SHORTLY after Rodrigo Duterte was proclaimed winner in last year’s presidential election, Apollo Quiboloy, leader of a religious group based in Davao City, offered his jet and helicopter for Duterte’s personal use. (It wasn’t clear if the self-proclaimed “son of God” would allow use but keep the title to a Cessna plane and a Bell 429 chopper.)
Disclosed only last Friday (May 19), during the groundbreaking rites for a housing project in Davao, was business tycoon Dante Ang’s offer to give then president-elect Duterte a Gulfstream jet.
He refused both offers: Quiboloy’s, with a reference to “fake” friendship. Ang’s, with a caution not about looking a gift in the mouth but rejecting it outright.
‘Mora’g delikado’
“Mora’g delikado man nang imong ginabuhat,” he said he told the former Philippine Airlines chief.
“OK ra man na kung civilian o mayor. Karong presidente medyo delikado.”
Ignore the exclusion of “mayor” from the threat of liability, maybe ‘twas just a slip. He must know that the anti-corruption law (Republic Act 3019) applies to all government personnel: be they president or mayor.
Dutere didn’t accept the offers. No question then about his being not liable. How about the offerors?
2 legal views
Former University of the Philippines law dean Pacifico Agabin in a Rappler report said Ang—or similarly, Quiboloy--committed no crime as he didn’t ask for something in return.
Ateneo de Manila law dean Antonio la Viña said the offeror would be liable if it was a personal gift to Duterte but not for a donation to the government.
Quiboloy said his jet and chopper would be for Duterte’s personal use. Ang didn’t say the jet would go to the government.
The offeror must ask for something. But what if the expectation of getting something from the public official is implicit in the nature of the gift, such as its huge price? And even if the gift is to the government, not to the public official, it still amounts to a favor that may have to be returned.
Avoiding trapdoor
Good thing Duterte struck the offers down, before it reached the level where one is troubled with the scrutiny of whether it was a gift or a bribe.
The president thus avoided a trapdoor that could’ve have led him to a swarm of legal and ethical questions.
That happened to Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña whose acceptance of two Dodge Charger sedans to the City Government for the use of the police led to a lawsuit in 2012. He was cleared but for some time the public wondered how the vehicles that were purportedly donated to City Hall and used for awhile by the mayor turned out to have been sold to the mayor’s sister.
Duterte deftly avoided that confusion.