Sangil: Corruption, corruption, corruption

THROWBACK 1: Napoles camp to file 'pork' raps vs 120 lawmakers.

That was the banner of a national paper sometime in 2017. The twists of fate, Janet Napoles was jailed and none of the 120 members of the House of Representatives was indicted. It is indicative of partial justice. Yesterday and today, it’s the same banana. Now the headlines are about former Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao reportedly a former aide of Senator Bong Go.

Lao was with the procurement service of the Department of Budget and Management. Seemingly, based on the ongoing hearing at the senate, Lao took charge of purchasing face masks and face shields. (Kaya pala pinagpipilitan tayong magsuot ng face shields kahit hindi kailangan.) On his Facebook account, Lao denied all accusations.

Another corruption issue which was one of the most talked-about topics on public affairs programs on television and radio is the unexplained hundreds of million appropriations of the Presidential Communication Office and flagged by the Commission on Audit. Every accusation aired was followed by denial after denial.

The number of lawmakers with sticky fingers is so high and if we count other government officials from Malacañang, department agencies and down to the local government units (LGUs), we need a calculator. However, there’s the 11th COMMANDMENT -- Two friends talking over bottles of light beers: 'Pare kunwari nahuli ka ni kumare na may kasamang babae sa kwarto at pareho kayong hubad at ginagawa ninyo ang alam mo na, paano mo ito lulusutan? His friend quick reply: Pare huwag mong kalimutan ang 11th commandment. Thou shall not admit! Huwag umamin, sabihin mo nabasa ka sa ulan at naghubad ka at nadulas ka lang. He he he. End of conversation.

THROWBACK 2: One newspaper said, “lawmakers are all riled up over reports linking them to the pork barrel scam.” Suddenly they don't know Janet Lim Napoles, the alleged pork barrel scam mastermind. They don't know her, never met her, never made deals with her. Functionaries in Malacañang during the previous administration said they don't know her when people in the know are saying in whispers that many of them were frequent guests in the lavish parties Napoles hosted.

The old man is a fox. Juan Ponce Enrile is a survivor because he knows how to navigate his way through stormy weather in his life. In this long-running scandal, he is silent, doesn’t issue statements, refuses press interviews and just plays Candy Crush. Remember when the late Lady Miriam Santiago was castigating him in a privilege speech in the Senate? The fox was unmoved, just focused on his Ipad. Lalong napikon si late Senator Miriam. Enrile’s Chief of Staff Gigi Reyes wasn’t lucky. She got a jail term.

My sources said no amount of text messages and phone calls to former Congresswoman Zeny Ducut by various media organizations, she doesn’t return them. She was reportedly involved in the pork barrel scandal. She might have drawn inspiration from Enrile. She doesn’t issue statements, refused media interviews and avoided discussing the pork barrel scandal. But if the accounts of the whistleblowers will be given weight in court, our friend Zeny, could have been in real trouble. To recall, former Congressman Oscar Rodriguez was fuming because his name was dragged into the scandal. He denied any involvement. Same thing with former Congresswoman Anna York Bondoc who was also named in the scandal but denied involvement too. With few remaining months of Duterte administration, corruption in our government will persist like the virus.

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