What the straight path demands

By Manila Standard Today 

PRESIDENT Aquino’s straight path policy lies in tatters four years after he came to power on its promise, exposed as false by the administration’s inexcusable actions over the pork barrel scandal.

For anyone who believes, like the President’s most strident allies, that “the truth does not come in shades of gray,” the shadow cast by the alleged mastermind of the scam, Janet Lim Napoles, is problematic, to say the least.

A black-or-white view of the world would clearly paint as evil the scheme by which lawmakers allegedly channeled their development funds to bogus projects in exchange for billions of pesos in kickbacks from Napoles.

A straight-path interpretation would immediately rule out Napoles as a state witness.

A righteous government with integrity would immediately rule out granting immunity to the woman at the center of the web of corruption, who was shown to have owned at least 28 houses, 415 bank accounts and more than 30 vehicles. But nine months after the scandal was first exposed, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is still peddling the toxic notion that Napoles might be an acceptable state witness and might be accepted into the Witness Protection Program.

Considering what has gone before and what actions this administration has taken, we should not be surprised.

First, it accepted Napoles’ surrender, with President Aquino meeting her and her husband at the Palace, and later accompanying her to police headquarters. Later, instead of a jail cell, she was detained in less oppressive conditions at a police camp in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, with taxpayers picking up the tab. The President and his apologists say none of this represents special treatment, but when was the last time a wanted criminal was welcomed at the Palace?

Second, armed with information and documents provided by Napoles’ former employee, who turned state witness against her, the government filed plunder charges against three opposition senators. Now we learn that there were at least 10 senators—including some administration allies—who were similarly implicated. Why were charges filed only against the opposition lawmakers?

Spouting platitudes from its discredited straight-path policy, administration officials insist that nobody—not even allies—will be spared from justice. But actions speak much louder than words, and in this regard, we’ve seen absolutely no action.

The President has even issued statements expressing his continued confidence in three Cabinet officials, including his own Budget secretary, caught up in the web of scandal.

Honest, law-abiding taxpayers would retch at the mere thought of giving Napoles immunity from suit. This government is licking its lips in anticipation, hoping this is one more way to nail the opposition and protect its allies—and keep those in the administration who are guilty from going to jail when a new President is elected in 2016.