'Roll of dishonor'

Guided by its doctrinal value, “Truth will set us free” a recent article by Provincial Administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada I am compelled to reprint it and let the public judge. Here it goes:

“A good practice I've developed as a journalist was keeping copious notes and newspaper clippings of stories and articles that catch my interest. I always keep a small notebook handy so I could jot down what I read or heard or seen. There are also a number of boxes in my bedroom where I store filled notebooks and clippings to make it easy for me to look for anything I need to check.

After being told that Rod Tecson and Novi Guazo intensified their barrage of verbal attacks against my person over Bombo Radyo, I felt challenged about looking for information regarding their boss, Mr. Roger Florete, err…, Dr. Roger Florete, Ph.D., honoris causa. It seems these two broadcasters felt I was just bluffing, and used that bluff to “blackmail” them.

The ferocity and viciousness displayed by these young broadcasters in attacking me for being irreverent toward their employer can be compared to a Doberman whose master has been assaulted. For them, nobody on this planet should dare say an unpleasant word about their master.

A transgression of this rule would result in being torn apart in public, a punishment that not even our penal laws could ever contemplate. That's because their form of punishment leaves a person's integrity and character in tatters. And it's not just their target who is ripped apart, but also their families. But a conscience is something that these two Dobermans lack. Their loyalty to their master is total.

To them, Dr. Roger Florete is a diety. An earthly god. A man to be worshipped. A clean being in spirit and morals. A man who has never cheated. A man who became one of the richest individuals in Iloilo through sheer hard work and honest labor.

Of course, Tecson and Guazo couldn't really be blamed. They don't really know their master. As journalists, they are still babes in the woods. They are robots with no intellect, trained only to bite upon command, to destroy people's lives without provocation and just for the sake of the rating game in the broadcast industry.

And so I will take it upon myself to educate Messrs. Tecson and Guazo about who their master is. This is where my files have become handy. Information that have been asleep for over 12 years are suddenly being awakened and put into good use. This should also prove instructional to young people with ambitions to richness. It should teach them a lesson that wealth without morality is meaningless. Not even a Ph.D. can change that, especially if you have to spend P5 million to get it.

One such clipping that I recovered from my treasure box of information is a column by Victor Agustin entitled “Cocktales”, which continues to come out regularly in the business section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

This particular clipping is dated July 23, 1993. A portion of this column is slugged “The BIR's dishonor roll III.” It is a list of individuals charged by BIR for tax evasion and fraud.

No. 31 on this list of the “BIR's dishonor roll III” is ROGELIO FLORETE, Iloilo, with a tax liability of P34,811,109.44. A quick scan of the list shows that Dr. Florete's alleged liabilities place him in the top quadrant of the list. The prima facie evidence, in effect, alleges that Dr. Florete was one of the biggest tax evaders in the list of the BIR.

I found this clipping interesting because the BIR is once again blasting away with its guns, with movie stars and entertainers like Richard Gomez and Regine Velasquez among its targets. The case of Dr. Florete deserves a revisit, because this involves the public interest. When a rich businessman cheats the government of taxes, he is a criminal. Al Capone wasn't imprisoned because of his Mafia activities; rather, it was his failure to pay taxes that landed him in jail.

Perhaps Messrs. Tecson and Guazo can help enlighten the public if Dr. Florete had already settled his tax obligations. I have documentary evidence. I challenge them to show documentary evidence that Dr. Florete has paid what he owes the government in taxes. This is particularly important because the national government is suffering from a fiscal crisis. As a citizen, I want to know if Dr. Florete has fulfilled his obligation.

Of course, as Dobermans, Messrs. Tecson and Guazo can only whimper in quiet protest that their master has a bad record with the BIR. They couldn't afford to say anything bad against Dr. Florete. To do that would cost them their jobs.

Messrs. Tecson and Guazo also didn't raise a voice of protest when their colleagues in Bombo Radyo Tacloban were terminated en masse two years ago. The only sin committed by the entire broadcast staff of Bombo Radyo Tacloban was that they formed a union. They wanted to get a decent wage and working benefits. Anchormen like Tecson and Guazo receive a measly P8,000 a month.

But unionism has found disfavor with Dr. Florete. For him, anchormen and reporters and news writers like Tecson and Guazo should work as slaves and not expect to receive decent salaries. He tolerates the moonlighting of Tecson to work as account executive for then gubernatorial candidate Oscar Garin to earn extra income, but he doesn't want to give them decent salaries.

What Dr. Florete did with Bombo Radyo Tacloban was deplorable. Three hours after he learned about the union, he ordered the station closed down. His reason: it was losing money. Had it been another businessman who committed such an act, Tecson and Guazo would have jumped over him and torn him apart like wolves.

In case Tecson and Guazo don't know about what happened in Tacloban, I can send them a copy of the news clippings. Almost the entire media community in Tacloban and Eastern Visayas rallied behind their jobless colleagues. Nothing was heard from Tecson and Guazo. That's their standard. Dr. Florete can do no wrong. Everybody else is open season.

These are factual events that I can support with documents. Tecson and Guazo have shouted at the top of their voices to condemn me, but everything that they threw at me are hearsay and lies. That's not journalism. As a result, they are likely to join their master in the roll of dishonor.