A thief in the night

(This column is expanded from my status on Facebook posted two hours after Janet Lim-Napoles's surrender to President Aquino broke in the news.)

And she came like a thief in the night. Literally, an (alleged) thief in the night.

But we must be wary of other thieves in the night, those who broker midnight deals, those who broker deals because they or their friends can be implicated by a Napoles who doesn't surrender on their agreed terms, because something isn't right with this picture.

"Napoles surrenders to the President" read most headlines. Fantastic PR, if you ask me. But more than the 'pogi points' it generates the president, we should be vigilant and try to find out what Napoles negotiated for, because surely, there was major back-channeling here. The brains or conduit of the P10B syndicate will not surrender without something in it for her (ano siya, tanga? Especially that the information she has is leverage) - question is, who offered what's in it for her, and what exactly is in it for her (and for them)?

(Although on second thought, it might not even be good PR at all, surrendering to the president like that. The over-eagerness to be "pa-hero" could backfire. The footage of her inside the august halls of Malacañang chitchatting with the cabinet secretaries closest to Aquino gives people a visual of the gravely unpopular businesswoman sitting comfortably in the Palace, connecting her directly to the president of the republic. What wild ideas might this imagery bring into people's heads? And some of the wildest ideas may very well illustrate the true state of affairs of this could-be sinister liaison, after all, these are no ordinary times we live.)

The information, nay, leverage Napoles has is something some people are willing to pay a hefty price for, something some would even kill for. The information she eventually gives to the public, whether unadulterated or doctored, is what everyone has been waiting to hear, a set of names and figures people would probably believe most coming from her, the supposed mastermind of this scam of epic scale. Surely the Palace, the undisputed masters of spin, is aware of this certainty and will make sure they exploit the situation to the hilt. And so they use their leverage - power over government and practically all of its branches and instrumentalities - against Napoles's, and then seek to meet half way.

The Palace is in desperate need to put a stop to this nagging Pork Barrel issue that has spiraled out of control, dealing a huge blow to the president's precious popularity ratings, so they will give anything and everything to control the situation.

What would be good? A Napoles arrest or surrender. What would be best? A transactional Napoles surrender.

And how do we achieve that? Contact her and ask what her terms are. And our terms? Surrender now, don't implicate the president and his allies (but please, by all means, implicate our political enemies like GMA, because so far we've no evidence against her, and shet, if we don't convict her, people will never believe us anymore), and you can be state witness. If you don't, the consequences are dire, we'll hunt you down, and no more negotiating then.

If you're Napoles, that sounds like a sweet and reasonable deal, a bargain in fact, way better than the entire NBI-PNP-Immigration-DOJ, etc. caboodle hunting you down (complemented by an enraged people eager to point to your whereabouts and dismantle you part by part with their bare hands). You take the deal and surrender... and it has to be to the president so he will have some "pogi points" while at it (but like I said, the stunt may just backfire). Problem contained for the president (for now, that is).

Although this is mere conjecture, not even a wild idea, it is highly plausible. Still, whatever the case may be, no one with half a brain would instantly buy Wednesday night's show.

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Twitter: @MykLopez

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