Escalante massacre in Makati

Just what sort of immunity do the Binays think they have that exempts them from the laws of man and morality, for them to be doing the things we are now witnessing?

Like most Filipinos inured to the reality of corruption in our political system, I could “accept” the hundreds of millions of unexplained wealth that supposedly passed through or are in the accounts of the Binays and their people.

Having grown under the shadows of the unbridled and deadly display of political power during the days of Martial Law, I could even “understand” if Mayor Junjun Binay would flash his powers at hapless security guards simply because he wants the gate of a private subdivision opened for him in the middle of the night. I could even laugh at the umbrella, opened by his guards to shield him from the midnight dew during that encounter at the gate, recalling how Martial Law had also featured an umbrella, although at least, that one was opened for the First Lady, and only at daytime, not nighttime.

Like a true child of People Power, I could respect the crowds that gather each time the Binays are in trouble. That's what we fought for, after all: to be heard, to be able to assemble, for whatever reason, no matter how wrong, or illogical it maybe.

But I am truly amazed at how Mayor Junjun could pay the monthly salary and retirement benefits of Eduviges “Ebeng” Baloloy, his father's long time secretary who has been for all intents and purposes a fugitive. Baloloy, alleged bagwoman of Binay who supposedly received kickbacks in their behalf, has been deemed missing. She can't be located by the Senate blue-ribbon committee investigating the Binays.

Isn't this such an extraordinary display of political power, to pay out the monthly salary of somebody who is supposedly not here, to release her retirement when no one supposedly knows where is, or even if she was still dead or alive? To think that Baloloy is not just an ordinary employee, she has national significance since the nation wants to hear from her and what she knows about the hundreds of millions supposedly in her bank account.

This tells us how brazen and reckless Mayor Junjun has become. This means he has personal knowledge, at the very least, where Baloloy is and he must be part of the gang that's keeping her out of the Senate's reach.

The release of Baloloy's salary and retirement benefits could be the proverbial hay that broke the camel's back for the Binays, the one issue that will send their house of cards collapsing.

How interesting that it should because in the past, cataclysmic events had often marked the decline of political powers. The Elpidio Quirino era fell on the story of Moises Padilla. The Ferdinand Marcos regime, believed impregnable, started unraveling with the Escalante massacre.

While there were other issues that ate at the Quirino and Marcos administrations, these two events, which by coincidence happened in Negros, foreshadowed their end. It was like the watershed events of their respective strongman reign, the events that started the end for them. For those who were alive in those times, these events felt like there was no way but down and out for two very powerful presidencies when they happened.

It feels like that with the absent Baloloy and her monthly salaries and retirement benefits in the case of the Binays. The difference is, of course, Marcos and Quirino were already presidents when these events happened while Binay is still, sadly, supposedly, just on his way to Malacañang.*

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