What goes around comes around. Who gets the laugh for the day really depends on which side is throwing the boomerang. Back in the first half of 2012, the national hysteria of the day swirled around the kangaroo court impeachment trial of then Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona following months of systematic demonisation by the administration of Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III. As we know now, Corona was found “guilty” after the Second Aquino Administration poured the vast public resources at its disposal into railroading the “complaint” against him through a complicit Lower House, mobilising its cadre of media “thought leaders”, deploying its covert Small Lady ninjas, and presenting to the impeachment “court” illegally-obtained and often blatantly flawed “evidence” to support their case.
Funny how things turn out for bozos that once donned the purple robes of Philippine “justice”. Now in the wake of allegations of vast Congressional pork barrel thievery, three Philippine Senators — Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, and Bong Revilla — are on the verge of being charged for grand plunder in connection with their ties with alleged ring leader Janet Lim Napoles. Unfortunately for these “honourable” gentlemen, justice in the Philippines is not a procedure — it is a game.
The lawmakers who have been tagged by the whistle-blowers as alleged accomplices of Napoles in the transfer of their pork barrel to her NGOs have likewise not stated their side, not even in the Senate inquiry. They, too, have not been formally charged and they are not sure who of them will be prosecuted.
Most of them, if not all, have pork barrel allocations in the national budget, but all of them are under cloud from and smeared by the allegations of the whistle-blowers in the midst of the atmosphere of lynch mob hysteria that has permeated public opinion.
What is endangered in this mass hysteria lusting for blood, without going through due process, is that we might be laying the ground for the lynching or sending to the gallows of a fundamental principle of constitutional democracy—a fair administration of justice underpinned by the right to be heard before being condemned as guilty.
Recall the tactics of the administration’s key media henchmen back in 2012. Leading the media juggernaut against Corona at the time was God’s-gift-to-Filipino-journalism and self-described “social news network” Rappler.com led by Maria Ressa who seemingly tacitly endorsed the collection and publication of bank details in violation of existing Philippine bank secrecy laws by her hipster reporters Carmela Fonbuena and Matanggol de la Cruz. Perhaps it is time for another media “hero” to step up and do the same today. After all, “the people” are “clamoring” for a fast-tracked bringing to “justice” of all found guilty of plundering the national coffers.
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Legislators are finding out today the true cost of being on the pork barrel take.
We can now understand the profound collective stupidity of the chamber of politicians that is Philippine Congress when one considers how their own greed, petty infighting, and mutual one-upmanship has all but brought to the public light the legislative infrastructure that shrouds their illicit personal money trains in secrecy. The irony of how all that mudslinging at one another highlighted just how secret the country’s bank secrecy laws kept things simply flew over their pointed heads. Bank secrecy in the Philippines, after all, protects the rich and powerful — lest their vast holdings be made available to public scrutiny and the money trail they leave behind squirrelling hard-stolen dough (amassed from exporting logs, gold and people, selling substandard hardware to the Army, and, yes, scamming pork barrel funds) to tax havens abroad be sniffed out. Indeed, we can thank the accidental genius of President BS Aquino when he mounted his dynastic-preservation-motivated campaign versus Corona which left in its wake an interesting legacy…
Ironically, Corona himself may have marked the beginning of the end of the very law that had saved him during his ordeal. In the wake of his much-awaited personal appearance in court, Corona bestows an unexpected legacy to a circus long criticised for being an appalling waste of time and a mere product of the vanity and vindictiveness of a Philippine president: a precedent call to the government officials of the land to sign waivers opening their foreign currency bank accounts to public scrutiny. The call so resonated across the public that it could pave the way for legislation that may reform the country’s outdated bank secrecy laws.
Will Filipino politicians learn from all this? Unlikely. The money just dangling for the taking above every Congressional seat is simply too plump to ignore despite the risks to one’s moral fibre. That question really should be directed to the Filipino people. After all, they enjoy the power to elect these bozos to “lead” them. Mob vote followed by mob justice. You gotta hand it to Philippine politics where every step in the process is not just an event but a circus.
Like the Corona spectacle of 2012, we are looking forward to a grand tele-trial of Napoles and the three Senators, as well as whoever else will be roped into this big national lynch. The media will be in their element of course. After all, they not only get away with sloppy and — often — crooked reporting, they also routinely end up laughing all the way to the bank.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Guys, don’t you think that the president and his gang are preparing for their “tuwid na daan” to 2016 election success? There’s a high posibility that Bong Revilla will run for presidential post.
flights out of the philippines and makati medical centre extra busy.
stealing never causes any health problems, just getting caught!
It was inevitable for those senators that they will be the next target. If they didn’t removed Corona from his post, up to this day the administration will be trying to remove, thus diverting their strength and resources to him.
Unless enrile keeps using his stolen money for more stem cell therapy, he will be long gone by the time cases actually reach court/appeals etc. etc.
An addendum to be added to his ‘autobiography’
“mob vote followed by mob justice”, is a quote from this article and quite simply begs the question: How so? The Filippine electorate may get paid P300 to vote for a candidate but how that person votes can never be truly ascertained, nor can that vote caster ever have any knowledge of just who, or how that who, does whatever he/she does with the funds be-gotten at the ‘pork-fest’ due to ‘bank secrecy’ laws. To make that connection is just untrue, as it doesn’t exist. The Corrupt vote caster can never be sure that the election was/is not rigged somewhere else along the line either. Whether it be thru dead people voting multiple times or someone tinkering with the “SMART-matic” machines or any number of anomalies that can and do occur, no one in the general electorate ever really gets to see or know any of these things. Hence, that connection is again, ludicrous to make. Also, the corruption at election time pales considerably to the amount of ‘pork thievery’ that takes place after the crooked elections take place. To somehow equate the two is laughable.
And take for example the Corona trial. What EXACTLY came out of that whole ‘kangaroo court’ proceeding? Corona was removed from a P70,000/month job. He lost none of any of his wealth, spent not a single day in jail. For a guy who apparently had $4,000,000.00 rolling around in foreign currency accounts all from a job/jobs that NEVER EVER paid him more than $1,500.00(P70K)/month It sure looks like the CJ came out of the whole charade perfectly intact and laughing, as they say, all the way to the bank. While the “OH,” his “poor MOMMA suffered at the hands of Mr. Jose Bossa.” was never exactly understood it surely did make good theatre, NO? BUT WHAT ELSE came of that trial? Um, UH, DUH …Ta-Da= ZIPPO, ZILCH, NADA, BUP-KISS!Notta-fuckin-thing!
The ‘Bank secrecy’ laws have yet to be rescinded so how in the hell will any of it be traceable? and time is of the essence here, as it certainly stands to reason that if any ill-gotten peso’s have made their way out of the country to foreign lands would not it behoove the thief/thieves to head the investigation off at the pass? and send someone to scout the ‘PORK FUNDS’ exact whereabout’s and make them truly irrecoverable? OH YOU BET YA!
Time and time again, the average Filipino idiot falls for the dumb shit the people at the top shovel down to them. This will be no exception. Be prepared to see more antics that mimic such Filippine “EPIC FAILS” as the “Estrada Impeachment” charade and the most recent farcical fairy tale that ended well for everyone (except average Filipino’s, the PAL employees,and the Filippine electorate.).
MARK THESE WORDS: No one is going to jail, and No peso’s are going to be returned. One way or another, no matter what happens, it will end well for all concerned(except the Filippine people).
To differentiate between any of these people involved is where the problem lies, as they are all the same and certainly no different from common horse-thieves. AND THEY LAUGH at you (OH YES THEY SURELY DO) all for believing they are not EXACTLY that, common modern day horse-thieves.
I’ve come to believe Filipinos deserve to be stolen blind. As the saying goes: A fool and his money are soon parted. Because Filipinos vote like fools, they get back from the democracy a reflection of their own character. These politicians may harbour deep resentments against each other and their mutual rivalries are pretty evident in the way media reports these. But when it comes to those vast sums of money they enjoy as officers of the government, they stick together when it comes to extracting their “commission” from the public coffers and having their personal businesses enjoying their priviliged place in the queue for juicy government contracts.
And, as I cannot emphasize enough, people still vote for the very same bozos.
@Benigno….C’mon, you of all people should know that the elections are rigged in so many ways that the people are really not making the decisions. One way or another, it is the people who are being screwed over. Their restraint in NOT doing what many would maybe not stand for is to be admired?
ENRILE HAS BEEN SREWING THE FILIPINO PEOPLE FOR A LONG TIME. HE HAS AMASSED HUGE AMOUNTS OF ILL GOTTEN WEALTH. ALL THE ACCUSED HAVE TO BE SUSPENDED RIGHT AWAY. I JUST HOPE THEY PAY FOR THEIR CRIME.
BS Aquino is the godfather of the pork barrel scam. He controls the power of the purse. Mr. Aquino has the biggest pork at more than 1 TRILLION PESOS. I expected him to be number one on the list to be charged with plunder. Are blame games and scapegoats part of the “selective” game? What happened to the KKK and the Liberal Party boys and girls of BS Aquino?
@dolpo/Bjorn
You guys tagging me again as this and that? I won’t be quiet. Why did you not answer my remarks? Yes I am the uncle of that Malacanang shabu junkie. You see Bjorn I told the truths you mentioned. I am not a nut case as you say! Both of you butt hurt?
YOU SAY(KEy words “YOU SAY”) YOUR HIS UNCLE, SO PROVE IT!!!
You are the one ‘tagging’ yourself delusional add-boy. Now YOUR IMAGINING that people are persecuting you,WOWOWO!!!! Calling someone else a “SHABU-JUNKIE” BWAHAHAHAHAH!
The only thing that hurts on me is my ribs!
FROM LAUGHING AT YOUR DELUSIONAL ASS!!!
Thomas Jefferson. your either a marcos loyalist, GMA tuta, Estrada cronie. You have nothing better to say about BS Aquino. So just be quiet.
No, he speaks truth. You cannot shut him up.
YES, but the men in the ‘White suits with the nets are surely looking for him as:
The guy appears to be a delusional psychopath. T.J. says he is(among other things): BS Aquino’s Uncle, that the leader of a 3rd world banana republic country snorts/smokes shabu. Asserts that the leader of the 3rd world banana republic country is somehow scared of him and that he is the leader of that same 3rd world banana republic countries “Worst nightmare”! All the time while insisting his name is “Thomas Jefferson”. IF that doesn’t tell you that the guy is a delusional psychopath, IDK what will. Even if it were true, why would he not go public with his “worst nightmare” information. He seemingly has enough distaste. even hatred, for the guy and never says anything good about him, so why not go public? HINT: its because he is a delusional psychopath.
You have something good to say about BS aquino? Speak up and back it up with proof, ok? Otherwise, wyou should be the one shutting-up. TJ has all the basis for stating the above, while you……?
Be a man, speak up!
BE A MAN??? What has that got to do with T.J. going around saying he is someones Uncle,as well as that guy being the President of a 3rd World Banana republic. T.J. also says he is that guys ‘WORST NIGHTMARE’, that the guy is a ‘SHABU-JUNKIE’ among other things. So why not tell your buddy T.J. to “be a Man” and prove the delusional horse-shit he states here on a daily basis? HUH?
You and your BUTT-BUDDY T.J. are a couple of delusional, accusational, jack-asses’s and are the ones that can’t back up what they say! Not me,FLIP-TARD-BOY!
Have T.J. PROVE HE IS AQUINO’S UNCLE, GO AHEAD…PROVE IT! or STFU FLIP-TARD-BOYZ, the both of you!
“You have nothing better to say about BS Aquino. So just be quiet”
So give us one good reason why we should be quiet about Mr. Aquino’s flaws.
Why should we be quiet?
FYI, there is NOTHING good to say about your president so stick this in your pointy ear, your president is bad and you should feel bad, DEAL WITH IT.
That may be true, I don’t have much good to say about any Filipino Politicians, BUT THAT STILL DOESN’T MEAN WHAT T.J. IS SAYING IS TRUE!
Says Aquino is his Nephew, HA! Yes, and I am the Emperor of the Moon.
TROLLFAG. 😛
Please state FACTS and not YELLOW PROPAGANDA.
And we’re on.
When it comes to their interest, all these politicians are scratching each others back plus the other branches of govt connive with these thieves because they protect their interests too. I look forward to the day that somebody will stand up and risk his/her life to stop corruption.