[] NBI recommends that 21 persons be prosecuted by DOJ. That doesn’t include all or most of all the individuals who each had a part in the massive conspiracy that resulted in loss of billions of public funds.
Surely, not the people at the top who made things happen. Surely, not everyone whom the public thinks were in on the gargantuan theft or were so dumb they didn’t know or didn’t care.
[] How high on rungs of government had had the looting reached? The President and his executive secretary? The ex-House speaker? The ex-DPWH secretary?
Names that before couldn’t be named. Now that they’re named, couldn’t be charged?
At their level, they either colluded with the looters or were dumb enough to be so clueless.
The agencies and bodies are assessing, but who’re doing that: the Senate, the House, NBI and DOJ? The ICI or Independent Commission on Infrastructure. People suspect those are controlled or influenced by the President.
[] Hard to distinguish hero from villain. On whose side are Senate President Tito Sotto, Blue Ribbon head Ping Lacson and Sen. Rodante Marcoleta on? At times, they looked like they were on the side of truth; then they didn’t -- or seemed to be with some force of evil.
They’re identified with a political party or bloc in the Senate. The public doesn’t mind until the senator pushes or opposes a move that tends to protect a top honcho and is thus unmasked.
[] Underlying motive of moves and counter-moves in the events that hold the nation’s attention: who’ll be in power beyond June 30, 2028.
The impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, the arrest and transfer of her father, ex-President Rodrigo to the International Criminal Court, the exposure of the flood scandal. All that sprung from the plot to keep power beyond the six-year term.
The assumption is that the people’s choice is limited: between the Marcoses and the Dutertes who are both accountable to old and new charges of corruption.
MIMIC-INSPIRING IMAGES AT HEARING
Sometimes, interesting photos catch public interest, drawing humor instead of anger, as the Senate president winking at a witness and a diabetic star witness sipping a can of Coke.
CEBU LEGISLATORS: MOST HAVE BEEN SILENT
[] Congressmen/women whose districts were allocated public funds for flood control and contracts were awarded to contractors in the President’s favored contractors list
[] Congressmen/women whose districts were granted public funds for infra projects but not flood control, yet still vulnerable to fraud
[] Common defenses
The congressman/woman wasn’t informed and didn’t know about the allocation/insertion
The legislator had no part in any commission/bribe/share of any amount allocated from the funding
The project was not ghost or the work substandard
[] Zipped, mum, no comment
Most Cebu legislators have been quiet about their participation or non-involvement in the mess. One issued a flat denial; another offered a reward for information about it. Silence from all the others, including those representing Cebu City. Is this what their constituents want?
THINGS TO CONSIDER
WHATEVER THE INFRASTRUCTURE, the chief executive of the local government unit -- governor, mayor -- or the local Sanggunian has the legal and moral duty to ascertain the status of the project and the fund allocated for it.
HOWEVER PROSECUTIONS WILL GO, the Government, national and local, shall speedily adopt measures to recover lost public funds and protect and preserve money still in its coffers.