Is justice only for the poor?

Amidst all the chaos happening in Philippine Legislature these days, where a great majority of our honorable senators and congressmen/women have been implicated by the controversial “Napolist,” it seems corruption in government has become a cancer that has metastasized in all facets of government service. In short, the perception today is that corruption has become the norm rather than the exception. For sure, a great majority of our government workers are just like us ordinary people trying to make an honest day’s wage. But what do we do with the corrupt in our midst? Why aren’t there any indignation marches?

While our nation is gripped by this Napoles pork scam, the Thai people have gone to the streets in protest against their allegedly corrupt leadership. The Thais have become so fed up with their government, they have come out in droves to the streets of Bangkok until last week when the Thai military declared Martial Law and arrested former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and others in the Thai government.

The latest we learned from Bangkok is that this was a military coup and a military junta has taken over the Thai government. Well, at least, this has silenced the daily protests on the streets against Prime Minister Shinawatra. Yet, compared to what’s happening in Thailand, our problems in the Philippines are far enormous.

What we have here is a most heinous crime perpetrated against the Filipino people, when people who were elected into office (Although we are questioning the results of the 2013 elections because of electronic dagdag bawas) took liberty at the monies that were collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and sent to the National Treasury only to be given in millions to Senators and Congressmen who made a pact with Janet Lim Napoles and her fake NGOs and pocketed the people’s money. So why aren’t we indignant at all?

At this point, we can no longer trust the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to conduct any further investigation on the Napoles pork scam because it could just be to whitewash the whole proceedings. What the Filipino people ought to do is to demand the immediate suspension or resignation of the parties involved regardless of their political affiliations. Ordinary Filipinos who have committed lesser crimes for a few thousand pesos have been summarily jailed while they are awaiting trial. Is Justice only for the poor?

In  this case, no less than senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla have touted the Aquino regime to jail them for they are ready to go to jail. But why hasn’t President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III who proudly boasts in his speeches before the international community about his anti-corruption programs, even lifted a finger to jail those alleged suspects in the Napoles scam? But when it came to having his predecessor put in a hospital arrest, P-Noy left no stone unturned and with all his Executive powers  caused former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo incarcerated. Today she remains in custody even if the Ombudsman has cleared her name.

So why isn’t the President sending his hounds to jail Enrile, Estrada and Revilla? I can only second-guess that the President is scared that doing so could backfire on his own Cabinet men who were also implicated in this pork scam. He is in what we call a damn if you do, damn if you don’t situation, which could shorten his presidency if the military would stage a coup against the President. But whether he likes it or not, those involved in this pork scam must be sent to jail and await trial just like ordinary criminals. So who will arrest those who are implicated in this mess?

Meanwhile, there was an interesting story that came out of The STAR last Saturday when it was reported that Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes and Commission on Audit (COA) Chairman Ma. Gracia Pulido-Tan were reported to have become richer by a few million pesos in their 2013 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN). Let me quote that report.

“Morales’ SALN showed that she declared a net worth of P48.962 million, a P5.6 million increase from her P43.362 million in 2012. The increase was a result of her declaration of a fully paid condo unit in Makati worth P4.9 million.” As for Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes, this is what the STAR reported, “Meanwhile, Brillantes’ wealth rose from P32.427 million in 2012 to P40.323 million as of Dec. 31, 2013. His net worth went up despite total liabilities of P9.2 million — a bank loan of P5.8 million and payables of P3.4 million.

COA Chairman Pulido-Tan is the richest among the three with a net worth of P65.731 million in 2012, which is now worth P68.020 million. I’m sure that ordinary middle class Filipinos must be scratching their heads on how to increase their incomes in the millions. More on this later!

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