The rats among us

I hate rats. Rats are filthy animals and are a scourge to humanity. A good word or two said in their name will not change the fact that they are still rats. Interestingly, there are certain types of people who are just as abhorrent.

So despicable are these people that in the entire history of creation, no word had been invented to appropriately describe them. And so the whole of mankind assigned to them the same word they call the animal mentioned above -- rat.

Rats, four-legged or two-legged, thrive on a consuming passion for self-preservation and self-interest. They cannot be harnessed for anything other than that which promises a dividend of some kind. Even those bred in laboratories for scientific studies respond to no other stimuli than either food or an escape from pain.

Some of the greatest lessons in life are learned in childhood. In childhood, friendships are forged in all innocence and trust, unsullied by greed and other motives that would later infest kids as they grow up. In childhood, betrayal is a mortal sin long before children even understand fully what a sin is.

So obnoxious is betrayal, even to the innocent minds of children, that a traitor is called what else but a rat. When a boy rats on his friends, he becomes a pariah. No one plays with him anymore. And even as age mellows the hurts of betrayal, the reputation of the rat survives in the whispered stories behind his back.

There are two people who fit this mold who are currently the subject of so much attention -- Edward Snowden, an American computer expert who ratted on his former employers and on his country, and Benhur Luy, a Filipino scammer who also ratted on his employer, as well as the former beneficiaries of their scam.

The difference between Snowden and Luy is that Snowden leaked sensitive and confidential information so that the world will know what America is secretly doing, or so he claims, while Luy is spilling the beans as a result of a fight over money with his employer, who happens to be his cousin, and as a means to save himself.

Snowden used to work for the US Central Intelligence Agency and was a contractor for the National Security Agency. Snowden had been wise not to reveal his real motives for the treachery. That, and sugarcoating it with a motherhood statement invoking public interest, are the only reasons people are split over him.

Charmed by his boyish looks, and taken aback by the knee-jerk reaction of a cornered US government, some people have taken to calling him a hero, taking up the cudgels for him without seeing the folly that they do not even know what Snowden is really fighting for.

For me, and for many others like me, however, Snowden is still a rat. And so is his counterpart in the Philippines, even if the compelling triggers for their treachery may differ greatly. In fact, to me, Luy is a much bigger rat than Snowden.

Luy was involved in a scam that involved the stealing of billions of pesos of the people's money, in cahoots with corrupt senators and congressmen. The scam was supposedly the brainchild of Luy's cousin Janet Napoles but I never believed that yarn. To me it is just a convenient way to make her the scapegoat.

In this country, a senator or congressman is a very powerful person. Anger one and he can make your life miserable forever. Thus, I do not believe Napoles, or anyone for that matter, would have dared to even whisper the plan to a legislator, for fear he might take offense. It had to be the other way around.

As things would have it, I was right. Newspaper reports later revealed that it was budget secretary Florencio Abad when he was still a congressman who gave Napoles the idea. Abad has since denied the report. And Noynoy Aquino, as expected, has since announced that Abad continues to enjoy his full trust and confidence.

Unlike Snowden whose refuge had been the vagueness of his motives, Luy had been very clear about his. He would not have surfaced and ratted on Napoles had he remained in her good graces and continued to enjoy her largesse. But they had a big falling out that ended in him being illegally detained.

Like a woman scorned, Luy let loose all the furies of his confused life and made the life of Napoles a living hell. But the Philippines is just as confused as Luy and does not recognize a rat when it sees one. How can Luy be spared when he is as guilty as hell, surfacing only when his own personal heats became unbearable?

If we truly want change, then let us change the way we select which rat to spare from the fire. For Luy and his ilk, it should not be less guilt as there are no less guilty parties in a scam involving billions. The only way to spare a rat is absence of motive, in which case a rat ain't a rat no more.