Oh how the tables have turned

By Mabel Doge Luhan

What a joy it is to see Bryan Manabat covering a topic he knows well: poor reporting! This morning’s article is titled “Retired judge dismayed by ‘poor reporting’ of his tax lien notice.” In this surprisingly grammatical article, Bryan even used plurals like Zaldy and Vince taught him — big improvement!

Except the article isn’t really about the judge being dismayed about poor reporting. Instead, it’s Wiseman laboriously complaining in an email about having a tax lien filed against him.

The entire article could have been written as “Wiseman says he already paid.” But that would have required some brainpower and effort on Bryan’s part. It’s easier instead to reprint verbatim Wiseman’s somniferous missive.

Manabat says he was unable to get a comment from Kandit. But if Manabat had just stopped pressing F5 on DinkyOne and gone to the original Kandit article, he could’ve read it in full, or at least had Vince explain it to him. And while Manabat’s article claims to be about Kandit’s “poor reporting,” nowhere does Manabat mention the original Kandit article, nor bother to fact-check Wiseman’s claims. Must’ve been a hectic news day!

“Administration goes after Wiseman for alleged tax debt,” Kandit’s original headline says. Kandit’s article isn’t even about Wiseman. It’s about the Palacios administration pursuing alleged tax delinquencies. It’s not all about you, David! It really isn’t. 

“So here I am, years later, viewing a very disturbing and unwarranted stain on my reputation,” Manabat quotes Wiseman as saying. Really? Disturbing and unwarranted? Homey who spent decades putting poor addicts behind bars now just can’t deal with being called to task on his taxes after a windfall profit? How much did he make if the tax due was $152K? And what exactly did Kandit report incorrectly — Richard Santos did file a lien against Wiseman, did he not? 

Manabat’s bandana was bobbing up and down like crazy as he continued directly quoting Wiseman’s verbose recriminations. Manabat even thought it was newsworthy that “[t]he letter also concluded by thanking several employees at Rev & Tax.” 

How does any of this detail about Wiseman’s thank-you note support Wiseman’s, or Manabat’s, allegation of Kandit’s poor reporting?

How does Kandit’s article “stain” Wiseman’s “good reputation of four decades”? Wiseman’s tantrum already did that. 

Try harder next time, the both of you.

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Mabel Doge Luhan is a woman of loose morals. She resides in Kagman V, where she pursues her passions of crocheting, beatboxing, and falconry.