I wanted to see (or at least hear, when I was mobile and had to settle for radio coverage) Joc Joc, especially after my last images of him were of a silver-haired, frail-looking arrival who had to be transported on a wheelchair from one part of the old NAIA airport to the terminal’s driveway, and then wheeled on a stretcher from the lobby of St. Luke’s Medical Center into its elevator and, I suppose, brought all the way to his suite.

I wanted to know whether Joc Joc would still look frail and sickly, or look a bit more refreshed and standing straight up, just like the Joc Joc caught on TV cameras as he was walking out of the aircraft that brought him home. Two Joc Jocs – which one would the cameras see?

The Joc Joc that appeared still had silver hair, was thinner than he looked prior to his travel to the United States some three years ago, but he was far more alert looking than the guy on the wheelchair or the stretcher.

In fact he was not only alert-looking, he was really alert. He was able to survive grilling by the Senate that began at 9:30 a.m. and was still going on by 6 p.m. as I was typing this.

There will be those who will disagree with me, but I thought that the whole day’s hearing amounted to a Round One victory for Joc Joc. He was a revelation, and unless the Senators can outwit him, they are bound to lose Round Two, Three and so on.

One way to lose the round is to browbeat Joc Joc the way Senator Jinggoy apparently did. I heard part of their exchange, and it was apparent that the senator was angry. I don’t blame Senator Jinggoy; there is so much for him to be angry about – principally the ouster of his father former President Estrada – but his anger seriously affected his ability to make his points very clear and to nail Joc Joc, if that indeed was the senator’s intention.

Another way to lose a round is to attend a hearing and ask questions in a manner that seems to show a lack of preparation – when the witness, chances are, had enough preparation before appearing before the Senate. Forgive my skepticism, but I cannot imagine Joc Joc not practicing for his appearance all the while that he was holed up in St. Luke’s; not to have done so would have been stupid if not suicidal. And what are well-paid lawyers for if they are not around to prepare you for as sensitive a situation as appearing before a hearing that could easily turn hostile? (Or comically hostile, as in the case of the exchange between Senator Miriam and Joc Joc.)

I did like the way Senators Pia Cayetano, Kiko Pangilinan and Richard Gordon tried to stress one important point: that Joc Joc seemed to be taking the position that all he was responsible for was disbursing money ("download" was the term he used) and then he didn’t have any responsibility anymore with how it was used – what fertilizer was procured, who supplied it, and whether the funds were actually used as intended.

He left his "prudence" with Prudential, Senator Gordon pointed out.

But here is why I think Joc Joc won Round One: he revealed how, unlike most other appointees to government, he was so special because he was simply the recipient of a call and told that he was a Chosen One, worthy of an undersecretary position, and among the very first to be appointed by the newly installed government of GMA in 2001.

He was that good.

Here’s how he explained his special nature.

When being pressed by Senator Jinggoy how he ended up an undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture, Joc Joc said that he got a call from the Presidential Management Staff and was told that he was being chosen for that position. Just like that, Jinggoy wondered, or did someone recommend you? Not that I know of, answered Joc Joc. No one recommended you?, Jinggoy asked, flabbergasted even more. Don’t you have any friends in the Palace? Jinggoy had to ask this last question twice (it might even have been three times) before Joc Joc answered that, indeed, the First Gentleman was his friend. But, he was quick to clarify, to be fair to the FG as far as he (Joc Joc) knew the FG had no hand in his appointment as DA Undersecretary.

Here was Joc Joc, claiming that, out of the blue and perhaps due to his family background in agriculture and his personal background in finance as a former executive of Prudential, he was now being selected as undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture without any "padrino" pulling strings in the background. This would make him ‘ perhaps the only appointee ever to any government position at that level who got his job without anyone lobbying for him.

What a man.

* * * * *

Greetings to Philippine Airlines. I was very happy to be able to fly the flag carrier again, taking off for Cebu Wednesday morning following my arrival Tuesday night aboard Northwest (now Delta). Iba pa rin ang PAL, and I am looking forward to the reconfiguration of their aircraft into two-class seating; the present tight configuration of Mabuhay class is what keeps me from taking PAL to the US – because as of today Northwest or Korean have far more comfortable business class seats.

Greetings to the crew of PR 861 that took me from Manila to Cebu, specifically to Captain Barney Guevara, First Officer Manny Fernan and cabin crew Enrico Mejia, Jerald Vincent San Juan, Laarni Calma and Clarizza Galang.