Bitter best

Her very own words, as quoted in Jarius Bondoc’s column in Philippine Star, indict her.This is Clarita Garcia, wife of General Carlos Garcia, earnestly explaining how 100,000 US Dollars should be returned to her by US immigration officials.“No!,” she insists, this wasn’t money being laundered through the border by her two sons, this was legitimately earned!

 The portions of her statement printed by Bondoc is telling.She says, explaining her husband’s role in the Philippine Army and what he does when a government contract is presented before him:

 “In one of the provisions of the contract, a team of committee will oversee the implementation of the contract before, during and after. During the before portion of the contract, my husband goes to inspect the site or location of the plant of the contracted party. Then during the portion of the contract, he goes back to the contracted country to see the actual products. During the after portion of the contract, he returns to the contracted country to accept the finished product. During these travels, my husband always brings me along and we are each given travel allowances by the proponents/host country. He is also given by his office stipend and allowances to be used at his discretion. As a wife I am also given an envelope as they called ‘shopping money’ that I can use for my own discretion, no receipt of how we use the stipends are ever required.Business class airfare/First class hotel accommodations and transportation in are provided by the host/proponents and this happens on every trip since 1993 to present. Our meals, purchase of souvenirs and cost of visiting sites are also paid for by our host. As a result, our allowances are not used and we are allowed to keep them. I am unable to provide the exact amount of each stipend/allowances because it varies from country to country we are assigned to visit.”

 So, let me see.Was there any point in the before, during or after portion of whatever contract they were then “negotiating” that this woman ever think, that perhaps, there was a tiny wee bit of possibility that she shouldn’t be accepting these “perks”?Because then, that might make her less dim-witted.But the equanimity of her recital gives the impression that she totally believes this was a perfectly acceptable arrangement.A fact of life, a normal occurrence in her travel routine, an entitlement which she was perfectly happy to accept.Nothing to trouble her pretty little head over, just something to pass the time while performing her god-given role of supporting her husband in his oh-so difficult job.

Since 1993, this woman has been traipsing around the globe, accompanying her husband.As the wife of a government official, she even receives shopping money in an envelope!How nice (although it is unclear whether it’s our government or their hosts that hand her the funds).She doesn’t even have to give a receipt for it, which makes life just that more convenient.And, before she goes home, she can pick out souvenirs to bring back!Such generosity from her hosts, indeed.

 Clarita Garcia paints a painful picture of how our government just let this man and his wife bleed our country dry.For starters, three trips abroad just to procure something for the army.Never mind that, according to her, the business class air tickets and the first class hotels were shouldered by the hosts.After all, our coffers still cough up his allowances, there to accumulate and support the lifestyle of his fashionista son.

 Is it just me being bitter that his 25-year old son lives in a Trump Plaza condo worth at least half a million dollars while wearing YSL boots, a Cartier tank watch, and Alexander Mc Queen jeans?But that, I am entitled to, I think.Part of my taxes financed that lifestyle, and instead of the government just funnelling my money to pay for his outfits, why couldn’t they just let me keep them, to be put to better use? (Gucci has great alligator loafers.)

 You bet I’m bitter! And repulsed.And we should all be.We should all channel this negativity towards the government, so they can crack down on graft-prone individuals.Otherwise, we’ll just end up a breeding ground for more Imeldas.

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Email: [email protected]. (FREEMAN)