By Charlie V. Manalo
The Daily Tribune
The Daily Tribune
Presidential sister Ballsy Aquino-Cruz finally broke her silence and admitted she and her husband had been to Prague, albeit, she denies they were involved in the the negotiations between the representatives of the Philippine government and Inekon, the Czech firm bidding for the Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT 3) expansion project.
According to Ballsy, they just went there to pray before the image of Sto. Niño de Prague and fortunately for her, she said she got her wish. Nothing wrong with that.
Ballsy claimed she was cleared of any involvement in the botched Inekon by no less than Czech Ambassador Josef Rychtar. Unfortunately for her, Rychtar’s statement has been cast by the Palace itself as doubtful after documents recently obtained by The Tribune debunked the Ambassador’s claim Inekon was blacklisted in the MRT 3 bidding after the firm refused to give in to extortion attempts by some Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) officials.
According to the documents obtained by The Tribune, the name of Bally’s cousin, Jorge Aquino-Lichauco’s name was dropped by Inekon representative to the Philippines, Yorgos Psinakis when he wrote to DoTC Undersecretary Rene Limcaoco in trying to sell his firm’s products to the government.
Early this year, Aquino-Lichauco submitted his own version of the terms of reference to be used for the MRT 3 bidding which was then forwarded by Limcaoco to MRT 3 general manager Al Vitangcol.
Had Vitangcol decided to use Lichauco’s ToR and not reduced the bid price from $3 million to $1.8 million per train coach, Inekon surely would have cornered the contract.
Thus, according to the source, Inekon, contrary to the claim of Rychtar, was not blacklisted but simply backed out from the bidding knowing fully well they stand no chance of winning.
So, sorry Ms. Ballys, but you simply cannot rely on Rychtar’s statement to defend yourself from this scandal.
Maybe you could again try the supposedly time-tested blame game of your only brother, Noynoy, to try to divert the attention from you.
Maybe you could again try the supposedly time-tested blame game of your only brother, Noynoy, to try to divert the attention from you.
But again, maybe Noynoy’s blame game has already lost its appeal, moreso after being subjected to criticisms from various sectors for refusing to personally take the blame for the worsening corruption happening under his very nose. Noynoy’s accusing finger apparently has lost its magic.
In fact, my friend Rolly says Noynoy might have even lost his other fingers as he now only has one finger left, his index finger. This finger, Rolly says, points to everyone but to Noynoy himself. He’s clueless as always on what command responsibility means.
My friend says Noynoy uses his index finger only on two things: one, to squeeze the trigger in his target shooting practice at the firing range; and second, to pin blame of his failures to others.
Using his three years in office pointing to his predecessor for his government’s ills, Noynoy now finds his index finger getting shorter and now has started pointing it at the people whom he himself appointed to their current positions.
At the end of his term in 2016, my friend says Noynoy’s index finger will be totally gone and so used up that he’ll end up sucking his thumb to fill that gaping mouth and complete that “innocent look.”
Finally, a finger pointing at himself.
So, maybe Ballsy could ask her sister Kris to come to her rescue. But then again, Kris might have also lost her charisma as her latest attempt to again exploit the James yap saga did not do well in the box office.
Maybe it would have been different if Kris had been infected again. That I think, would do very well as a diversionary tactic.
Otherwise, Ms. Ballsy has to face the issue straight up, as the burning questions still remain.
Why did she time her trip to Prague when the Philippine delegation was also scheduled to make a trip there to meet with the executives of Inekon? Did she by chance, happen to meet the Inekon executives during one of her side trips there? And did she travel to Prague along with her first cousin, Jorge, who was intensely lobbying for the Czech firm? And where was Pete Prado in all these? Does hubby Eldon work in the same Prado office?
Until then, she could not extricate herself from the issue.
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