GMA FLIP-FLOPS?: “Gloria now for Cha-cha” screams the banner head of a major daily (not the STAR). The adverb “now” means or implies that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo used to be against Charter change but, for some reason, is now for it.

That is misleading, and may be malicious, since the President is not against amending the Constitution per se and is not now changing her mind about revising the Charter as that banner head says.

Expect followup comments from everywhere assailing the President for being “urong-sulong,” for blowing hot and cold on proposals to amend the Constitution.

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GAMES MEDIA PLAY: That banner is another example of how a clear, direct statement of the President can be twisted to suit the game that we in media sometimes play.

Deep into the story under the banner, you stumble upon a paragraph saying that the President actually “was categorical about her doubts about the wisdom of pushing Charter change at this time.”

“Considering the divisiveness in our country, this issue is bringing about even more divisiveness,” the President was quoted as having said to foreign journalists whose interview with GMA was the basis of the story.

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GMA FAVORS CON-CON: On the other hand, the STAR’s head on the same story said: “GMA wants Con-con in ‘04” which correctly reflects the stand of the President as spelled out in the interview.

The position of the President as gleaned from her previous statements is that she does not favor amending the Constitution “at this time,” meaning from now until the May 2004 elections, or during her term.

What the President said in effect in the interview is that if we are to amend the Constitution at all, after the 2004 polls, she favors doing it through a Constitutional Convention and not through a Constituent Assembly.

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MODES OF AMENDMENT: At the risk of being pedantic, we insist on explaining here — just to be sure — that a Constitutional Convention(or Con-con as the STAR head put it) consists of delegates elected for the sole purpose of rewriting the Charter, while a Constituent Assembly consists of congressmen and senators convened with the specific task of amending it.

Between the two modes, GMA said in the interview that she preferred the Con-con. She said delegates to the Con-con could be elected simultaneously with the officials to be picked in the 2004 election.

Her favoring the Con-con mode, in the event the Constitution is amended after the May 2004 election, does not mean that she is now suddenly in favor of Charter change or Cha-cha.

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KEEPING HIGH GROUND: We think that is the correct position for the President to take after declaring last Rizal Day (Dec. 30, 2002) that she was not running for president in the 2004 election.

Any attempt at Charter amendment, which is likely to involve changing the system of government, will be suspect if rushed before GMA’s term lapses in 2004.

Also, any amendment — we dare say at any time — will likewise be suspect if carried out by the same politicians now populating the Congress.

Having taken the high moral ground with her renunciation of the presidential option to which she is legally entitled, GMA will lose her footing if she allows any hint that she is maneuvering to grab back the presidency (or the post of Prime Minister in case a parliamentary system is adopted).

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EBDANE RESPONSIVE: PNP Chief Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. is showing responsive and responsible leadership in his recent decisions on problems brought to his attention.

While a stickler for discipline, Ebdane did not mind bending the rule somewhat to give due recognition to a diminutive security guard who returned a belt bag containing P500,000 that a visiting Chinese businessman lost last Jan. 7 at the Festival Mall in Alabang, Muntinlupa.

When it was reported that the security guard, Ma. Fe Sotelo, had wanted to be a regular policeman but her height (barely five feet tall) and her age (32) did not meet the police recruitment requirements, Ebdane acted to facilitate her admission.

An inch short of the admission height is nothing compared to the honesty and integrity that the new recruit brings in.

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KILLER COP SACKED: In another case, the murder of Pagadian City journalist Edgar Damalerio last May 13, 2002, Ebdane acted swiftly to punish the gunman who is a member of the Pagadian police coddled by his superior.

Ebdane ordered the dismissal from the service and the forfeiture of all benefits of PO1 Guillermo Wapile and former Pagadian City police chief Superintendent Asuri Hawani. They were also disqualified from holding any public office.

Administrative and criminal charges were filed by relatives of Damalerio, a hard-hitting radio commentator and managing editor of the Zamboanga Scribe. Frustrated with the slow pace and the apparent efforts of the local police to protect the killer, media organizations held a dialogue with PNP officials on Jan. 7.

The police leadership responded to appeals made by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), the Philippine Press Institute (PPI), the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR),the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) and the Center for Community Journalism and Development (CCJD).

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ABUSE OF POSITION: Damalerio was shot dead on May 13, 2002, while driving his jeep along Pajares St. in Pagadian, not far from police headquarters and the city hall. Two witnesses riding with him positively identified Wapile as the killer.

But Hawani filed murder charges against another person, and failed to investigate Wapile, much less file charges against him. Hawani even used the name of Damalerio’s widow Gemma in filing the charges against a fall guy.

“As a police officer, he (Wapile) has a bounden duty to maintain peace and order in the community and to protect the lives and limb of the citizenry and not to victimize the people they are bound to serve,” Ebdane said in his decision. “To allow the respondent to continue his services in the PNP would be a great insult to the organization.”

In Hawani’s case, Ebdane said he “displayed unprofessionalism in the discharge of his official duty contrary to the mandate of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.” He noted that Hawani took advantage of his position and used fraud to obstruct justice.

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DOCU ON PINOY VALOR: If you or your friends happen to be in the area of the US capital late this month, you may want to see the Jan. 30 (a Thursday) showing of the documentary “Untold Triumph” at the Smithsonian Institute. No entrance fee.

“Untold Triumph” is an 85-minute award-winning television documentary on the 1st and 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments, US Army.

The docu had its world premiere on Nov. 4, 2002, at the Hawaii International Film Festival in Honolulu where it was awarded the Blockbuster Video Award for Best Documentary. It is being shown at film festivals and community events around the US at this time.

Narrated by actor Lou Diamond Phillips, the film focuses on a segment of World War II in the Pacific when the Japanese invasion of the Philippines compelled Filipino immigrants in the US to go to the defense of the homeland.

The showing at 6:30 p.m. will be followed by a panel discussion and gala reception at the National Museum of American History. If you can’t go, try visiting http://hometown.aol.com/untoldtriumph/untoldtriumph/index.htm.