Is Aquino getting updates to govern successfully?

Frankly Speaking
By Frank Wenceslao

Pres. Aquino and Exec. Sec. Paquito Ochoa

Atty. Harry Roque said that based on the trial of the accused in the Maguindanao Massacre, the trial of Janet Lim Napoles is likely to take over a hundred years. A reader emailed me that Roque actually wanted to draw President Aquino’s attention to the performance the past three years of the Department of Justice under Secretary Leila de Lima who’s beholden to ES Paquito Ochoa who in turn has interests not necessarily to make Aquino a great President.

The reader added that if Aquino’s presidency finally fails, it’s because of the chaotic executive department management by Ochoa and De Lima’s investigation and prosecution of criminal and corruption cases such as the Maguindanao Massacre, Atimonan, Quezon shootout and now the Napoles’ pork scam that pushed back hundreds of small but naturally important cases to the parties concerned.

The President is urged to ask for an inventory of criminal cases he inherited and those that arose in his watch with the status of each to date whether big or small. Isn’t justice delayed justice denied?

There’re supposedly three legal eagles that should correctly advise and update PNoy on legal especially criminal and corruption matters for the administration to succeed, namely: Ochoa, De Lima and PCGG Chairman Andy Bautista. The question really is: Have they “synchronized their watches and the strategies” to properly address the administration’s legal problems? The answer is a resounding “No”.

PCGG Chairman Andres Bautista and Marcos photo

Their biggest collective mistake is violating the late Sen. Gene Magsaysay’s credo: “No talk, no mistake.” Yet, early in PNoy’s presidency perhaps in July or August 2010, Ochoa made a press statement favoring abolition of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) immediately echoed by De Lima and newly appointed Bautista. Worse, the search and recovery of the remaining Marcos’ and cronies’ ill-gotten wealth is solely mandated by law to the PCGG. Thus, whether intended or not it would open the way for the Marcoses to return to power, say, bringing home $500 million with no agency or anybody to legally stop it let alone our courts. Thus, Imee or Bongbong will be free to buy the votes to win the presidency in 2016.

Has Ochoa been so influenced by his law partner to shift his loyalty from the Aquinos to the Marcoses? This thought surely must’ve alarmed people like me to ask if Ochoa could easily make such deleterious decision. As a columnist I naturally did some checking of Ochoa’s background. I found out that after having been Sonny Belmonte’s Quezon City administrator, Ochoa with almost no law practice experience was able to grow his Marcos, Ochoa, Serapio and Tan (MOST) law office mostly with clientele doing business with Quezon City Hall which took prestigious law offices many years. One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that Ochoa is the law office’s “sales manager” while Louise Araneta Marcos, Bongbong’s wife, must’ve influenced Ochoa to make the press statement which should’ve been followed by his irrevocable resignation had it happened in Japan, USA or another democratic country.

Another information that lately reached me is Ochoa’s brother-in-law, Jose Acuzar, has fast become like Marcos’ Herminio Disini by landing the biggest government infrastructure and resettlement for informal settlers’ projects.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima

As regard De Lima, she doesn’t seem to have the competence and prosecutorial experience to handle many criminal cases piling up in the department, let alone to file them in court after being pushed back by high-profile cases? Now that the original Aquino appointees are getting scrutinized as to the appropriateness of their background, competence and experience vis-à-vis the jobs they have, would Aquino’s personal loyalty interfere again as in the case of DILG undersecretary Rico Puno to let his original choices go, never mind if the Filipino people are again disappointed by an administration full of hopes that might again is headed to be a failure?

In this eventuality, Aquino’s presidency won’t be any better than his predecessors including Marcos’. But his mother surely did better despite her being a mere housewife, for instance, when she showed a quality of leadership when she fired Joe Concepcion, Jr. as Secretary of Trade and Industry despite his anti-Marcos services and during her campaign.

The fact is a deeper examination shows graft and corruption still pervades both the public and private sectors although temporarily shielded from the international community by the criminal cases against ex-President Arroyo, ex-CJ Renato Corona and Roberto Ongpin which led to the Philippines’ recent credit and investment up-grade.

Nevertheless, I have good news. Aquino may still end up as “hulog ng langit” for having been elected President from nowhere that he didn’t aspire for in the first place. Since the government doesn’t have continuing research and library on international developments impacting the Philippines, good tidings are brought out by Pamusa’s research and studies despite the country’s thousands of attorneys in the government delaying everything especially public service to ordinary citizens following up official papers. These include those appointed in the Cabinet for being lawyers per se ignorant of what’s happening in the world that impacts their positions in particular and the nation in general.

The good news is despite being unaware Aquino will be the greatest beneficiary of the converging international cooperation agreements against corruption (ICAAGs), the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and the US National Strategy to Internationalize Efforts Against Kleptocracy (US strategy in short). The truth is the latter has formalized the US practice to cross national borders whenever US sovereignty and laws are violated that began when President Thomas Jefferson sent the US Marines to punish the Barbary Coast pirates in the 1800s attacking American ships and holding the seamen hostages for ransom to the invasion of Panama in 1989 by President George H.W. Bush to arrest Panama’s sitting President Manuel Noriega who was tried, convicted and sentenced to 25 years in jail by a US court for drug trafficking among other corrupt practices. After his release the French asked for his extradition to France to serve another prison sentence; afterwards he’s going home to serve a 20-year sentence in Panama for murders and atrocities. That should’ve happened to Marcos rather than Ochoa thinking of another Marcos to be president.

Aquino is blessed and would be a great President if think-tankers’ analysis turns out to be true that big-time public corruption is on the way to eradication like smallpox. The basis is industrialized nations have realized the world’s investment capital and the taxes due from multinationals’ profits are being locked in with drug traffickers’ illegal money and the kleptocrats’ ill-gotten wealth like Marcos, etc. in safe havens denying the world of revenue for budgetary needs and investment to grow national economies, create wealth and jobs to address the needs of the increasing world population. Since declining revenue cannot sustain the welfare programs people have gotten used to, the governments of Greece, Spain, Portugal, and so on resort to austerity programs causing violent street demonstrations by the jobless depending on government welfare. Consequently, those wanting the return of welfare and unwilling to work are causing the violent demonstrations destabilizing governments. This is now being felt in some US cities and counties going bankrupt.

Thus, in their Summit last June the eight (G8) richest and most powerful nations agreed to completely stop tax evasion a reaffirmation of the 2008 OECD agreement on the exchange of tax information between national authorities such as the BIR and IRS and to also completely close down safe havens. Hence, big-time corruption will become unattractive to diminish corrupt practices as the kickbacks and commissions from them get out of fashion.

Here’s another proof that Ochoa, De Lima and Bautista have formed a cabal perhaps simply to increase their government power. Aquino can easily find out that Ochoa and De Lima are opposed to Bautista approving the PCGG-PAMUSA Cooperative Framework (“coop”), which is why Ochoa or De Lima insists the DOJ and OMB jointly do the preliminary investigation of Napoles by an old anti-graft agency given a new name “Inter-Agency Anti-Graft Coordinating Council (IAAGCC) that Aquino reportedly is relying to convict Napoles before the end of his term. No way!

Since the DOJ and OMB will have their respective panels, say, three investigators each, has anybody experienced three DOJ investigators and three OMB investigators will readily agree on the prima facie evidence they find and how long will the preliminary investigation take to enable court filing?

Before Napoles surrendered, a Pamusa legal adviser said the DOJ should file a summary proceeding that Napoles unlawfully acquired all her properties in the Philippines and abroad and seek their forfeiture in favor of the state under RA 1379. Napoles had to file an answer or the court would issue summary judgment she’s in default. De Lima ignored it probably because she didn’t think of it.

Now that Napoles has surrendered, the same legal adviser says that if the PCGG-Pamusa coop is approved, Pamusa latter thru counsel can sue Napoles in the US based on evidence the DOJ or OMB will transfer and charge her, to wit: “The money or monies of unknown amount she unlawfully earned from the Philippine Government in conspiracies with person or persons in the Philippines and USA were converted into US currency, deposited in US bank accounts(s) in her name or of her husband, children or dummies which were used in the unlawful acquisition of US real estate, securities, precious metals, works of art, motor vehicles and other chattels, and other things of value.” This is a violation of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) that could extend to several other violations of related laws.

The US lawsuit would be decided in two years, maybe less before Aquino ends his term if Napoles opts for plea bargain like Sen. Lito Lapid’s wife did to avoid jail sentence although she’s heavily fined as Napoles will surely be.

(fcwenceslao1034@gmail.com)