BY JULLIE Y. DAZA
JOSEPH Pemberton is free to go after he was ordered released from his airconditioned cell.
Our nurses who have been accepted for employment abroad want to go but cannot because of a ban owing to the pandemic. They should apply for a GCTA pass with the Olongapo regional trial court.
“I am scared,” said the new PhilHealth president.
So are we, so are we. You’re in good company, Mr. Gierran.
The race for the world’s first vaccine is heating up with Olympic fervor. Sanofi, creator of Dengvaxia, has dropped out.
And still “COVID-19 won’t be going away,” not until a decade or so later.
The President’s orders to the new PNP chief: Uphold the rule of law. Clean up the organization. Pursue the drug war.
The fourth commandment should’ve been: No mañanita.
Lt. Gen. Pancratius Cascolan will occupy the position of PNP chief for two months, until his mandatory retirement on Nov. 10, 2020.
He’s out before he gets the hang of it? That’s okay, ‘cause his retirement pay will be that of top cop nonetheless, no matter how short his stint.
The biggest, most recent scandal that tarred and feathered the national police was the involvement of nine policemen in the slaughter of four unarmed soldiers in Jolo, Sulu. The soldiers were on an intelligence mission tailing suspected terrorists when they were gunned down. NBI investigators, as tough as they came, couldn’t get a word out of the nine; no motive could be established. Even so, NBI went ahead and filed murder charges against them. And still they refused to talk.
The soldiers were on the trail of suicide bombers when they were attacked, which means their killers have more than the blood of four comrades-in-arms on their hands, but also the blood of the 15 people who died in the twin suicide bombings in Jolo last month.
The accused behave like the PhilHealth Mafia who live by the code of Omerta.
On a lighter note, the full moon last Wednesday – aka Hungry Ghost Moon – marked the 15th day of Ghost Month. Bright and beautiful, it shone with a halo of rainbow colors.
Alas, as soon as the orb waxes into 100 percent luminosity, its fate is to fade and wane.
