Blazing Glory

Wow. When it comes to hair-brained schemes, this one really worked. The old cliché of “That’s so crazy it just might work,” was brightly illustrated in flaming highlights with the fire that consumed the COMELEC building yesterday early morning.

One of the first things that popped into the minds of Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward when they were investigating the burglary at the Watergate Hotel was that there were just too many coincidences. In the same way, the burning of the COMELEC building last Sunday is peppered with coincidences.

The very first is the proximity to the elections in May. In the politically-charged atmosphere, it’s not too much of stretch to imagine those in power going to great lengths to protect themselves.

The second is the convenient destruction of all the controversial documents and evidence pertaining to the 2004 elections, as well as the automated election machines that were to help counteract the effects of cheating in the upcoming elections. Millions of pesos in tax money quite literally went up in smoke.

The third is the disappearance of the Marine security detachment assigned to protect the building two hours before the fire started. This was reported in the Philippine Daily STAR.

The fourth, as reported in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, was the delay of the fire-fighters whose station was mere blocks away from the building. Apparently, they “received the call too late.”

And now, the very first to pipe up with the need for a speedy investigation is the Palace. Who will conduct the investigation? People appointed by the Administration.

Now, I don’t want to pre-empt any official decision, but this situation is VERY controversial because of all the coincidences attached to it. By no means can it be left to only a single sector to examine. There needs to be an independent, truly independent investigation by several sectors, to counteract the effects of politics. If the government had even the slightest hand in this burning issue, the implications could be the very thing that will bring the flaming sword of truth to our shadowy and untrustworthy government.