Again, the fertilizer scam

So the Supreme Court is taking up the disqualification case against former president and now Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada. Wasn’t that case filed before the election yet? Now that the man has been proclaimed, and has been in office for more than a year, we get news that the High Court is going to act on it. Frankly, I was also of the thinking that Erap’s candidacy then was questionable. Didn’t his conviction for plunder state that he would be barred from public office for life? Now, what if the Supreme Court decides that, indeed, he was not qualified to run for mayor? Who will take over? Does his predecessor and opponent, Fred Lim, have a chance?

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Finally, the unrest in Thailand that had been expressed in a protracted series of protests seeking the ouster of their female prime minister, has gone to a different direction. After elections were held, with another prime minister elected, and after the previous one had been ousted by the court, her supporters, refusing to accept the result, continued, and even became more ferocious in pressing their cause. Yesterday, it was reported that martial law had been declared in the country. What is fearful is that it was not the civilian authorities that declared it, but the military. How will the country thrive under Martial Rule now?

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We may not be experiencing unrest, but what do we call what is going in our country now? We may not be protesting against our leadership, but what is happening now is something that could lead to something worse, a destabilization of our legislative system. Note how many of our lawmakers are in the proverbial hot water because of this despicable scandal over the misappropriation, we may even call its theft, of the money intended for the people called the Priority Development Assistance Fund, or PDAF, irreverently nicknamed “pork barrel”.

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With so many members, more than the majority, it seems, of our senators being named as participants in the scam to end all scams, with the later revelation that about 90 congressmen are also involved, how can we ever have faith in our solons again? Former senator Ed Angara is right in expressing apprehension that we are on our way to destabilization and a loss of trust in our Senate. Meanwhile, the police are dealing out reports and descriptions of the quarters supposed to house, initially, the three senators already indicted in the PDAF scam case.

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It may sound amusing, but the ones who have started calling the comedy of the lists a “dagdag-bawas (add-abstract)” affair, we are hearing a lot of righteous indignation reactions to the latest releases of various lists where names previously unseen in the earliest ones, have been included. And we are hearing about those who feel aggrieved preparing to file perjury or libel charges against those who named them. For one there is Senator JV Ejercito, who must have hurt the feeling of his half-brother, Senator Jinggoy Estrada, when he was among those who signed the documents finding him liable in the PDAF case. Now, one of the new lists also carries his name, and he is threatening charges.

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To those who were dismayed at the dismissal of the fertilizer scam charges against the former president, don’t lose hope. There are now so many moves to re-file, or revive it, because there are so many others who are involved, and against whom there are clear evidences. This one has not only solons, but even local government officials some of whom had accepted the funds, thinking they were entitled to it, and used it for their own purposes. I remember that even local officials have been mentioned as having accepted the money, and then used it to buy cheap and inappropriate fertilizer, and had even forged signatures of alleged recipients. Let us hope they are included, when the charges are refiled.

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Meanwhile those included in the any of the various lists of alleged participants in the infamous PDAF scam should take a cue from Senator Juan Ponce Enrile who continues to look unruffled and unrattled by all the hullabaloo going on around him. Isn’t he bothered by the thought of being incarcerated and enduring the discomforts of being held in a tiny enclosure without the appliances and comforts they are used to? By the way, will Enrile still be jailed, considering that he is already 90 years old? Will not that not be “cruel and inhuman punishment” already?

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I would like to reiterate our advice to those who write “Letters to the Editor” that we do not publish those which are unsigned, or whose writers do not identify themselves or only call themselves “Concerned Citizens”. We will withhold your names, if you request it, but only if we have your full identity, your address and your landline or cell phone numbers that we can verify, will we publish your problems or suggestions.*

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