The manipulator and manipulatee

With so many lists, affidavits and deleted lists naming congressmen, senators, high officials, celebrities and media personalities who allegedly partook of the pork in the PDAF scam — the public is getting confused. But smart people know better — someone somewhere is pulling the strings and doing the manipulating, employing one of the strategies outlined by Sun Tzu in “The Art of War” where he said, “The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent.”

But when you look closely at the strategy, it seems to be working — people are beginning to doubt the veracity and authenticity of the affidavits issued by both Benhur Luy and Janet Lim Napoles. In fact, the opposition and the administration are accusing each other of manufacturing conflicting versions of the PDAF scam list. There’s the “Napolist,” the “Luystahan,” the “Ping me,” “ Oh Cam (on)” list, even the so-called “Na-delist.”

People implicated are hollering, “Cover up!” and accusing Malacañang of protecting its allies being alluded to in the pork fund scam. On the other hand, the administration says the conflicting lists naming officials and politicians who supposedly received millions in kickbacks from ghost projects is an attempt to muddle the issues and discredit the investigation.

Obviously, Janet Lim Napoles is the main player here. She already knows that she will never get immunity as a government witness — what with President Aquino himself already dashing her hopes when he said she appears to be the most guilty and hence, would not qualify as a state witness. Her credibility and her list’s accuracy are also being doubted because of the “mistakes” in the two “official” lists she submitted. The first official list included the name of Senator JV Ejercito as one of those who received pork kickbacks — but Napoles and her lawyer said an encoder mistakenly added the name of JV.

And now here comes neophyte congressman Gerald Gullas who questioned his inclusion in the list submitted to DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima — with Napoles and her lawyer admitting a mistake was made, saying a secretary may have assumed it was the newly elected representative whom Napoles supposedly transacted with instead of his grandfather, former congressman Eduardo Gullas. Add to that the fact that names seem to be added on an “episodal” basis.

On the other hand, Benhur’s “Luystahan” is also being questioned, with many politicians fulminating because of the inclusion of their names, saying both Napoles and Luy are probably crazy and hallucinating. Many couldn’t help noticing the irony of the situation — with the administration now disowning the list of their star witness and principal whistleblower whose disclosures about the massive PDAF fund scam started all this in the first place. Palace spokesperson Sonny Coloma already declared that the draft letters addressed to the President, Executive Secretary Jojo Ochoa and some lawmakers have no “probative value.” So what happens next? Instead of clearing the air, these affidavits and lists are simply provoking more questions than answers.

An example of just how crazy things can be is the inclusion of our friend Noel “Toti” Cariño in one of the digital files lifted from Luy’s computer as among those who allegedly transacted with Napoles in 2004. I seem to recall that Toti holds the distinction of being the only Congressman who sat in office for just one day. He ran as Congressman for Pasig in 2001 – and spent two years and eight months protesting the results while his rival occupied what should have been his rightful place. By the time the House Electoral Tribunal declared Cariño as the true winner of the 2001 Congressional contest and was subsequently sworn into office, it was already March 2, 2004 – the last session day of Congress. Which makes this Luy list look totally ridiculous and stupid. How can congressman for a day Toti Cariño gobble up millions of pork in a single day?

The lawyers of Napoles aver she is “not the least guilty” but also insist that she is “not the most guilty” — something that many see is a clear admission by the accused pork scam queen that she is unquestionably guilty. It could be that Janet Lim Napoles — despite projecting herself as a “humble” high school graduate who could not have conjured a syndicated scam of this magnitude — is really the manipulator working with some smart politicians as they cheat and con the manipulatee who are none other than the Filipino people. Let’s face it, Janet Lim Napoles outsmarted the system for years and thought she could get away with it forever. But like most stories, it always ends up with a Brutus or a Judas spilling the beans. So far the whistleblowers are enjoying immunity as star witnesses but in reality they, too, are manipulators who kept the systematic scam going for so many years.

A friend texted this message: “There are two kinds of people: taong manloloko, at taong naloloko. But there is also the third kind: taong luku-luko. So the question is: Sino ba talaga ang niloloko nitong mga luko-luko?”

Double jeopardy

We received an emotional letter coming from a resident of Leyte who told us about the level of frustration and disappointment that has reached its limit. Feeling depressed and miserable because all that publicity about the billions pledged and donated by the international community — nothing has reached them. “Our lives were ravaged by Typhoon Yolanda, but we are victims all over again — this time by public officials whose inadequacy and ineptitude in implementing the rehabilitation work is zero. We feel like rape victims – raped again by the very same people who are supposed to help us.”

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