Recent Senate investigations have focused on anomalous deals in the previous administration. Apart from resulting in legislation, these inquiries, combined with the filing of appropriate charges in court, should pave the way for dispelling perceptions that in this country, the wealthy and powerful can get away with anything. At the very least, wealthy and powerful crooks should get the message that they may get away with anything, but only until a new administration takes over.
As gleaned since the start of probes on the anomalous purchase of helicopters by the Philippine National Police, former first gentleman Mike Arroyo was tagged by a businessman yesterday as the one principally responsible for the deal that was clinched just a few months before Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stepped down as president.
Lion Air Inc. owner Archibald Po told the Senate that he personally delivered $700,000 to Mike Arroyo at the latter’s Makati office in April last year as payment for two Raven helicopters that the former first family had reportedly used. The helicopters were then sold to the PNP at brand-new prices. The PNP paid P105 million for the helicopters, for which Po and another businessman, Hilario de Vera, reportedly received P3.5 million each as commission.
Senators pointed out that used Raven helicopters are priced at only $270,000 to $280,000 each. What could the government have bought with the money that instead went to those fat commissions? People who do not pay taxes may not care if public funds are pocketed by government officials, as long as they get dole-outs from politicians. But they might care if they consider how they are deprived of basic services as a result of corruption.
All those who have been accused of wrongdoing in Senate inquiries and formally before the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice will have their day in court. Some of them might see their names cleared, but others appear headed for the national penitentiary, considering the documents and witnesses so far presented against them. Their investigation should sow the seeds of fear into the hearts of those who are considering involvement in graft. Conviction and punishment of the corrupt should seal that fear.