Tongue twisters

By Alex P. Vidal

“’Twas but my tongue, ’twas not my soul that swore.”—Euripides

BEFORE the advent of CCTV and high-tech cellphones, community and neighborhood crimes were hard to solve by the police, or mostly weren’t solved at all.

If there’s no evidence and witnesses, there’s no solution to the crime or crimes committed.

If crimes were unsolved, there’s a travesty of justice.

The people’s trust and confidence in our law enforcement would be eroded if justice wasn’t served.

Today, even simple street brawls and altercations among drunken men, gangsters, drivers and pedestrians; hair-pulling and slapping tiffs among gossipers, housewives and vendors can be graphically captured and instantly uploaded on social media for all the world to watch.

Those involved in the fracases became instant “celebrities” while perpetrators of crimes and violence were easily identified, rounded up in hot pursuit or follow up police operations, and prosecuted.

It’s because of the mushrooming of CCTVs in the villages and the vigilance of netizens who recorded these crimes and violence that unraveled right before their eyes.

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That’s why we are confident the Philippine National Police (PNP) will be able to solve soon the grisly murder of 36-year-old Iloilo businesswoman Claire Diergos, who was laid to rest in Guimaras on Sunday, Nov. 7.

Investigators have been reportedly banking on the help of CCTV footages that captured the movements of the victim’s sport utility vehicle, where she was found dead, and the vehicle abandoned in Barangay Inangayan, Santa Barbara, Iloilo on October 26.

The CCTV footages, corroborated by several circumstantial and testimonial pieces of evidence, forensic science, and the quality of investigation being undertaken by the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) headed by Police Colonel Gilbert Gorero, are expected to help expedite the resolution of the celebrated case.

IPPO information officer and spokesman, Police Executive Master Sargeant Francisco Lindero, who had briefed reporters on the status of the case, assured the public they were leaving no stone unturned to solve the crime.

Diergos, described by friends and her family as a hard-working and independent woman, sustained multiple stab wounds on different parts of her body.

If not for the fact that her body was found wrapped in a comforter and abandoned inside her own vehicle like in the mafia and detective movies, the case wouldn’t generate a huge public interest and become sensational.

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THE names of this year’s winners in the 50^th New York City Marathon on November 7 continued to be tongue twisters: Albert Korir (men) and Peres Jepochirchir (women).

Just like in chess, which used to be dominated by Russians like Botvinnik, Smyslov, Korchnoi, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Akhsharumova, Akopian, Azmaiparashvili, Chiburdanidze, marathon has produced some of the names that would require sportscasters chronicling the mammoth race “live” to take a speech therapy before or after the event.

Before Korir and Jepochirchir, there were (yes, I have spelled their names right) Muhrcke, Mtolo, Kuscsik, Waitz, Mutai, Okayo, Ikangga.

To further torture our tongues, there were past winners like: Wakiihuri, Kagwe, Tergat, Pizzolato, Keflezighi, Gebremariam, Biwott, Kipsang, Ghebreslassie, Kamworor. Whew!

In Asia, we used to have a chess grandmaster from Indonesia named Utot Adianto, a Korean boxer Tae Jin Moon, and two Thai boxing promoters I personally know, Virat Virachachatanawong and Jimmy Chaichutchuang.

In the Philippines, Ilonggo top-notch chef Tebong Jardeleza once revealed he had a Facebook friend known as Abigail Putayan, a Korean national who’s not involved in sports and culinary arts, and who also became my social media friend.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two Iloilo dailies—Ed)