Did Sen. Villar lie, that there was no insertion?

Today, Filipino Muslims celebrate the Eid’l Fitr that marks the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan. Let me just point out that there are still some people out there who question why this nation of Christians give importance to those in the minority. I always answer them that being a true Christian means embracing those who do not belong to our faith and accepting that they too have their own set of beliefs. What we expect from the Muslims is the same kind of thoughtfulness that we Christians have given them so we can show to the rest of the world that indeed in this part of the world, Christians and Muslims can live peacefully together. Allah Akbar!

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While American lawmakers are scratching their heads on how best to solve the problem of the American economy, whether they should have a bailout plan or not, it is sad that this is not what’s worrying the Philippine Senate. The Philippine Senate seems disinterested in what’s happening in the financial markets around the world. They’re stuck in their own world, oblivious to the world’s problems, fighting among themselves for supremacy.

Remember when Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson accused Senate President Manuel “Manny” Villar of having a P200 million “insertion” in the 2008 General Appropriations Act or the national budget? Well, all of a sudden, the allies of Sen. Villar took turns lambasting and chastising Sen. Lacson, even his loyal poodle Sen. Alan Cayetano, accusing Sen. Lacson of lying. Why is it that all of the sudden, Sen. Villar has so many followers in the Senate? Well, we can only say that the horse trading for the 2010 elections has already been done.

While the allies of Sen. Villar insist that the P200 million was not an insertion, but two projects in the same C-5 road project, suddenly out of the blue, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile (JPE) Chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee admitted that Sen. Villar had asked him to “insert” the P200 million for the C-5 road extension project. But JPE added that Sen. Villar have not done anything wrong by asking for this insertion. If that is true, then for heaven’s sake, why did Sen. Villar and his cohorts insist that it wasn’t an insertion in the first place? This only shows that Sen. Villar and his allies were hiding something from the public and now the cat is out of the bag!

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Just when we thought that the United States Congress (the Republicans and the Democrats) have gotten their acts together in order to save what’s left of Wall Street and boost their sagging economy, the US House of Representatives rejected that US$700 billion bailout plan with a narrow vote of 228-205. So there’s no longer any bailout plan or any financial package plan to help the ailing US economy.

What’s worse than this Congressional rejection is that, there are no Plan B or any second options for Congress to look into in lieu of that rejected bailout plan. What could this mean? For sure, it won’t stabilize the very volatile markets all over the financial capitals of the world. Here in Asia, the stock markets have plunged sharply following the news of this Congressional rejection. So, what’s next? Where do we go from here? The world waits with bated breath!

What could have caused Congress to reject this US$700 billion bailout plan? Some financial analysts say that this was rejected because the US elections are less than two months away and there is a fear that the bailout plan would only help the rich investors, while it gives the small white collar workers nothing. Many of them have lost their jobs because of the closure of their companies and are left out in the cold. Meanwhile, most of the Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of these failed investment banks earn millions in monthly salaries and even got a golden parachute when they quit their posts.

Indeed the timing of this US$700 billion bailout just wasn’t good. Worse, the implementation of this bailout plan would certainly fall into the hands of the next US President, either Barrack Obama or John McCain, so some congressmen thought that a bailout package that coming from either these two candidates would only be proper. But wait! Wasn’t there some kind of emergency meeting at the White House with the two protagonists?

At this point, we can’t predict what would happen to the US economy, but I’m sure that both the Republicans and Democrats are scrambling to look for a Plan “B” that would be palatable to the majority in Congress. But the biggest problem that is facing Congressmen is that if this bailout plan fails, no one wants to be blamed for signing it. But if there is no bailout plan, then there might not be an American economy to salvage anymore. So you can say that they’re in a “damn if you do, damn if you don’t situation!