Their cold, cold cash

I forgot where I heard or read this first but one of the funniest puns I heard the other day was that, in these very, very, hot days of summer, the only things that remain cold are the assets of the Binay family, because they are frozen.

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Sounds a bit corny, doesn't it? But, really, the whole country seems to be rejoicing over the announcement about the “freezing”, because it not only confirmed a lot of what had been talked about in whispers, this time the source was an unimpeachable one, no less than the Anti-Money Laundering Council, as sought by the Court of Appeals. Think of P600 million, believed to be the money of the people all stashed away in a family's bank deposits!

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Nobody can tell what was in the mind of the Binay lawyer when he wrote that letter to the editor of the Daily Inquirer, warning the paper against publishing the AMCL revelations. What kind of law practitioner is he? Didn't he know that threats to the media like that are like red flags to a raging bull? Now that the paper has gone all out and disclosed everything that came from the AMLC, what? Wow, he even had the gall to warn that they will prosecute “to the fullest extent of the law” those who will report or comment on the misdeeds of his bosses. Has it ever occurred to him that the judges, like all Filipinos, are victims of the rapacity committed against them all?

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Now all media entities are waiting with bated breath for the next move of this lawyer. What fun they will all have doing everything he has warned against. And he probably does not realize how much he has damaged the case of his client with those incendiary statements. Well, things have not been very exciting in the media lately, after the Mamasapano massacre, so we are all grateful to the Binay defense team for providing us some stories to have fun with, and draw us all closer.

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Our staff wasted a lot of editorial time last night watching and waiting for the outcome of the Asia' Got Talent show where four entries from the Philippines were among the nine finalists. Imagine that, four out of nine! So it was very possible that one of them would land the grand prize, and one did! The act named El Gamma Penumbra (or Alfombra, according to our Ms. Buddai), topped all the other entries from various Asian countries, and it was something to warm the hearts of all Pinoys. But, of course, many of us here were rooting for the pretty girl from Parañaque, Gerphil Flores, who was also in the final three.

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Anyway, Flores who seemed to have gotten a raw deal from judges Kris Aquino and Ai-ai delas Alas in the Philipine edition, had made her mark in the Asian version. Most of all, she had very obviously caught the ear of noted impresario, David Foster, one of the judges. When tears began to form in Gerphil's eyes after the winner was named, Foster went down from the judges' bench and whispered something to her and, lo! the tears instantly changed into a beatific smile! During the semi-finals, Foster, apparently much impressed by her singing style, virtually promised that she would be known throughout the world. Will Gerphil be collecting on that promise, soon? One in the eye for Kris and Ai-ai!

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While Indonesia is busy executing by firing squad drug traffickers who enter the country, North Korea seems to be busy also eliminating its own officials and people perceived to be disloyal to the present administration of young Kim Jong-Un. This week, the country's defense minister was executed by anti-aircraft fire, said to be a sentence reserved for officials. The minister was sentenced to death for alleged disloyalty and disrespect to the leader. Recall that he even had his own uncle and aunt executed shortly after he assumed the position on suspicion that they had not been loyal to him. So far, reports said, 15 senior officials have already been executed in the purges that have earned the reputation of a “reign of terror” for his regime.

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The solons who had been breathing sighs of relief when reports said that their pork barrel cases were not being prioritized by the Ombudsman, will start getting sleepless nights now that it has been announced that the next batches of charges will be filed next week. How many of them will be resorting to malingering, get high blood pressure and other imaginary ailments like insomnia, when their summons for arraignment come? But, alas, they cannot, like Dr. Faustus, cry that “time may cease and midnight never come”, because the day of reckoning for their crimes against their own people will come as surely, as night follows day.*

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