AP PHOTO
(HOME IS THE SAILOR: Ramiro Dizon, 42, who had worked in Athens for over two decades, is coming home for the last time today. There’ll be a noontime Mass at the chapel in his birthplace riverside Vergara, Mandaluyong, where he was a perennial favorite son. Ramir, ever competent, barely made it back after his employer, the shipping magnate Procopiou, requested that the cancer victim be cremated and half of his ashes be spread around the Mediterranean area where he worked as chief of staff in the private yacht of his boss. Farewell, son)
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A RECENTLY published recommendation had asked that a master’s degree be required of future generals in the Philippine Armed Forces.
Before this, it had been reported that there’s now a rule for aspirants seeking to be members of the Philippine National Police to first be a college degree holder in order for them to qualify.
These standards should honestly be traced and credited to the late Interior Sec. Jesse Robredo as part of his unblinking crusade to rebuild and upgrade Philippine public service.
Of course, it was second nature to this noble, heroic gentleman that he had demanded honest commitment together with solid competence from those who would choose to serve.
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Robredo could readily be called a dreamer, the way John Lennon had branded himself one in asking for peoples of the world to live (in peace) as one.
Lennon was gunned down in New York playing the Poet Laureate for World Peace.
In Mr. Robredo’s case, he had refused to be daunted by the monstrous odds and, in fact, tried to provide an example and lived by the shining words of his work motto until his tragic end.
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This comes a little late, but there’s every reason for our legislators, including the President, to consider an upgrade of leadership in sports in the manner Robredo had worked honestly hard for reforms.
It could be plain coincidence that the new call for pure commitment and proficiency in national life came on the heels of another tragic crash by the Philippine national contingent in the London Olympic Games.
Truth is that there’s no need anymore for another tired diagnosis to determine what had chiefly caused the debacle.
It glares and stares everybody in eye: The latest crash by the PH in the Olympics was caused by none other than the dirty brand of confused leadership Mr. Robredo had dreaded all his life.
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It’s funny how self-styled sports leaders, bereft of clinical credentials, betrayed their incompetence with conflicting recommendations on how to remedy the perennial mess.
The POC chief, eyeing a longer stay in office, cried malnutrition.
Another genius replayed the tired tune about going (again) to the grassroots.
One mediocre call asked for stronger focus.
Of course, they were all second-guessing.
These shameless excursionists were not unlike rescue workers making an official report despite their refusal to find their Olympic wreckage.
One honest look at themselves should do the trick.
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Cried the unsinkable Go Teng Kok, former POC insider: “If you want to stay in the elite group of the POC (Peping Olympic Committee), you must be corrupt and ready to break the law of the land, someone who doesn’t know how to liquidate millions and millions of pesos amassed from people’s money and is not afraid of the courts of the land because there’s somebody big to protect their bad interest.”
Go stressed this sports mafia boss has an unshakeable link with Malacañang.