Clouds of doubt

As of now, clouds of doubt are hanging over the Presidency of this country because of the incumbent’s alleged involvement in crime and corruption. The irony here is that these are among the very problems he promised to solve when he ran for election as president of our country. Hence it is necessary and quite urgent for him to clear these clouds in order to retain his credibility.

First and foremost here is the recent news report where an ex-cop in Davao City, SPO3 Arturo Lascanas openly confessed that he was one of the three policemen who allegedly carried out the assassination of broadcaster Jun Pala in 2003 on orders of Duterte when he was Mayor of Davao City. Lascanas revealed that Duterte took out a P3 million contract to kill Pala and then gave P1 million to him and to SPO4 Sonny Buenaventura and SPO1 Jim Tan. He also confirmed the existence of the Davao Death Squad allegedly set up by Duterte that was responsible for the summary execution and salvaging of about 1,000 criminal and drug suspects in Davao. He said that the death squad carried out the salvaging out of “blind obedience and loyalty” to Duterte and were paid from P20,000 to P100,000 “depending on the status of the target.” Among the unforgettable salvaging he mentioned was the ambush and killing of a suspected kidnapping mastermind together with his wife who was seven months pregnant, their five-year-old son, 70 years old father-in-law and two helpers while on board their motor vehicle.

These are very serious and brutal crimes indeed. They cannot be simply ignored by Duterte who has kept mum about the revelations; or by Malacanang which described them as mere “demolition job” or “political drama” or “character assassination.” Their truth or falsity cannot be determined by the Duterte Trolls in social media who are destroying the reputation of the accuser and calling him a liar and all sorts of disreputable names. Neither could the privilege speech of a Senator, a known and avid supporter of Duterte who asserted that the ex-policeman was paid, be enough to establish their falsity. The Senate investigation will not also conclusively resolve with finality the charges against Duterte because it is purely a process tainted with partisan politics and political grandstanding for media mileage.

The only way to remove all clouds of doubt about these revelations is to file the necessary charges in Court against Lascanas. His public admissions or confessions in the press conference assisted by lawyers from the Free Legal Assistance Group may be used to charge him of murder and perjury considering that his latest revelations completely contradict his declarations in the previous Senate investigation on extrajudicial killings. In this judicial proceeding Lascanas can defend himself against the charges by proving the truth of his latest allegations and his reasons for previously making an opposite statement. He can present other witnesses to corroborate his latest revelations particularly the two other policemen who were with him in carrying out the assassination of Pala.

The lack of immediate action on the part of the government in this regard is indeed quite perplexing. It brings to mind the charges against Matobato who has already been accused of murder in connection with his own revelations about the Davao Death Squad. The public impression created here is that the government seems averse to a long drawn out and in-depth probe of these revelations in a court trial.

The other cloud of doubt hanging over the Presidency is on corruption particularly Duterte’s hidden wealth amounting to P2.2 billion shown in some bank transactions of his bank account. It is really just a rehash of the previous revelation made by Trillanes during the campaign period although this time he even brought out the money of Duterte’s common law wife amounting to P200 million. Trillanes even committed to resign as Senator if it can be shown that his revelations are not true. But Duterte’s reaction in this regard is the usual cursing, name calling and character assassination like his trolls in social media. He also denied the existence of such transaction in such amount and asked the AMLC to open its records and promised to resign as President if Trillanes’ revelations turned out to be correct. He also claimed that they also had some wealth as his father became a governor.

Again this issue cannot be decisively resolved by war on words and threats or counter-threats or promises to resign. The best, easiest and perhaps the only way to resolve this controversy is for Duterte to sign a waiver of the bank secrecy law and ask the bank to open the record of his deposit account. Such record will clearly show whether Trillanes’ revelations are true or not. The order to the AMLC is not the solution since the record is with the bank where the deposit and withdrawal transactions were made.

Other sources of suspicion that corruption also exists in the present government is the Bureau of Immigration (BI) case involving the Chinese gambling lord, Jack Lam. The Senate probe in this connection shows so far that there is bribery or extortion involving not only the two BI commissioners caught in the act. The probe may even lead up to the office of the Department of Justice Secretary who has supervision of the BI.

Then there is also the alarming and quite extraordinary move of the Solicitor General asking the Court of Appeals to dismiss the case against Janet Napoles who has been adjudged guilty of illegal detention by the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC). The Sol Gen here is supposed to represent the government particularly the RTC whose decision is being questioned. The Sol Gen should just have refrained from assailing the RTC decision and just let the CA resolve the case. This move is really quite surprising and alarming as it raises once more the suspicion of some wheeling and dealing between Napoles and the government in connection with the pork barrel scam especially because Duterte himself has declared a few months back that said case “deserve a second look.”

So, all these clouds of doubt about crime and corruption still hang over the Presidency. Those of us who supported and voted for Duterte are anxiously awaiting his moves to clear them up.

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