Valet parking?

I nearly fell off my chair at the breakfast table as I was reading Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano’s reported request to Malacañang to look into the “parking of funds” in government agencies by some legislators, even before Congress approves the national budget.

Cayetano said he was alarmed that even before the submission of the 2023 national budget to Congress, some funds had been diverted to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The senator from Taguig, once the speaker of the House of Representatives, said there must be a syndicate behind the realignment of funds to the DPWH for use by some congressional districts.

C’mon, Mr. Senator, you know it’s not a syndicate. It’s only one person, and you know who he is!

The person concerned was the only one capable of parking funds not only in the DPWH, but also in other departments during the administration before our current one.

Last time I heard, Cayetano and that person happened to be friends.

Is there a falling-out?

I ask that question because if the senator persists in exposing the “parking of funds,” tatamaan yung kaibigan niya (his friend will get whacked).

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That “person” I’m referring to – who is actually a politician – was very powerful during the administration of former president Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte.

So powerful was he that he could have anybody appointed to sensitive or key positions in the executive and judicial branches of government.

In fact, he had a lawyer who was practically wet behind the ears appointed as justice.

That politician approached a newly appointed Cabinet member in the early days of the administration of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and told him that he had P500 million in the Cabinet member’s department.

The big amount, he told the new Cabinet secretary, was his and “may I get it when I need it anytime?”

Most probably the biggest “parked” funds went to the DPWH during Digong’s time, although I doubt whether the former president knew about the irregular set-up.

So, if Cayetano would have the new set of DPWH top officials summoned to the Senate, they would be clueless about the parking of funds, as it happened during Digong’s time.

The politician’s close friends and relatives made use of the funds he parked at the DPWH and other Cabinet departments, disguised as some infrastructure and other government projects. Of course, they had big cuts from those projects.

If funds are being parked at this time, even when the national budget is still to be approved by Congress, then some other politicians took a page from the book of Cayetano’s friend.

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If Vic Rodriguez had any scruples, he would leave the Palace and not be seen again after being told he was no longer needed as an executive secretary.

Why did he have to accept the proffered office of the presidential chief of staff, when such a position, per Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile, is redundant or encroaches on the powers of some Cabinet secretaries?

If the administrative order (AO) that Rodriguez drafted before “resigning” as executive secretary was to be followed, he would be even more powerful than the guy who will replace him.

A Palace source close to the President told this columnist: “I swear to God…I have never seen anyone cling to power like … Vic.”

“He actually had the gall to draft his own special order, giving himself even more powers than that of the ES (executive secretary). He gave (the President) the draft order last night and so (the President) asked JPE to review the draft. Siyempre (Of course), JPE thumbed it down,” the source added.

From the looks of it, Rodriguez wants to make use of whatever power he has left as presidential chief of staff or COS.

Only time will tell how long he will last as COS, with all the pressure from his peers at the Palace for him to quit.

The Palace source continued: “Luke already said yes to being the new ES but only if he doesn’t have to see Vic’s face ever.”

I wonder who that Luke is.

Is he a friend of Matthew, Mark, and John? Hehehe!

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During a Senate hearing probing the kidnapping and killing of some Mainland Chinese or ethnic Chinese from other countries, Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa told a ranking police officer to have his men accost people with Asian features on the streets.

Bato was speaking to Col. Rodolfo Castil Jr., chief of the Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

The senator said there was nothing wrong with asking people with Asian features to show their identification papers.

Bato, a retired PNP chief, should know that accosting people with Chinese features on the streets to ask for their identification is the job of immigration agents, not the police.

Many years ago, a Japanese tourist came to complain to this columnist that he was a victim of extortion from the police.

The Japanese tourist was with his girlfriend on board a taxicab when policemen at a checkpoint near the Manila City Hall flagged the vehicle down.

The checkpoint cops had the Japanese get down from the taxi and frisked. They found several tablets for erectile dysfunction in his pocket.

The cops told the Japanese possession of the medicine for impotence was a serious criminal offense.

The Japanese tourist said he gave the cops P50,000 so he could be freed.

The Japanese man was accompanied to my office by his Filipino girlfriend.

That checkpoint incident years ago will be replicated many times over if cops are given the go-signal to approach people with Asian features on the streets, whose only crime is that they look different.