A lot to digest

The Senate probe on the pork barrel scam resumed Thursday, this time with DOJ. Sec. Leila de Lima having six whistleblowers in tow. A subpoena was issued by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee for the whistleblowers to appear, something the Justice Secretary would rather not allow. According to her, bringing the whistleblowers was against her better judgment. Some of them have not even shown their faces in public, thereby exposing them to some or even great risk. Perhaps more bulletproof vests should be passed around? Actually, I can understand where the Justice Secretary is coming from.

A battle of hierarchies of sorts occurred last Tuesday when the Justice Secretary opted not to bring any of the valuable whistleblowers to the Senate hearing. We all know what that did to Sen. TG Guingona's blood pressure. But because of the magnitude of this scam, this gigantic travesty of the trust in our elected officials, their testimonies have to be heard, in aid of legislation of course. The actual hearing of the plunder cases have yet to begin.

And the whistleblowers revealed a lot for the people to digest. The whistleblowers were essentially employees of Janet Napoles, with different tasks assigned to them. One wrote the letters of requests, one formed the NGOs and foundations, one took care of the bank accounts, one took care of the properties, one took care of the necessary taxes, and some were the 'bagmen'. Each one told the committee in detail what their respective jobs and tasks were in the scheme of things. They revealed how the scam grew to what many Filipinos think are outright immoral. In other words, they practically showed how it was done. Probably the only thing lacking in their revelations were the lawmakers who allowed their PDAF to be used in the scam. A highlight of the testimonies was the description of how heavy the apparent bags of money were that they had to be carted into the house. And because of the amount of money present, some of the cash had to be placed in the bathtub. My goodness! That must be a lot of money that many Filipinos will never get to see in their lifetime!

But before Thursday's revelations, one of those accused of plunder made revelations of his own. In a privilege speech at the Senate, the senator berated the COA, the media, the DOJ and practically everyone else as to why they, all part of the opposition, were being singled out, when there are so many others who also questionably used their PDAF. The senator also brought up an apparent 'reward' for senators who would vote to impeach former Chief Justice Renato Corona to the tune of fifty million pesos as additional funds in their respective kitties. Speaking for almost an hour, the essence of his speech was "Why just me, and not everyone else?" And "If I'm going down, I'm taking a lot with me."

These turn of events only make this whole issue much more interesting to the general public. Public opinion does matter, and some have opined that the senator's speech was made to divert part of that negative public opinion away from him and his co-accused. Or to, in fact, expose some who have been overlooked? I understand there are still cases to be filed against more individuals in the coming days. Perhaps the senator will have more company soon.