While I was trying hard to ask for help from concerned persons and looking for sponsors willing to bankroll movable basketball stands for the youth in my community, I arrived home at Fairview Park Subdivision last Nov. 15, about 1:30 p.m., to find my green gate vandalized with the words “F— U BADING” spray-painted in white. Scattered in front of the gate were stones and pieces of broken bottles of an energy drink and a plywood. I took some photos of them. (My thanks to Fairview station commander Senior Supt. Dennis de Leon and his group’s quick response. No barangay (village) officials came despite my several text messages.)
This incident may have been triggered by the petition signed by all my neighbors on Dart and Hunter streets, asking for the removal of the fixed basketball stands that obstruct passing vehicles, pose dangers to the children in the neighborhood, and serve as “observation posts” from where robbers and holdup men could look out for households to victimize, not to mention the lost social, economic and other opportunities these stands cause. (These are the same stands that were the subject of the letter, titled “Remove basketball court blocking streets in South Fairview,” which came out in the Inquirer’s Opinion section last Nov. 15.)
If the intention of the vandals was to scare me, I am sorry to disappoint them. Yes, I am not afraid. In fact, I have faced them without fear to listen to their side of the story and to be fair with them. That’s why, to solve the problem, I am trying come up with movable basketball stands to replace the illegal, fixed basketball stands once they are dismantled. Yes, I am not afraid to speak of—and defend others for—what is right and true.
When I was a reporter for the Japan Times, I faced and interviewed yakuzas in Japan; hoodlooms in Quiapo, Manila; rebel soldiers; leftists and rightists, etc. I felt no fear doing this because my conscience was clear. I just wanted to hear both sides of every story to be fair to all parties concerned.
—ROGELIO CONSTANTINO MEDINA,
medinarogelioc60@yahoo.com