Bulacan Gov Daniel Fernando no ordinary man

WHEN public officials flaunt the law, people start to wonder: Are there sets of rules for the powerful and another for the ordinary people?

Take the case of Bulacan Gov. Cesar Fernando Ramirez aka Daniel Fernando. At around 3:30 p.m. on Friday, May 8, Fernando attempted to enter the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) through the Tipo gate but was denied entry by the security.

Fernando is in his first term as Bulacan governor. He previously served as vice governor and board member of the province. He is also an actor who performed in bomba movies like “Scorpio Nights” in 1985 and “Macho Dancer” in 1993. He has also appeared in some TV programs. He was also cast in the Malvar movie, starring Sen. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao as General Malvar, which was scheduled to be shown on the big screen this year but was scuttled, according to a source familiar with the project.

When he sensed that the SBMA security wouldn’t budge an inch, he called SBMA Chairman and

Administrator Wilma T. Eisma and with a booming voice pleaded with her in order that he “can bring his relief goods for the residents of Morong, Bataan.

Eisma reportedly agreed initially and even offered to have him escorted from Tipo gate all the way to the Morong gate. And that’s when the problem began. Fernando did not want to be escorted. Apparently, he was afraid that if he were escorted, the SBMA security would discover that he had no relief goods with him. And that would expose his lie.

Eisma then refused him entry. Stunned, the governor changed his narrative. Instead of relief goods, he told her that he had with him cash for his relatives in Morong. Still, Eisma wouldn’t bend.

Unknown to Fernando, someone from his party told the chairman that the governor just wanted to visit his resort in Morong. There was no mention of relief goods or cash distribution at all.

And when Eisma wouldn’t budge, Fernando raised his voice so loud that the people around her could hear him “savage” the administrator. “Hindimo man lam an gak ob inigyanng ga lang. Hindi nam ana koo rd in ar yong( You did not even give me the respect due me. I am not an ordinary man),” Fernando told Eisma, giving her a dressing down for almost an hour. She reportedly stood her ground and the fuming governor had to turn around.

Poor loser

I thought that was the end of it. I was wrong. No sooner had he had his brush with Eisma, Fernando reportedly called up retired Gen. Carlito G. Galvez (Ret.) of the Inter-Agency Task Force for Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID) to complain about his treatment at the hands of Eisma ostensibly to have her sanctioned or suspended. Under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) guidelines, the IATF-EID could suspend or sanction any public official who transgresses the law. Fernando must have thought that he could influence the IATFEID to do his bidding.

General Galvez ignored Fernando’s complaint, a highly reliable source at the IATF- EID said. The general, according to my source, did not even bother to call Eisma because he knew that the governor had violated the ECQ protocol when he did not ask permission from the IATF- EID to travel outside of his province. He also did not even bother to coordinate with SBMA for a pass through the freeport on his way to Bataan.

What’s my beef with Fernando?

His hubris for one. Who does he think he is? Just because he is a governor does not make him any better than any of us.

I am a locator in SBMA. I have a campus there: The Manila Times College of Subic. We offer programs from pre-school to college.

I am pleased to say that Eisma and her board of directors have managed to keep SBMA Covid-19 free. As a locator, I want to keep it that way — free from the killer disease. I thank Eisma for standing up to this governor who thinks he is entitled to a special treatment. I also thank her and the SBMA board for keeping us — the locators — and our employees safe from the dreaded Covid-19.

And here comes Fernando who had tried to pull rank and dressed down Eisma for almost an hour, thinking that the Administrator will buckle down under the weight of his verbal assault and allow him to pass through the Tipo gate to his private resort in Morong. But Eisma, to his chagrin, is no pushover as he must have found out shortly thereafter.

A certified hypocrite

Just the other day, he went on television to say that there was a need to be strict in enforcing the order for a lockdown for the safety of Bulakenos. If that were the case, why not stay in Bulacan and be one with his constituents who, like the rest of us, are trying our level best to make do with the limited space we have. I can’t even go to my barber, goodness gracious. Why leave his constituents behind only to try to visit his resort in Morong in the middle of a pandemic? Talk of compassion; talk of leadership.

Oh well. Crises, as the saying goes, bring out the best and the worst in us.