrown in his lap and that somehow the real culprit behind the Garci flight will be unmasked sooner or later. Dagupenos detest the idea that the multi-term former mayor of Dagupan had somehow been involved in abetting the escape of Garci, and with it, the raw truth about the wiretapped conversation.
