He Lives Like King but Dies like Pauper

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

In a huddle with a seasoned former mayor, he told me that an ex- city mayor, after several attempts to reclaim his post, lives now in a financial distress.

The former Hizzoner and his favorite contractor for nine years live in an economic agony.

The misery of the veteran politician was aggravated by his addiction to casinos while the contractor – one of the biggest in the province before – could not even pay the two million pesos he promised to my former mayor friend when the latter interceded to sell a land to a government agency.

A poor man waits for his death.

“Wala na kasi ang mga mayors na kaibigan niya kaya naghihirap na siya ngayon,” the former Hizzoner told me.

Material wealth is not absolute. These people I mentioned live the life of opulence before where they threw monies to anybody as if there would be no tomorrow.

***

I remembered Pangasinan’s Jueteng Lord Bong See (real name: Bong Cayabyab) of San Carlos City.

When I was new in the media profession I was in the city covering an event of the mayor there when I saw village chiefs (Kapitans in the vernacular) and media men milling and ingratiating with Bong See at the rear part of the public gym.

“Who’s that white Chinese looking guy,” I asked veteran broadcaster Harold Barcelona and a friend of the Gambling Lord.

“He is that Bong See I told you”, Harold told me about See who would just give wads of bills at a drop of a hat after conversing with those folks he rubbed elbow.

The gambling czar who was a Lothario told me in the early 2010s he gave as an average twenty thousand pesos to a beauty contestant of Manila in a tryst in a hotel in Dagupan City.

“Meron pa nga nirito sa akin maganda raw. Noong pumasok ako sa hotel di ko type. Ginawa ko binigyan ko ng biente mil (P20,000) at binigay ko na lang sa body guard ko,” he told me with a chuckle.

He was an accountancy undergraduate who was jailed in the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa. Upon his released from the slammer he became the gambling boss of the forty- four towns and four cities province.

He gave generously to solicitors like police brass, politicians, reporters, and the indigents.

Bong See’s house near the justice hall of the 86 barangays’ San Carlos was secured by armed body guards.

Media men regularly go there to get their allowance to buy their silence.

Harold told me that when Bong See and the Mayor of the city occupied the second floor of the Warehouse Club in Dagupan City for booze with nursing students of one of the universities in the city, the gambling lord and the Hizzoner quaffed an expensive Remy Martin’s champagne-cognac. Their female friends were wide eyed in the endless delivery by the waiters of finger foods (pulutan) and San Miguel Beer Lights on their tables till the wee hours while the body guards of the duo at the corners watch the surrounding.

***

When the power in the province got a new gambling czar, life for Bong See went south. He died not only of ailment but his family’s incapacity to bring him in a good hospital and provide him with effective medicines.

The late Guardian Newspaper Editor Lorna Hermogeno –whose genius was mistaken for lunacy – of San Carlos City told me: Mortz, Bong See lived like a King but died liked a Pauper.

To rephrase a word of my English speaking (yes Virginia, media men of yore speak with each other Shakespeare’s language unlike the present crop) friend Lorna – a magna cum laude at the University of Pangasinan – for those average I.Q readers of this column, she cited the gambling czar lived like a king but died like a very poor person.

His misfortune could be similar with the former seasoned city mayor and his contractor I mentioned earlier: They lost their connection to the power that be.

Filipinos as Infamous Cheaters

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Many Filipinos have been scandalized about the cheating bravado of international renowned boxing referee Carlos “Sonny” Padilla on the match of the then unheralded Manny Pacquiao and Australian Nedal Hussein as shown on his video interview. This was a day before his August 2022 induction at the iconic Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in the United States. The Fame honors those individuals for their efforts, achievements, and contributions to one of the Americans favorite pastimes.

BELEAGUERED retired international boxing referee Carlos "Sonny" Padilla in his recent induction to the renowned Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame. Padilla - a former actor - stirred a hornet nest in the world of boxing when he told the interviewer in a social media's Q&A a day before his induction that he cheated twice to see fellow Filipino Manny Pacquiao won against Australian Nedal Hussein for the international WBC Super Bantamweight's tilt.

I first saw Padilla in boob tube when he refereed the classic boxing rubber match or third fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier dubbed Thrilla in Manila held in October 1, 1975 at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City. It was for the heavyweight championship of the world.

The collision between these two mammoth personalities of the heavyweight was death defying. Padilla stopped the brutal fisticuff in the 14^th Round because the still gung-ho Frazier could no longer see in his both swollen eyes due to the punches of Ali.

Louisville Lip’s Ali nearly gave up, too, on that merciless slugfest.

"It was like death. Closest thing to dyin' that I know of," the battle scarred pugilist said later of the hell he and Frazier fought amid the Philippines' scorching daytime 125 degree Celsius aggravated by the heat emitted from the bodies of the sea of humanity in the coliseum that overpowered the air conditioning system.

Padilla's fortune shined on that marquee fight because it was watched by one billion viewers around the world.

When Padilla - the actor-father of actress Zsa Zsa Padilla – met World Boxing Council’s President Jose Sulaimán in a confab held in the U.S, the latter told him he was impressed about his performance in the Thrilla in Manila. From thereon there was no turning back to the fame of the son of Philippines Olympic pug Carlos Padilla, Sr.

He became the third man in the high-profile classic global boxing matches like those of Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Durán - 1, Thomas Hearns vs. Roberto Durán, Julio César Chávez vs. Ruben Castillo and Salvador Sánchez vs. Wilfredo Gómez. He refereed his final bout on October 14, 2000, between Manny Pacquiao and Nedal Hussein in the Philippines. This fight would haunt him and his family 22 years later.

In his interview uploaded by the WBC last October 6 in YouTube, the animated retired Ref answered the posers of the interviewer’s WBC President José Sulaimán Chagnón - the son of  Jose Sulaimán.

He described Hussein as tall, younger, stronger, and a dirty pug. In the fourth round he knocked down Pacquiao who could not get up immediately as his eyes crossed (naduling in the vernacular).

 The 88 years old Padilla, whose blabber could be at the league of Gen. George “faux pas” Patton, said: “I am Filipino, and everybody watching the fight is Filipino, so I prolonged the count. I know how to do it. When he got up, I told him, ‘Hey, are you okay?’ Still prolonging the fight. ‘Are you okay?’ ‘Okay, fight!” he proudly told the interviewer.

The Ref –  the grand dad of prolific actresses Karylle and Zia Quizon -  ordered a point deducted from Hussein for pushing Pacquiao to the floor since he felt the Pinoy fighter had no chance to brawl until the end of the 12^th Round.

Padilla declared Pacquiao's head butt on Hussein as a legal punch. The mestizo looking Ref initially did not let the doctor take a closer look at the cut because he said it was not serious.

“When the doctor was approaching (Padilla’s moved sideways his left lower lip as signal to stop the fight) hahaha!” he said on the later round.

The doctor sensed what he meant examine the cut to the head of the Aussie and signaled to the public the end of the match on the tenth round.

Hussein, a salesman now, in a statement in the social media called the WBC to take action on the case.

"They should be held accountable for the sport we love," he wrote on Instagram.

With that bombshell that could taint all his feats in boxing, Padilla and the Doctor should be condemned and reprimanded on their chicanery. The Hall of Fame should strip off its conferment with the beleaguered Ref. The offense he committed could not only ruin him and his family but the entire Filipino nation inhabited by miscreants and knaves who were notorious in not only cheating in countless public posts held in an election but in the beauty and baseball tilts  as shown by the Manila Films Festival’s scandal in 1994 where the winners were rigged by celluloid screen personalities like Lolit Solis, Ruffa Gutierrez, and Gabby Concepcion and the cheating by Filipino officials that saw baseball players from Zamboanga won the championship against the athletes from Long Beach, California in the Little League World Series held in Aug. 29, 1992 in the United States. Two of the excerpts from the prestigious Washington Post said:

“It turned out that only six of the 14 team members came from Zamboanga. Philippine Little League officials had substituted eight ineligible players, plus an ineligible manager and coach, from other places across the Philippines to create an all-star national team in violation of Little League tournament rules”.

“There were also allegations -- so far unproved -- that some of the players were over the age limit for Little League. The tournament requires players to be under 13 on Aug. 1”.

  These rigging brouhahas were widely covered by international media at the expense of the reputation of us Flips, er, Filipinos. And now here comes Sonny Padilla shooting himself on the foot with his big mouth, salamabit!

Bantag could Suffer the Fate of Mafia’s Boss Al Capone

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Former Bureau of Corrections Director General Gerald Bantag was caught lying through his teeth when exposed by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla that he ordered the excavation through a deep hole and a tunnel at the compound of the BuCors to foray for the fabled Yamashita Treasure.
The beleaguered Bantag told the media in November 11 he ordered the excavation to build a swimming pool because he is a “master scuba diver.”

A horseshit we learned later.

BELEAGUERED suspended former Bureau of Corrections Chief Gerald Bantag (left, photo) and Chicago's Mafia Boss Al Capone.

Those who vigorously believed - like his fellow Cordillerans - that Bantag was an upright man and did not mastermind the murder of acerbic tongue Percy Lapid and Cristito Palaña would have a second thought about his credibility after his rebuffed from Remulla.

 Can you still remember the legal Latin maxim: Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus (False in one thing, false in everything)?

With and without his credibility, Bantag for me, however, can still weather the storm on the double murder cases he faces.

The criminal charges filed by the law enforcers and consolidated by the prosecutors at the DOJ have holes.

 Bantag could be exonerated by the Supreme Court if ever he would be convicted by the Regional Trial Court and the Court of Appeals.

Without his alleged butcher (berdugo) SJ02 Ricardo Zulueta – absconded because he was accused to order the three gang leaders to kill Palana who ordered the murder of Lapid – exposing Bantag as the master mind, the Court of Appeals (CA) or the Supreme Court – after five to seven years of litigation will absolve Bantag in case the judge of the Regional Trial Court ordered his arrest and eventually convicted him.

The C.A or the Supreme Court will acquit Bantag due to the cardinal principle of “Proof beyond reasonable doubt”. It means the evidence presented by the prosecution must produce in the mind of the Court a moral certainty of the accused's guilt against any cloud of doubt.

Without Zulueta who had the personal knowledge that Bantag allegedly ordered him to do those dastardly acts I mentioned above, the case will not stand on the cold neutrality of a competent judge.

***

Mafia’s Boss Al Capone

Even if he would not be convicted eventually, he could still suffer the fate of U.S Mafia’s Boss Al Capone.
Known too as "Scarface", Capone attained notoriety during the Prohibition era (illegal selling of alcoholic beverages) as the co-founder and honcho of the mafia’s Chicago Outfit. His seven-year reign as a crime boss ended when he went to prison at the age of 33.
When Capone replaced syndicate’s godfather Johnny Torrio – after he was almost killed in a rival gang’s ambush -- the former expanded the bootlegging business through violence against his nemesis.
He was responsible for the killing of more or less 100 persons that interfere with his vice and gambling houses in Chicago.

One of the milestones of his infamy, Capone helped the victories of Republican mayoral candidate William Hale Thompson in the 1927 electoral derby. Thompson supported the reopening of illegal saloons that made him a recipient of the mafia's boss $250, 000 election contribution. Thompson beat William Emmett Dever.
The mafia chief backed up to the hilt the mayoralty bet through his bomber James Belcastro. The factotum bombed to death 15 of Thompson's opponents. Belcastro was accused too of murdering lawyer Octavius Granady, an African American who challenged Thompson for the African American votes.
Capone was accused too of the 1926 murder of Assistant State Attorney William H. McSwiggin, the 1928 murders of chief investigator Ben Newmark and former mentor Frankie Yale.
The end of his infamous career started when he was suspected for ordering the massacre of seven rival gang’s members dubbed as the 1929 Saint Valentine's Day Massacre.
In the wake of the carnage, Walter A. Strong, publisher of the Chicago Daily News, asked his friend President Herbert Hoover for federal intervention to mitigate Chicago's lawlessness that went haywire.
The federal authorities became intent on jailing Capone and charged him with 22 counts of tax evasion. He was convicted of five counts in 1931.
The Scarface – whose life story became a model of mafia flicks like his snazzy coat and tie dressing - was jailed in May 1932 at Atlanta U.S. Penitentiary and in August 1934 at the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary off the coast of San Francisco, California.

***

Now! Where’s Gerald Bantag on this Al Capone’s equation? Not on the number of killings in the slammer because the mafia boss’ 100 people killed would be a child’s play on Bantag's 3,002 dead con men - many mysteriously - from his 2019 to 2021 stints at the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa.

Incase Bantag escapes conviction in the murders of Lapid and Palaña, he can be convicted and be jailed – through direct witnesses like Remulla – that he ordered the illegal digging at the expense of the government.

Here are some of the law provisions that can be used against him:

- Any provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, treasure hunting in government properties or portions of the public domain shall not be allowed, except upon prior authority of the President of the Philippines, according to the Marcosian Law in the 1980s (Presidential Decree No. 1726-A – Providing Guidelines on Treasure Hunting).

- The Anti-Graft & Corrupt Practices Act provides:
 (a) Persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act constituting a violation of rules and regulations duly promulgated by competent authority… (Section 3).

Causing any undue injury to any party, including the Government (paragraph e, Section 3)

h) Directly or indirectly having financial or pecuniary interest in any business, contract or transaction in connection with which he intervenes or takes part in his official capacity, or in which he is prohibited by the Constitution or by any law from having any interest (Section3).

Section 9. Penalties for violations. — (a) Any public officer or private person committing any of the unlawful acts or omissions enumerated in Sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of this Act shall be punished with imprisonment for not less than six years and one month nor more than fifteen years, perpetual disqualification from public office, and confiscation or forfeiture in favor of the Government of any prohibited interest and unexplained wealth manifestly out of proportion to his salary and other lawful income.