EDITORIAL - Looking the other way

Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Panfilo Lacson continued yesterday what another colleague has described as their MAD attacks against each other — or mutually assured destruction. Alongside the amusement felt by those following this battle is the question of why the two senators, both sworn to serve the public, have kept these stories of serious crimes to themselves all these years. Were they directly complicit in the crimes, or did they simply live and let live?

Lacson cast the first stone by accusing Estrada’s father, former President Joseph Estrada, of receiving gambling payoffs, twisting the arm of taipan Alfonso Yuchengco and dealing directly with the special police unit whose top officials have been implicated in the murders of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito. Lacson followed this up with accusations that the former president was behind the disappearance and murder of casino worker Edgar Bentain. Lacson also accused Senator Estrada of corruption.

Yesterday Senator Estrada slammed what he described as Lacson’s “Fiction Part II,” accusing the former national police chief of “wiretapping,” with emphasis on the last syllable. Estrada said it was not his father but Lacson who was behind the murder of Dacer and the disappearance of Bentain, whose death has not been confirmed. Estrada also revived old accusations against Lacson regarding the executions of members of notorious kidnapping and robbery gangs, the murders of a woman and an eight-year-old girl related to one of those executed, and the assassination of a Manila police officer.

Those who have been seeking justice for murdered loved ones or who want to see the corrupt sent to prison welcome the exchange of accusations. But what would be more welcome is if formal complaints are filed so that the truth can be established and anyone guilty of kidnapping, murder and corruption can be sent behind bars.

A common question is why it took the two senators a decade to talk about each other’s purported crimes. If they knew such serious crimes had been committed, why did they look the other way? What else do they know, and what other dark secrets are they hiding?