GOTCHA, Published in The Philippine Star, Monday, December 17, 2007
Fish are caught by the mouth, the Tagalogs say. And what big fish with mouthfuls were caught on both sides of the political pond last week. Snagged were no less than Presidential Legal Counsel Serge Apostol and opposition Sen. Sonny Trillanes.
Apostol’s big mouth gave them away. Trillanes, he roared, threw a tantrum at The Pen last Nov. 29 because the budget office had rejected a claim for P100-million pork barrel. Quoting “intel”, Apostol said the senator on Nov. 9 had asked for P60 million under Congress’ priority development assistance fund and P40 million under the public works fund. The request was turned down allegedly because Trillanes disrespects them. “You can see how this fellow thinks,” Apostol sneered, “While he is trying to topple the government, he is also demanding money from it.”
Trillanes has been shown to have no word of honor. He had vowed right after election in May that he would never partake of the corrupt pork system. Six months into office, dirty politics has devoured him. By way of explaining, all the senator said is that his pork order had nothing to do with his fizzled coup. His chief aide lamely claimed to being advised that if they don’t collect Trillanes’ yearly entitlement of P200 million, someone else will get it. By arrogant implication, Trillanes using pork would be clean, but somebody else doing the same would not be.
Apostol was unstoppable. He said that had the budget office released the P100 million, Trillanes “would have used it to topple the government.” It was with this instructive line that Apostol the ex-congressman raised new questions. For one, do not Malacañang and Congress repeatedly claim in defense of pork that funds are not given directly to congressmen or senators but to projects they have identified? So how come Apostol now says Trillanes nearly got P100 million cash to use for rebellion? Granting that Trillanes does have nothing in mind but to bring down Gloria Arroyo, does Apostol on the other hand know something about the pork that the public doesn’t? Is he so conversant about pork that he’s sure the ubiquitous contractors who help legislators skim from projects have reached even a rebel like Trillanes? Lastly, will Apostol have the usual talkativeness to expose pork thieves?
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To a poll in which Filipinos opined that Gloria Arroyo is the vilest of five past Presidents, Malacañang’s response is neither here nor there. “No charges have been proven in court,” one presidential spokesman snorted, to show that the survey result is only perception and not reality. But of course no charges have been proven because none have been filed. That Palace smart aleck must know: the President is immune from suit while in office.
But even without that exemption, it’s next to impossible to bring up charges against the highest official of the land. That office comes with vast powers to frustrate seekers of justice, which is why they are reduced to expressing disgust through polls.
Persons once close to the center of power but have since left because of unconscionable corruption know only too well about Arroyo’s cleanup team. That cabal of selected cabineteers, generals and politicos ensures by hook or by crook that she overcomes every political crisis.
It employs a combination of legal and other tricks. Among the legal ploys is to craft sham impeachment raps ahead of real ones — to inoculate Arroyo for a year under a mangled constitutional rider. Alongside it are the rigged congressional inquiries that let off steam but eventually snuff out exposés, foot-dragging by the Ombudsman, or filing of weak cases against minions. Documentary evidence conveniently get lost. Witnesses are spirited away from public view until the coast is clear: Udong Mahusay, Jocjoc Bolante, Virgilio Garcillano, Lintang Bedol. Executive branch officials are forbidden from attending congressional inquiries that are not controlled by administration allies. If forced to attend, they invoke executive privilege to conceal high crime.
From there it gets worse. Whistleblowers are intimidated or bought off. In the ZTE deal, Malacañang operatives bad-mouthed the complainers while wiretapping them. They even tried to link to a fabricated theft of official documents the newsmen who wrote about the scam. Threatening the exposers has become commonplace. “Isang preso lang ‘yan (One prisoner is all it’ll take)” is now the favorite expression of assurance of Malacañang bigwigs about those who break ranks. Meaning, all it would take to silence them is to let out of prison for one night a trusty armed convict.
Lawmakers are called in when necessary. Pork barrels are released or withheld based on Malacañang’s critical needs. Congressmen, senators and local officials are bribed, and then brought along foreign junkets. At times bishops too are paid off.
Worst is when dissenters are killed or kidnapped. UN fact-finders have listed down close to 850 cases of activists, unionists, journalists and jurists slain or abducted for exposing government abuses. Complementing these are repressive measures like the calibrated preemptive response and a looming revival of an anti-subversive law.
