"Why the Palace is treating gingerly the whole pork scam case and the so-called Napoles syndicate which is said to have perpetrated it, does not surprise at all considering that House allies of Noynoy may be deeply involved in it. During similar cases involving scams running into billions of pesos, the Department of Justice (DoJ) would issue a hold departure order on the suspected perpetrators in a snap but what has been issued against the alleged scam operator Janet Lim Napoles and her brother Reynald Jojo Lim, was merely an advisory for government agencies to merely track the travel destinations of both, which has apparently not been successful since the day the lookout order was issued. The be on the lookout (Bolo) order by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima appears to amount to nothing since agencies from points of travel such as seaports and airports were merely ordered to report the presence of both. Immigration agents were not required to stop the travel of both scam suspects and instead were “strongly warned” to immediately report their presence. With the claimed properties and wealth supposedly accumulated by the Napoles syndicate from the pork barrel scam, it would not be any problem for them to leave the country for good and let their dummies operate the whole scam business under another guise, that is, if the DoJ, despite Ben Hur Luy’s claims, really has the evidence on Napoles. The Napoles siblings appear to be the key to unravel the extent of the pork barrel scam which supposedly has been going on for years, said to the alleged source of the immense wealth that made the Napoles family a toast of the international jet-setting crowd. The question that remains among many is whether the legislators are victims or accomplices in the scam since their individual pork barrels or priority development assistance funds (PDAFs) were those channeled to claimed bogus non-government organizations by the reported Napoles syndicate. The public probe on the scam is also being sidetracked by allies of Noynoy, particularly Senate President Franklin Drilon. Even De Lima advised against a public hearing claiming that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is still obtaining “factual matters.” The Palace has also issued what seems to be a directive to the Bureau of Internal Revenue not to tinker with the statement of assets, liabilities and networth (SALns) of members of Congress stating the co-equal status of the Legislative and the Executive of which the BIR is part. Strangely, the Palace indicated the other day that the BIR has yet to request from congressmen their SALns but an investigation is being undertaken which is very “confidential,” according to Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda. One wonders what is being investigated by the BIR without obtaining the financial records of the congressmen. Likely, the tax cases that the BIR may come up with, would be against mere scapegoats without Noynoy’s allies in the House and the Senate being subjected to a probe. To top it all, Noynoy had already made a policy statement about not abolishing the pork barrel saying that despite the scam, it can be put to good use, which seems to be an assurance to his House allies that they will be assured of their pork as long as he remains in power. The pork barrel is also an essential tool for the Palace to assure that allies in Congress toe the line on legislative priorities. The decision to suspend the public probe on the reported scam, at least until after the NBI completed its probe, also denies those being accused in the Senate who are mainly members of the opposition the chance to answer the allegations being thrown against them. The direction being taken by the Palace seemingly is to keep its allies insulated while making the scam issue handy in dangling this against the opposition in the runup to the next presidential elections. From out of nowhere, in an interview, Drilon said that the Vice President also has his PDAF. That sounds like a fair warning."
Posted on: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 09:05:47 +0000
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