Thursday, June 26, 2014

MEL STA.MARIA | Conspiracy to plunder: A conclusion only the brainless can deny


The online news portal of TV5
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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