Multi-cab deal: Et tu Alan Peter Cayetano?

It’s the 31st anniversary of the assassination of the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and the 43rd anniversary of the dastardly bombing of Plaza Miranda and every year, I always write a tribute to the late Sen. Ninoy Aquino because of the dastardly way he was assassinated under the conjugal Marcos dictatorship. I also write about the infamous Plaza Miranda bombings whom Sen. Jovito Salonga revealed was authored by Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) titular head Jose Maria “Joma” Sison, which the Liberal Party blamed on Pres. Ferdinand Marcos. How wrong they were!

But then, what’s the point when even the son of Ninoy Aquino, Pres. Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III don’t even care to get into the bottom of his own father’s assassination, when former Master Sergeant Pablo Martinez who was tagged as the trigger man who shot Ninoy was freed after so many years in jail on good behavior and was ready to talk about the assassination. But then last May, he was struck by an SUV and died of his wounds. Now was this a case of foul play? Who knows? Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald and created all sorts of Kennedy assassination conspiracies.

So for the first time, I’m not writing anything on these two historic events in Philippine political history because I have more important things to write about. But before I wrote this article, I did pray for the souls of the late Ninoy and Cory Aquino in the hope that their spirits will knock some sense out of their only begotten son who has only worsen our democracy by conniving to oust a sitting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (SC), CJ Corona and now he even wants to change the charter to clip the powers of the SC, while at the same time he is seeking to extend his term of office. I’m sure that Tita Cory must be turning inside her grave.

So what’s more important than writing about today’s historic events? When Atty. Rene Bondal went to Cebu to expose the corruption of Vice-Pres. Jejomar Binay in that allegedly overpriced office building which is now the subject of a Senate investigation by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, he also exposed the purchase of those mini-cabs at P230,000 per unit and we totally agreed with him that the price of P230,000 per unit was just totally ridiculous and we added that this was just the tip of the corruption iceberg that could include officials from the Commission on Audit (CoA), Local government officials, senators and congressmen all who purchase those minicabs so they could paint their names on its sides as a moving advertisement to flaunt their political stock!

One very close friend of mine who is a contractor and very close to the Aquino family told me that he too purchased those mini-cabs or multi-cabs and he will look into his files so he could give me the receipt of those vehicles, which were purchased at very much below P100,000 per unit. This is one proof that the Office of the Ombudsman could get… if they care to conduct an investigation into this corruption that obviously comes from a senator’s or congressman’s pork barrel. This is why we said this corruption could be bigger than the pork issue itself!

Lo and behold, last Monday, the Tribune Wires came up with a headline story that Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano used his Priority Development Assistance Program (PDAF) or pork barrel to purchase multicabs for nearly half-a-million pesos for the Taguig City Government, whose Mayor is Lani Cayetano, wife of Sen. Alan Cayetano. Et tu Alan Peter Cayetano? Hmmm, what is this…the return of conjugal corruption?

I’m not saying that the two are guilty, after all everyone has the right of innocence until one’s guilt is proven. However what is appalling here is that, the Office of the Ombudsman has not even done any initial investigation on this case weeks after this corruption has been exposed. Allow me to reprint that report, “The highly questionable purchases were funded by the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel fund of Cayetano in 2011 that went to the city government headed by his wife, Mayor Lani Cayetano. It is entered as Financial Assistance for the Purchase of 18 multicab vehicles with Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) No. BMB-G-11-02085 dated Dec. 14 2011. Cayetano allotted P9 million for the said purchases, and P8,964,000 was the actual expenditure.

The amount divided by 18 multi-cabs comes up to a purchase price of P498,000 per vehicle, which makes Taguig’s multi-cabs more expensive than a 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage sedan being sold at P478,000. In contrast, several other local governments purchased multi-cabs at prices ranging from P230,000 to P245,000 each, a Tribune source said.” What I would like to know is when will the Senate investigate this corruption…or are they scared to expose this case because it will boomerang on the political elite? I dare say it is time for the NBI to do an independent investigation on these highly-corrupt dealings.

* * *

Email: [email protected] or [email protected].