HAVE you read this? Petron hits oil smuggling. The government is losing P30 to P40 billion annually, according to the CEO of Petron. Studies from 2001 to 2011 show that smuggled oil products account for at least a third of the total volume sold in the market.
I read also that there are at least 10 oil smuggling cases filed with the DOJ waiting to be resolved. How can all of these go on unabated? I remember this incident.
A national environmentalists group was advocating for new renewable sources of energy, locally in the late 60's. Solar energy, geothermal energy, hydrothermal energy, wind energy, energy from tides, biogas were being considered. The least popular was the atomic reactor as energy source. There are still the endless pros and cons discussions up to the present due to the enormous amounts of money spent on the idle atomic reactor riddled with corruption and anomalies.
We were working hard for the exploitation of solar energy. We have the sunlight throughout the year, inexhaustible, abundant and non -polluting. The only setback was the huge initial capitalization to start harnessing it. Once it is established the pay off of this investment will be a great boom for the country. All countries in the world have gained a power source of vast potentials by developing solar energy.
The Philippines, a tropical country, has the greatest potential for its availability throughout the year. Our foreign consultants called our country, the country of forever summer. Sad to say, all our plans and blue prints were shelved. This was what I heard. All government officials earning enormous amounts of regular kickbacks from the smuggled oil products would have nothing of the solar energy proposal.
Imagine how many hungry families can be fed, school buildings constructed, school teachers can earn higher salaries, get sufficient books and learning aids. How many housing projects can be established with enough funds? Jobs can be provided to work force.
Can these corrupt officials still sleep, the sleep of the just? With smuggling of all sorts of products, appliances, cars still happening in our country flourishing, does it mean corruption in the customs offices is well- entrenched that long? Solve it now. Get the culprits. Bring them to the courts of justice. No one is above the law.
Long pending cases at the DOJ Department, headlined in the news are taking time, some in decades, to be finally solved. Take the case of the murder of Benigno Aquino, Jr. at the Tarmac of NAIA years ago. Who was the mastermind in this heinous crime? Who planned the Galman fall guy role to add to the drama? Everyone is still asking.
Several men had been jailed for the crime. Speculations were pinned on Pres. Marcos, the first lady Imelda Marcos, General Ver but no one had been persecuted among these three. The PCGG is at work on the Marcos hidden wealth until now. The circuitous investigations are going on till now without concrete results. The latest is the investigation of Imee Marcos' offshore trust funds in the British Virgin Islands.
The Jonas Burgos case is another one. Edita Burgos, his mother is determined to see justice done. She is reopening the case armed with new evidences to get to the truth of what really happened to her son. The President had ordered the DOJ to pursue the case to its final solution. The case of environmental worker Mr. Ong whose suspected killers escaped through the immigration office with deception is being reopened, too. The Barrameda case whose lone witness to the gruesome killing where her body was found cemented in a sealed drum is missing after he recanted his statements declared under oath. The bereaved family had revived the case but can they pursue it
The horrible massacres of some 58 people by the infamous Ampatuan family happened in Nov. 23, 2010. Everyone knows about this crime. The Ampatuan clan with some military personnel gunned down the Mangudadatu members, lawyers, and newspaper men who were there to cover the news. No one was spared.
To hide the crime a giant backhoe arrived and plowed the mountain side to bury the victims. Gruesome, unthinkable! Women, traditionally, respected by Muslims were not spared. Until now the case is being heard at snail pace with so many maneuvers of the guilty party. We do not see the end of these for a long time at the rate it is going now.
The case of the Atimonan encounter between suspected gambling landlords and the military happened recently. The military branded the incident as a legitimate encounter but it did not end as that. Follow up investigations were made until the President ordered the DOJ secretary to reinvestigate the case. All investigating reports were consolidated. Witnesses were interviewed. The final findings proved that the encounter was not as reported. It was a shoot out where several people were killed. The military men are now under investigation.
The most glaring of these long pending resolutions of outstanding cases in the courts are the cases against former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. We wonder when this will end. There are the plunder cases, corruption cases while she was president. They had done all the dilatory tactics, the real and imagined sickness, the Famas acting awards she could have won whenever she could not go to attend the court hearings.
She could be so strong to go and visit her cabalens in Pampanga. Her family is her very willing accomplishes when occasions call for it. When is the end of this "teleserye" happen? President Aquino, please let it happen now.
When will be the final indictment of all the celebrated cases in our country end? We are still waiting for the" Big Fish” in these crimes to end up in jail and pay for all their offenses.
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