Wednesday, June 20, 2012

A forgotten moment in history


June 14, 2012


By Emil Jurado  
Manila Standard Today
The Cabinet revamp is not a media hype anymore. It is for real. First, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras will take on another function, that of being chief of the Presidential Management Staff. He will replace Julia Abad, daughter of Budget Secretary Butch Abad, who is relocating to Washington DC to join her husband who works for the World Bank.
Almendras will fit in well. He is well-like and respected by his peers. He is close to the President and his sisters and he is not identified with the warring Samar and Balay groups.
Almendras has done much as energy secretary. He has promoted renewable sources of energy. He will be a big loss to the department, but my inside information is that he will continue to be the chairman of the Philippine National Oil Co.
Retiring Senator Panfilo Lacson will take over the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and Senator Francis Pangilinan will do the same at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, replacing Secretaries Jesse Robredo and Ramon Paje, respectively. Just when is a matter of speculation.
***
On June 14, 1945, Bessang Pass, the last stronghold of the retreating Japanese Occupation forces when the Americans landed in Lingayen Gulf, fell. It led to the surrender of Toshio Yamashita, known as the “Tiger of Malaya.”
Bessang Pass was the gateway to the stronghold of Yamashita’s forces, which had the advantage of terrain because it was an uphill battle for the Filipino soldiers belonging to the United States Forces in the Philippines Northern Luzon, the guerrilla force that kept alive the dream of Filipinos of liberating the country from the Japanese forces in Luzon.
In the battle for Bessang Pass, no less than 1,405 Ilocano and Igorot soldiers died. But it was one glorious moment in the annals of history when the Filipinos sacrificed their lives for love of country to liberate it from foreign domination. The Battle of Bessang Pass was won 67 years ago and is remembered in the Armed Forces of the Philippine as a momentous event. It was also described as the Battle among the Clouds.
The campaign for the capture of Bessang Pass was for the 121 Infantry 3rd Battalion under then Major Conrado Rigor with the overall command of Col. Russel Volckman, who headed the USAFIP NL.
I consider it a tragedy that no president since Marcos considered the important of the Battle of Bessang Pass, except former President Fidel V. Ramos, himself a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars (Ramos even had a shrine in Cervantes, Ilocos Sur, to commemorate the event.)
I write about this now as I do on June 14 each year. This is because my late brothers, former Court of Appeals Justice Desiderio P. Jurado and former Manila International Airport manager Guillermo “Willie” Jurado were at Bessang Pass.
In fact, it was my eldest brother Desi, then second lieutenant and company commander of the 3rd Battalion under Major Rigor, led the assault at Bessang Pass and made it to the top against heavy odds and firepower.
Desi was awarded a Silver Star for bravery beyond the call of duty. Willie also had a purple heart award when he was wounded in battle.
Santa Banana, it is a tragedy that while we mark the Fall of Bataan and Corregidor, Philippine presidents now cannot relate to, much less mark the Battle of Bessang Pass, as a glorious moment in history that ended the occupation of the country by the Japanese forces.
The Philippine is truly a damaged nation which doesn’t remember its glorious past and fallen heroes.
***
Two members of the Aquino administration, Secretary of Justice Leila de Lima and Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto Henares, labeled the “most feared women of the administration,” have been nominated to replace ousted Chief Justice Renato Corona.
I have nothing but admiration and respect for Henares as BIR commissioner for going against the high and mighty for tax evasion. For this, I believe President Aquino needs her more at the BIR to continue her work.
I cannot say the same thing about De Lima, who has not lived up to expectations of giving every person his due. She just does what the President tells her to do – a real lapdog of Malacañang.
De Lima was rebuffed by the President when the latter overturned her recommendation that those at fault during that infamous 2010 hostage crisis should be criminally and administratively charged. She stayed on when others would have resigned out of delicadeza and self-respect.
A Supreme Court justice needs to be independent. This is absent in the case of De Lima and Henares, who even testified against Corona during the impeachment trial on behalf of the prosecution, under the baton of the President. As such, De Lima and Henares have disqualified themselves.
De Lima is also facing three counts of disbarment and a pending case of contempt of the Supreme Court itself. To have a candidate for chief justice defying a temporary restraining order issued by the high court is a supreme insult.
(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on /2012/June/14)

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