Demonizing Dabu
Demonizing Dabu
By Joselito Basilio
The curious cat that I am, I visited the blog site calling for the
ouster of Atty. Vivian Dabu, Among Ed’s controversial administrator. I was
glued to it for a long time reading and analyzing the articles posted
by the anonymous blogger and the raves the site has been getting mostly
from anti-Dabu forces.
The anonymous blogger uses vile language in describing Dabu. There, she
is being depicted as an obnoxious, an ugly and a dim-witted character.
If the stinging, bitter and acerbic comments on Dabu were to be
translated into punches Dabu would be knocked down instantly and die of
internal hemorrhage.
I would like to believe that the creator of the blog site is a lawyer
like Dabu because he (or she?) employs words frequently used by lawyers
like “putative” and ably cited a jurisprudence (Supreme Court decision)
to justify his portrayal of Dabu as an unintelligent lawyer. Whoever
this blogger may be, his call for Dabu’s resignation will not gain
ground for a simple reason that he is attacking Dabu’s person and character
rather than presenting a reasonable argument that would persuade people
to support the ouster call. At the end of the day, I believe the Dabu
will earn more sympathy than those who want him fired.
Honestly I do not know or have met Dabu. We all know she is not
perfect. No one is. I agree that she has her own negative qualities like
everybody else. Nonetheless, I believe she is a good and an honest
administrator. She displays a political ill never seen in the previous
administrators, a rare character needed to rid the corruption-prone capitol of
graft and corruption. Like Among Ed, she’s not been tainted with
corruption up to now which I find remarkable. This is much more important than
her perceived bad management style other segments of civil society are
complaining about.
Assuming, for the sake of argument, that Dabu is fired by Among Ed.
What then? Would her ouster placate the Provincial Board and the Mayor’s
League? Would it mollify the civil society? I do not think so. The
aftermath is going to be a vicious cycle as when Cory fired Executive
Secretary Joker Arroyo in compliance to civil society’s pressure. Believe me.