Queen

She has been called the “Queen of Pork” and the “mastermind” of the great pork barrel scam where politicians and their accomplices managed to extract up to 100% of the funds allocated for them to do “projects.”

The convenient narrative built around Janet Lim Napoles presented her as a brilliant, scheming and persuasive character capable of manipulating our legislators. The actual person, however, appears to be less than that.

To this day, it seems we have seen less than the tip of the iceberg of what they say is a P10 billion scam. For instance, state auditors identified 82 “non-government organizations” (NGOs) as conduits for looting pork barrel fund allocations and the massive amounts of money handed out to politicians. Napoles controlled only eight of these. What happened with the rest?

Three senators were jailed on charges of plunder relating to the pork barrel scam. The “Napo-list,” we recall, contained the names of dozens of other politicians. Many of them at the time belonged to the Liberal Party. Whatever happened to the rest of those names?

The pork barrel scam, when it broke, provided dazzling headlines. But the modus operandi for looting the pork barrel has been the same for many years. There was no brilliant innovation in stealing public funds introduced by Napoles and company. They followed the same old procedure: fake receipts and fake signatures, and then distribute money all around to ensure the silence of the complicit.

After petitions were filed questioning both the pork barrel and the “disbursement acceleration program” (DAP), the Supreme Court ruled both practices unconstitutional. But the pork barrel continues to persist under new guises. Trust our politicians to devise the most creative schemes to get around the Court ruling.

Only the DAP is dead. It was, to begin with, a sloppy program resorted to by an incompetent administration to solve its chronic inability to spend the budget efficiently. It was also a badly disguised program to cover hand-outs to political loyalists to reward them for doing the Aquino administration’s bidding.

It was convenient for the guilty but unindicted beneficiaries of the massive looting of the pork barrel and the DAP to leave things as they are, to let an incomplete story stand as is. The money they took is safely in their pockets.

Let Napoles take all the blame. Entomb her alive in jail. Let the three senators carry the cross for everybody else. Any other course will be too complicated and too perilous for the political class.

Call this the De Lima Solution. Indict a few to quell public outrage over the scam – and then declare the case closed. Keep the iceberg submerged.

Open case

The Department of Justice (DOJ), however, believes the case remains open.

In order to know the rest of the incomplete story about the systematic looting of the pork barrel and the DAP, Napoles must be encouraged to tell all. That is, no doubt, a dangerous thing for the woman to do – especially under the vulnerable circumstances she finds herself in. It will help if she is put under some form of witness protection.

That seems reasonable. It does not merit the sort of curious outcry we saw the past few days.

Those who oppose the proposal to put Napoles in some form of witness protection come mainly from politicians allied with the previous administration. Underpinning the outcry is a reiteration of the old narrative: she is the “most guilty.”

Among the most prominent protesting the proposed protection for Napoles is detained Senator Leila de Lima. She was serving as Secretary of Justice when the pork barrel scam broke. It was her job to look into the matter comprehensively and provide the public a full picture of what happened. She failed to do that.

Instead, we are left with an obviously incomplete story with so many loose ends hanging out. Only the much vilified Secretary of Justice has the means to complete this story. Give him the leeway to do so.

 The opposition is creating the specter that Napoles will be “weaponized” by the administration to persecute political enemies of the President. There is yet no evidence that will happen.

Besides, being in the opposition does not make the guilty immune from prosecution. They should be as accountable for misdemeanor as everybody else. There is really no need to “weaponize” anybody to bring out the truth.

Selective justice is a sin of the previous dispensation. Silencing Napoles will only perpetuate that selective justice.

Recall that when Napoles “surrendered,” Aquino spokesman Edwin Lacierda picked her up from a rendezvous point and brought her to the Palace. After a brief meeting, she was escorted to police headquarters by no less than then Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and President Noynoy Aquino.

We have not been told why the alleged “mastermind” deserved this extreme VIP treatment. Aquino and Roxas never bothered to explain. Perhaps, Napoles will.

 There are, to be sure, enough politicians who want the silencing of Napoles perpetuated. The closer to the truth we get, the worse things will turn for them. Their self-serving fears ought not to overcome the discovery of truth.

Senator Francis Escudero has wise words for those trying to scare us about this simple woman named Janet. He tells the chorus that those with clean hands should have nothing to fear about Napoles spilling more beans.

If she lies, there will be enough checks on that. If she speaks the truth, that will be an act of courage.