EDITORIAL – Mawanay, Take 2

Will we ever see the last of Angelo Mawanay? The man, nicknamed Ador, is adored only by people who need someone to give false testimony in a political demolition job. Mawanay has cheerfully allowed himself to be used by anyone. In the process he has swindled senators, military intelligence officers, cops and ordinary folk. If he has managed to stay alive despite his growing list of prominent victims, it is mainly because he has been placed by sane people in the same league as another crackpot huckster, Philip Medel, the alleged killer of actress Nida Blanca.

Mawanay was first inflicted on the nation last year by government investigators trying to dig up dirt on opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson. Testifying at the Senate, Mawanay implicated Lacson in smuggling and drug trafficking. Apart from Mawanay’s testimony, however, the investigators led by the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines failed to come up with a smoking gun that could get Lacson kicked out of the Senate or sent to jail.

Now Lacson may finally be place behind bars, but not for any bombshell dropped by Mawanay. The Supreme Court has ordered the revival of the Kuratong Baleleng multiple murder case, and government prosecutors have upgraded Lacson’s culpability from accessory to principal. Meaning, he could be arrested and held without bail soon.

Lacson said he was leaving his fate to God. Left unsaid was that he was also leaving his fate to lawyers and spin doctors. You don’t have to look very hard to see the effort that has gone into the Lacson camp’s portrayal of the revival of the Kuratong case as a political move. For all we know, it is. But even if the senator is right, inflicting Mawanay once again on the nation, this time to bear witness against Lacson’s enemies, is hardly the way to get out of the Kuratong Baleleng fix. Whether or not Mawanay is telling the truth this time we may never know; he could reverse his story again tomorrow, depending on his mood at breakfast.

Instead of muddling the issue, Lacson should prepare for his legal defense to clear his name once and for all in the Kuratong Baleleng case. As for Mawanay, there has to be an appropriate punishment for incorrigible liars.