COLUMN OF FRANCISCO S TATAD September 8, 2013, 5:12 A.M. First things first 122 By Francisco S. Tatad Can’t Aquino Lead the Exit? NBI Director Nonnatus Rojas resigned irrevocably amid official criticisms against the National Bureau of Investigation’s handling of the initial stage of the serious illegal detention charge against Janet Lim Napoles, the central character in the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam whom President B. S. Aquino received in Malacanan like an honored guest after two weeks of having been a fugitive from justice. In a country where the most discredited public officials cling to their posts like barnacles ---the Spanish term for it is “morir antes demitir”---“die before you resign”---this was a rare spectacle. Many who support Rojas thought he should not have quit. For them, it is the other Roxas--- Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II---who should have. For while the NBI director refused to knuckle under Napoles’ power and influence, the DILG secretary fawned over her like a factotum or footman when she “surrendered” to Aquino on August 28 after evading the arrest order issued by the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 51 on August 14. Apparently the same people who see Rojas as an asset to the NBI see Mar as an embarrassment to the Aquino government. Mar’s obsequious behavior toward Napoles, as detailed in press reports during her transfer to Camp Crame, then to Makati City Jail, then ultimately to Fort Santo Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, is far more censurable than his reported allocation of P5 million of his Priority Development Assistance Fund to a questionable non-governmental organization when he was still a senator. He may be able to explain the P5 million, but not his reproachable toadying to Napoles. Roxas is not the first or only Cabinet official to have been irreparably damaged by the Napoles case though. He may have to yield his place of honor to Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad, who is in charge of all pork barrel releases. DBM sources say Abad seldom if ever signs documents on the PDAF; he leaves everything in the hands of Undersecretary Mario Relampagos, whose expertise he inherited from previous budget secretaries. But he is in control. In all stories about the misuse of ‘pork’, the lawmakers and the President are routinely named, but not Abad. His name never comes up, even though no ‘pork’ is ever released to any recipient unless he first clears it. He also controls the release of official data to the Commission on Audit and other agencies. Thus, by withholding the data from COA on the ‘pork’ releases from 2010 up to the present (or until 2012 at least), he has kept the nation blind on the actual misuse of funds by the Aquino government, and kept the focus solely on the misuse of funds during the Arroyo administration. But although the total amount is not known, Aquino’s misuse and abuse of the ‘pork’ is a non-contestable public fact. There has been no attempt to hide it. Aquino openly used the pork to bribe members of Congress to impeach and remove Renato Corona, the Arroyo-appointed Supreme Court chief justice, and to ram through the widely opposed, foreign-dictated population control law whose validity is now under question before the High Court. The total amount could yet reduce to “small change” the P10 billion allegedly “scammed” by the selected lawmakers and Napoles. And Abad is up to his neck in it, as UNA Secretary General Toby Tiangco points out. Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago is pushing an open door when she calls for the jailing of all her accountable colleagues. Indeed, they should all be; but that requires a long process. She should first demand a complete report on the use of the PDAF from 2007 (if not earlier) up to the present, without exempting any of Aquino’s allies, especially those who think they could paint themselves as incorrupt simply by talking about the corruption of others. Then she could probably add her voice to the call for resignation of the offending lawmakers and all culpable members of the Executive Department. Aside from those mentioned above, I would give the highest priority to the sanctimonious members of Aquino’s propaganda team, who had acted as make-believe security officers during the “surrender” of Napoles. They have since poured out so much nonsense about the fugitive from justice not being able to trust anyone in government except the President, who had put a P10 million bounty on her head, and the absolute need for him therefore to personally receive her in Malacanang and to escort her all the way to Camp Crame to make sure she was not assassinated. Until I heard that statement from the Palace, I had some illusion that the administration operated on some reasonably rational basis. Although they had long made mediocrity the general standard for high office, I never suspected they would make the utter inability to think an absolute requirement. How else could anyone explain the plain idiocy of their statements? Until the “surrender” occurred, I had extreme difficulty believing the story that in the 2010 presidential campaign, Napoles was escorted by a trusted Aquino campaigner from the so-called “Samar (Street) campaign group” to deliver a cash donation of P500 million to the then-senator Aquino, the LP presidential candidate. Since the evening of August 26, I have had extreme difficulty not believing it. The time has come for all those mentioned above, and others similarly situated to free themselves of any official government responsibilities. This is the only way the government and the nation itself could breathe more freely yet once more. The President would be providing a rare example of badly needed leadership if he leads the exit. ======For comments – fstatad@gmail
Posted on: Sun, 08 Sep 2013 01:19:22 +0000
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