Fighting and finishing legal battles one at a time

It is now very evident what Mark Jimenez is up to in his antics tagging Nani Perez as the "million-dollar man". With apparently spurious and legally worthless documents, and highly equivocal statements, he has created quite a stir and a sensation that is always good copy for the media, but will never stand in court. Thus he has so far succeeded: in drawing away the public’s attention to his misdeeds which have made him a wanted man in the USA, the most serious of which is the laundering of drug money; in at least delaying his extradition by provoking the institution of suits against him that will require his presence here; in curtailing the effectiveness and capability of Perez who will be preoccupied with damage control; in creating the impression that all these moves against him are merely motivated by vendetta for his exposure of the alleged shenanigans in this administration; and in potentially holding people in high positions hostage by means of threats of similar exposure for having received bribe money from him.

Throwing all caution out of the window, Jimenez has admitted, or at least has not denied, that he is capable of and has in fact doled out lots of money both in local and foreign currencies to his colleagues in Congress and to other government officials in exchange for past, present or future favors. He has indeed succeeded in creating a reputation of facilitating the approval of government deals and transactions through "grease money". Deposed President Estrada himself confirmed that Jimenez offered him $14 million for the approval of a certain contract. A "corporate genius" like Jimenez would not just make such a reckless,incriminating and somewhat desperate move without any purpose at all. And it is not really hard to see his ploy. Owning up to having committed such notorious practices would give a semblance of credibility to his accusations or exposures of bribery, extortion and scandals in high places. His "been there and done that" stance may give some weight and plausibility to his tale, enough to create a dent in the reputation of those who have crossed,or may still cross his path and make life miserable for him. So far, he thinks that he is succeeding with the help of media. He is beginning to believe that people believe him when he says that he gave lots of money to a high government official. It is not therefore far fetched to expect further "exposures" from him involving officials in all branches of government.

"Where there’s smoke, there’s fire" is the adage once more gaining a lot of mileage these days. I don’t have any quarrel with this proposition. But what if the person creating the smoke is himself under fire or has been involved in a lot of fires before, could we still expect a real fire from that smoke? Will this not be an artificial fire to divert the attention from the real fire engulping the person himself?

I also cannot argue with the proposition that any high government official tainted with scandal should resign immediately or even commit hara kiri without waiting for further proof of wrongdoing as is the practice in other countries. But such practice is not advisable under all circumstances. Particularly in the current scandal implicating the Secretary of Justice to a two-million dollar payoff. The source of the scandal, the motive and the manner of bringing it out as well as the evidentiary basis of the alleged anomaly somehow do not call for an outright resignation.If it were somebody else than Jimenez who has no pending extradition case being vigorously pursued by the Department of Justice; who is more of a passive victim than an active participant in anomalies and wrongdoings, past or present, here and abroad; whose intentions can not be doubted at all precisely because he has quietly gathered sufficient and competent evidence; and who immediately files the case in the proper court instead of airing it in all the wrong places, then resignation is really called for.

Perez must therefore be allowed to finish the legal battle he has started. To pull him out now and ask for his resignation only because his adversaries have inflicted damage to his reputation by publicity stunts will mean victory to those with dubious motives to get him out of the way. It will once more send a wrong signal that in this country, playing the distractive and destructive game of politics will enable one to extricate himself from serious violations of the law. The game here is no longer a game of politics but of law and justice that should be played in the courtrooms where only the truth will emerge victorious.

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