Checking the facts

The news story was not so much as Faeldon lambasting Honasan. It was, in effect, first-hand testimony, re-implicating Honasan. Something that government prosecutors had unsuccessfully tried to do before.

Lucky for Honasan, he was out of the country on official business. Media could not get his side and having him air his side on the matter would only have made things worse for him.

Apparently, the television station was too engrossed with getting a "scoop" and would not allow a trivial thing such as checking and verifying the facts. Even though every unbiased mind would have started wondering since when did the natives of Batanes, where Faeldon, hails from, acquire a Visayan accent. Checking the facts could have spared everyone of the resulting embarrassment since the only thing that news story had going for it was it seemed believable.

That being said, the initial reactions were brutal. A lawyer of the Magdalo group quoted his clients as having burst out into a rain of guffaws when they heard the news being aired on television. At least, Faeldon’s lawyer, Trixie Cruz-Angeles, was a bit kinder in her commentary. Referring to Faeldon, Angeles said: "That’s not him. That’s not his style."

Having left without a leg to stand on and under ethical pressure to retract and apologize for the blunder, the television station did the second best thing. It admitted it may have been wrong but also insinuates that the whole thing could have been one big military operation to force Faeldon to come out of hiding. Right or wrong, however, it still does not absolve the television station of the responsibility of undoing the damage done to the reputation of a senator.

Then there is the case of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) shutting down two bus terminals along EDSA in Cubao, Quezon City for allegedly violating its "nose in, nose out" policy. Actually, the MMDA simply shut down the "violators" by putting concrete barriers in front of their terminals.

While the objective of improving traffic flow is laudable, the actions of the MMDA and its chairman Bayani Fernando are seemingly far from legal. The last time I read up the law, nothing in the MMDA charter empowers it to make and enforce laws since it is a coordinating body. The thing to have done there was to coordinate the shutdown of the bus terminals with the Quezon City government but this was never going to be the case.

Fernando will implement whatever law in the way he imagines it suits his agenda best, regardless of the consequences social and legal consequences. Never mind if his mindless insistence will even humiliate his bosses in Malacañang as what had happened when it issued an executive order suspending the implementation of the various local traffic codes and co-opting them to use the MMDA traffic violation report. Fernando knows very well that such an order is illegal since a long line of Supreme Court rulings has already made it clear that the agency has no power to make and enforce laws, which covers apprehending traffic violators.

We can only be grateful that Fernando and the television reporter who made that Faeldon news story did not enter the military service. Give them a battalion of soldiers to command and they would probably shoot dead a busload of civilians if somebody ever told them that one of the passengers may be a high-ranking terrorist. There is why we should never be guided by the dictum of "shoot first, ask questions later," especially if we are not willing to take the fall.