‘Sorry, napatay kita’

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Monday, May 5, 2008

SORRY na lang ba? ‘Yan ang mapait na tanong ng mga kaanak nina Andy Natividad, 50, at Vic Constantino, 30, na naipit at napatay sa bakbakan ng pulis at magnanakaw sa Maynila nu’ng Abril 23.

Nang mapatay ng pulis ang pitong lalaki at makasugat ng ika-walo, inanunsiyo agad nila na Waray-Waray gangsters ang mga nakasagupa sa Del Pan Bridge. Binigyan agad ng citations ang 23 officers. Pero di maitago ang katotohanan. Si Andy ay beer sales exec at si Vic ay company driver. Relyebo lang si Vic sa maysakit na regular driver ni Andy. Birthday niya nu’n kaya nag-blowout si Andy ng tanghalian. Pabalik na sila sa opisina nang mapagitna sa sagupaan ng pulis at lima lang, hindi walo, na holdup suspects. ‘Yung nasugatan ay tindero na naipit lang din sa crossfire.

Nag-sorry ang pamunuan ng pulisya sa dalawang angkan. Pero ikinaila agad nila na pulis ang nakapatay kina Andy at Vic. Kesyo raw binaril sila ng isang holdaper sa tangkang agawin ang pickup nila. Kesyo raw lumabas sila sa sasakyan para umiwas sa putukan, at binaril ng mga litong holdaper. Pero sa official report, sa likurang upuan natagpuan ang dalawang duguan; buo ang mga pinto’t bin-tana ng pickup bagamat flat ang isang gulong. Nagko­kontrahan ang mga ulat ng pulisya. Kaya sabi ni Carla na anak ni Andy, namatay ang ama niya sa kata­ngahan ng pulis.

Nakapagtataka pa ang autopsy report. Basag daw ang bungo ni Andy. Pumasok daw ang bala sa taas ng noo at, sa pababang trajectory, lumabas sa batok. Anang pinsang surgeon na si Dr. Dubarry Sioco, medico-legal expert, ibig sabihin nito ay nakaluhod o dapa si Andy nang barilin. Kaso walang tumatayong saksi sa katotohanan, aniya.

Lumabas pa ang katawa-tawang paraffin test sa mga pulis: Si Officer Harris lang, 23 ang positive sa powder burns. Imposible namang siya lang ang nakipagbarilan sa limang holdaper, pumatay kina Andy at Vic, at sumugat sa isa pang bystander. Ibig sabihin lang nito ay palpak ang paraffin test ng pulisya.

Pero sa bala malalaman ang katotohanan. Bakit ba hanggang ngayon ay wala pang ballistics matching ng mga balang nakuha sa katawan nina Andy at Vic at bore ng gun barrels ng mga pulis? May itinatago ba sila?

Did robbers really kill two civilians?

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Friday, May 2, 2008

Manila cops killed seven men in a shootout last week. Before the smoke could clear the 23 officers thumped their chests, declaring the wipeout of the dreaded Waray-Waray holdup gang. Their chief promptly handed out citations.

Then the truth surfaced. Two of the fatalities were innocent civilians. Sales exec Andy Natividad, 50, and driver Vic Constantino, 30, happened to be at the wrong place, wrong time. Constantino was only pinch-hitting for Natividad’s sick regular driver. And since it was his birthday, Natividad treated him to lunch. The duo was motoring back to work when, on a bridge in Binondo district, cops and robbers in front and behind them shot it out.

Reports are hazy. The first police narrative was that one of the goons shot Natividad and Constantino while trying to commandeer their pickup. Another official account, supposedly from an eyewitness, was that the two had dashed out of the vehicle to escape the crossfire but were shot by the confused robbers. Strangely, the final version was that the bloodied bodies of the two were found slumped in the pickup’s rear seat. The doors and windows were intact with no signs of being forced open; one tire was deflated. The police then supposedly rushed them to the hospital where they both expired.

The police brass said sorry to the families of Natividad and Constantino for calling them gangsters. Wreaths were sent, but Natividad’s mom refused to accept. The victims’ kin doubt the police story, and have good reason to.

Too often has the public been feted to police exploits that later turn out to be bungles. The “neutralizing” of this or that gang with the slaying of seven, eight or nine armed men packed in a five-seater sedan has become routine. Only when kin cry out would cops admit having killed innocent by-standers in the crossfire. In the Natividad-Constantino case, the cops instantly bragged having wasted seven goons and wounding an eighth. But that wounded man, Elizardo Carales, 33, happens to be a market vendor. In short, there were logically only five probable thugs in their car — not eight as the trigger-happy cops made it look like. Natividad’s daughter Carla was reported as saying her dad died from police incompetence.

Then there’s the autopsy report. Natividad’s skull supposedly was crushed. A bullet had entered the top of the forehead and, in downward trajectory, exited the nape. Natividad’s surgeon-cousin Dubarry Sioco, who appears in court as expert medico-legal witness, tries to reconcile that with the three police accounts. “I can’t imagine how Andy was hit,” Sioco says. “He was five feet-eight inches tall. For him to sustain such injury, he must have been kneeling or lying on the ground.” The conflicting police versions do not help any, and could have been written to throw off prying kin like Sioco. “I’m not playing CSI investigator, but common sense tells us there is something sinister in the manner he was shot,” he laments. “Unfortunately there is no witness.”

But the bullets should tell the story. Where are the slugs that killed Natividad and Constantino? Why have these not been subjected to ballistics matching with the firearms of the 23 cops and five gangsters? Such lapses make the public suspect police foul-up.

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Three docs at the Philippine General Hospital wrote to confirm what I wrote Monday — that emergency and inpatients do share one remaining x-ray machine. Wrote one, while requesting anonymity for fear of retribution:

“He listed down 12 functional units. What he didn’t say is that, even with the bucky and fluoroscopy at the Outpatient Department, right now no outpatient x-ray can be taken. He also didn’t say that the portable units in the various ICUs may only be used for ICU patients. He didn’t mention that the two image intensifiers (C-arm) in the OR may only be used inside the OR for surgical procedures. Images are seen only on video monitors, like real-time x-rays. We don’t have the facilities to print out those images. And we have yet to see the digital machines used. So that leaves only the one Central Block portable machine, which can only be used for ER patients. As of Thursday, only two or three intubated ER patients could be accommodated. Those with ‘run-of-the-mill’ open fracture must have their x-rays taken elsewhere.

“PGH direly need funds. But whatever little money we have is being spent on things like a park-cum-Oblation now under construction in front of the hospital, an electronic billboard on the corner of Taft and Padre Faura Streets, a wall-high engraving of names of donors near the elevators, and a mural that includes the faces of ... none of which helps our patients.”

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My piece on PGH’s shortage of hospital and medical equipment also elicited two offers of help. Ed Artis and Vincent Ricasio wrote separately to ask whom they should talk with at the premier state hospital to donate x-rays and more.

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E-mail me at jariusbondoc@workmail.com and I will forward.

Bakit palagi tayong kapos sa bigas?

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Friday, May 2, 2008

TAON-taon iisa ang gimik tuwing sasapit ang Labor Day. Nagyayabang ang Malacañang na kesyo mahusay nitong napanatiling mababa ang langis at pagkain, kaya hindi na kuno kailangan ng taas-sahod. Pero ngayon iba ang tono ng Palasyo. Sa isang factory visit nu’ng nakaraang linggo, inutos ni Gloria Arroyo ang 10% umento sa gobyerno, at nagsabing sana ay taasan ang minimum wages sa pribadong sektor. Binantaan din ng mga kaalyado niya sa Kongreso na gigibain ang regional wage boards kung hindi magtataas ng mga sahod sa unang bahagi ng Mayo.

Ibig sabihin lang nito, nagapi ng inflation ang Arroyo admin, pero hindi nila ito aaminin. Isisisi nila sa mga sitwasyong panlabas ang pagtaas ng presyo ng gasolina, bigas at karne: OPEC cartel, pagkasiba ng India at China sa karne’t isda, at global warming na sumira sa ani. Nagpasiklab nga ang Malacañang araw-araw na kunwari’y tumutulong sa mahihirap, para pagtakpan ang tunay na sanhi ng kakulangan ngayon sa bigas: ang mga pagkakamali at pagnanakaw.

Taun-taon nitong nakaraang pitong taon, kapos nang 2 milyong tonelada ang aning bigas ng Pilipinas. Kung matino ang gobyerno, dapat nagbuhos noon pa ng pondo sa patubig, pataba, bilaran, kalsada, palengke at pautang sa magsasaka. Pero mas ginusto ng Malacañang mag-import. Kasi mabilis ang kickback doon — mula sa pagbili mismo ng bigas, at pati sa pag-upa ng barko at pag-supply ng sako.

Ngayon lang nagkukumahog ang Malacañang na magbuhos ng P48 bilyon para sa dagdag-ani. Hinihikayat ang mga magsasaka na mag-pangatlong tanim na may pautang para sa hybrid na binhi. Pasiklab lang!

Malaki nang salapi ang winaldas ng Malacañang sa kalokohan sa pananim. Nu’ng 2004, namahagi ng P780 milyon ang Malacañang point man Jocjoc Bolante para kunwari sa pataba, pero pangkampanya lang ni Arroyo. Kasabay nu’n, kinurakot ng Quedancor sa ilalim ng Office of the President ang P1.7 bilyon na para dapat sa hog dispersal. Kung tutuusin, kinulimbat ng admin ang para sa pananim, kaya tayo naghihirap ngayon.

Just answer the charges

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Caloocan City Rep. Oscar Malapitan began with the right words. With his son and brother accused of gang-raping two minors, he declared: “If any of my constituents are unjustly treated, I will fight for them. If any of my kin are guilty, I will let them rot in jail.”
People thought Malapitan had the makings of a statesman. But then he just had to add, “Those rape charges are politically motivated, I’m sure.”
Gosh! The police conducted the investigation very quietly precisely because a congressman’s close kin were involved. The girls, aged 14 and 16, at first were afraid to complain. A certain Larry had tried to buy the silence of the victims’ families for P20,000. In the end, the girls decided to go to court. They took the requisite medical checks, recounted the events to the police, then identified from file photos the eight barangay officers who on Apr. 12 had arrested them for curfew violation then abused them in a hotel. Only then did the cops announce readiness to file court charges. It is this two-week silence between crime commission and complaint filing that Malapitan cites as proof of political machination.
Told by reporters he was the political rival Malapitan was referring to, Mayor Enrico Echiverri could only shake his head: “How can I induce two young teenagers I don’t know to get themselves arrested and raped?”
By imputing partisan politics, Malapitan is trying to either spread the guilt around or soften the public blow of his son and brother’s involvement. Either way, it’s unfair to the two. Rape is a no-bail heinous offense. They need to put up a good legal defense fast, with family help. Shouting politics can lull them into complacency.
Besides, ascribing political motives is a worn-out excuse. One who does it looks guiltier than ever. That too is unfair to the presumably innocent accused.
It’s best for Malapitan to follow the example of Manila Mayor Fred Lim. Lim’s son was nabbed recently for pushing shabu to undercover cops. The mayor praised the narcs for a good job, told his son to face the music, and let the justice system move uninfluenced.
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Dir. Carmelo Alfiler replies to my piece Monday on x-ray shortage at the Philippine General Hospital:
“Your article comes in the midst of our aggressive efforts to modernize, upgrade and rehabilitate 20- to 100-year-old PGH facilities, including infrastructure and equipment, to be able to deliver quality health services. PGH needs a lot of funds for repair and preventive maintenance of serviceable units, especially big-ticket items. It needs more to purchase new state-of-the-art hospital and medical machines. We thank the National Government’s executive and legislative branches and attached agencies for assisting us greatly, especially in the last three to four years, with increased budgetary allocation for maintenance and operating expenses and capital outlay. We are also thankful to the private sector for providing additional support in areas where government subsidy is lacking.
“This is the status of our x-ray machines: 12 are functional (three bucky and two fluoroscopy units at the outpatient department, one digital machine at the radiology department, five portable units — one each for the Central Block, Medical ICU, Central ICU, OR-Surgical ICU and Neurosurgical ICU — and two C-arms at the OR). Two high-end portable x-ray machines will be arriving soon. Eleven need repair; spare parts are costly and are being imported. We have been looking into repairing them at reasonable cost and satisfactory after-service guarantees.
“While it is true that we have had problems with the Central Block’s air-conditioning, now significantly solved, which caused our sensitive x-ray equipment to malfunction, we have instituted contingency measures in the exigency of service. The rest of our radio-diagnostic equipment, CT scans, MRI and ultrasound machines, are functioning.”
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I hope the reply doesn’t come across as glossing over my report on emergency and inpatients sharing Radiology’s one remaining x-ray unit. Because if so, people will not see the gravity of PGH’s need for funds. A local Rotary Club chapter, with strong international contacts, wrote about its willingness to help, as it already has for other public hospitals. I can relay the contact details if PGH is interested.
My piece aimed only to show the government’s muddled priorities. While the poor are in dire need of health services, it enters into a $330-million overpriced, unnecessary telecom deal that it refuses to explain. Not only PGH but all government hospitals are struggling to make ends meet, pay staff salaries and have running water in toilets. Thieves in high places do not seem to care.
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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com