PAL's Platinum Cards: For PR or bribery?

Time has really flown so fast… yesterday was already Ash Wednesday and so we enter the Season of Lent, which, for us Catholics, means offering a little bit of sacrifice or mortification for our sins in commemoration of the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ during Holy Week. We have 365 days of the year to do our merry making, from Christmas to Sinulog, but the Lord only asks us for one week out of the 52 weeks that we have to do some sacrifices, which is not much of an effort. So let’s prepare our souls for this season of Lent and be pleasing to the eyes and heart of God.

* * *

Last Monday afternoon, as I was about to leave the office, I turned on the TV just in time when Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (JPE) literally berated Prosecutor Rep. Neil Tupas, Jr. for trying to put on the witness stand Philippine Airlines (PAL) Vice-President Enrique Javier to testify against CJ Corona on Impeachment Article 3 because he got “special privileges or benefits” from PAL, having been given a Platinum Card. JPE refused to admit the PAL exec considering him as “incompetent” because “bribery” was not included in the charge that the Prosecution placed under Article 3.

It seems that there is not a day that passes where the Prosecution has bungled so badly, they would make the Keystone Cops look so amateurish. Of course the coffee house wags are saying that if PAL Platinum Cards are considered “bribery,” I’m sure that the majority of our Senators could be guilty of this. JPE didn’t want to have the PAL executive as witness lest former Justice Serafin Cuevas might ask a more dangerous question whether PAL also gave such cards to the senators? Chances are, they also have those Platinum Cards, which I know PAL uses for PR purposes, not bribery.

Meanwhile, a more explosive issue remains unresolved as of presstime. I’m referring to the revelation by Philippine Savings Bank President Pascual Garcia III that on September 2010, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) through its Anti-Money Laundering unit, conducted an investigation of CJ Corona’s bank deposits. This has now been denied by the AMLC Executive Director Vicente Aquino. So who is telling us the truth? I hope that this Vicente Aquino is not related to Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III.

I would like to believe that PSBank Pres. Pascual Garcia, III would not lie under oath. So far, he has gained a lot of popularity for being cool while being under the “hot seat” while the senators literally pounced on him to tell the truth. At this point, we can say that the denial by Vicente Aquino is not under oath, so he can still retract this.

Why is the BSP or the AMLC trying to distance itself from the statement of the PSBank President? It is because the only way the AMLC can investigate anyone’s bank records is through a court order. Now you ask yourself, which judge would give you such an order to have the bank records of the Chief Justice investigated? Of course, no judge in his right mind would dare issue such an order.

The only other way that AMLC may investigate a deposit account is when it is connected to a money-laundering scheme, a kidnapping for ransom or in drug trafficking cases or murder, which is not present in this impeachment case. So if they could not get any court order, how in heavens did the prosecution get those bank numbers or even the signature card of CJ Corona? Another short lady or white lady perhaps?

I have no doubt in my mind that the Prosecution has kept the truth from the Filipino people on how they were able to secure those bank records legally. How this issue would eventually be resolved I still don’t know. But if the truth doesn’t come out, chances are, these spurious pieces of evidence would be thrown out and the senators would have no choice but to acquit CJ Corona. Ahh, but there is one more option that Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III has up his sleeves to convict CJ Corona, despite the tainted evidence, he can still “force the issue” and let his allies in the Senate convict the Chief Justice anyway, impeachment is still a political exercise.

But is it worth the risk, that the allies of the President would convict CJ Corona despite the failures of the Prosecution to prove their case before the impeachment court and before the eyes of the people? I hope they don’t do such a rash thing because it might just cause another political upheaval, something we should avoid at all cost. The last time we had a People’s Power Revolt, it did not change this nation for the better.

Lest we haven’t forgotten this week is the 26th commemoration of the EDSA Revolt, a historic date for the nation. If someone does something wrong in the impeachment trial, we just might be seeing history repeat itself. But then, where will it bring our nation? To a far worse scenario?

* * *

Email: [email protected]