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The message of Senator Teofisto Guingona III, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, is very clear - billions of public money cannot just disappear. And , if they cannot be accounted for, they must have been stolen. Also the organized manner by which the larceny was made can only have been conceived and implemented by conniving individuals - intelligent people who knew the system and were brazen enough to unconscionably corrupt it. And, beyond reasonable doubt, the colossal amount of the missing money only means the “splitting of the loot” among many.
So what is new? Some may argue that the result was actually a foregone conclusion - a denouement which only the brainless can deny. But when you examine the events that led to the Guingona announcement on April Fool’s day 2014, one could feel that something new is aborning - even if it offers only a glimmer of hope.
That “newness” is an emerging sense that the Senate can actually do it - unearth the most labyrinth-like scheme designed to rob the Filipino people. The gargantuan amounts involved, the high-profile personalities mentioned, the reach of the investigation from lowly agencies to high offices, the methodical step-by-step strategy, and “the splitting of the loot” elevate this whole affair to historic proportions. The revelations are, hitherto, unmatched.
One thing more - either ordained by destiny or merely coincidence - the glimmering hope of the emergence of a transforming Senate was generated by the active participation of the young ones: Grace Poe, Nancy Binay, Bam Aquino, Sonny Angara, Allan Cayetano, Koko Pimentel and Chiz Escudero. Their questions exposed what could be the most humongous defraudation of the Filipino people . This is a good sign.
On the other hand, save for Miriam Defensor Santiago and Trillianes, I did not at all witness the senior members Sotto, Lapid, Legarda, Honasan, Osmena, Drilon, Villar, passionately conduct any cross-examination. There could be no other issue more important than the use, non-use and misuse of public money—the lifeblood of the country - and their presence was hardly felt?
But, perhaps in the truest sense, the people may have in fact been thankful for their non-intrusion, if not apathetical participation, lest situations happen derailing the investigation.
As to Enrile, Estrada and Revilla, it would have been great had they faced their accusers in the Senate. The manner by which Estrada and Enrile questioned people they investigated in previous proceedings, whether intelligently, threateningly or snarkingly, could have been put to good use. The Filipino people would have been riveted by such a confrontation. But Estrada and Revilla just decided to make privilege speeches, while Enrile chose to be silent. It was a letdown.
The people may forever question the wisdom of their acts or omission. But lest we forget, they are still presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. People may have created certain judgments now, but the real battle is still to come. They will still have a chance to redeem themselves in court.
As to Senator Teofisto Guingona III, how can we forget his bewildered face on television reacting to the initial non-issuance of the subpoena to Napoles, the very center of the controversy. Exhibiting disbelief that the obstacle to the proceedings , up to that time, was astonishingly coming from within the halls of the Senate itself, particularly the Office of the Senate President Drilon, Senator Guingona could only complain in complete perplexity. And at that point, he was one with the people in their frustration.
But last April 1, 2014, Senator Guingona made a judgment call to release the report. Criticize the result as incomplete, imperfect, premature, or even lopsided, but no one can deny that the ferreting out of the devious modus operandi was a feat in itself - unprecedented by any investigation so far conducted by the Senate.
Senator Teofisto Guingona III may very well know that he will be facing brickbats for his act, but surely he deserves also some measure of congratulations for spearheading an investigation that in a great way jolted many Filipinos out of complacency in matters involving public funds. Shocking them enough to make them vow never again to allow a “splitting of the loot.”
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