EDITORIAL - Threatened

Benhur Luy, the whistle-blower in the pork barrel scam, donned a flak jacket and was surrounded by Manila policemen as he entered the Senate premises yesterday. The message was probably unintentional, but it was grasped quickly by those following the inquiry into the scam: there was a threat to Luy’s personal safety, and the threat was present right inside the halls of the Senate.

With all the powerful personalities dragged into this scandal, and much of the damning testimony provided by Luy, the threat must be taken seriously. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the intel on the threat was raw, but the government cannot take any chances if it is serious in going after everyone, whether friend or foe of the administration, implicated in the alleged brazen misuse of people’s money.

Key witnesses in crimes involving influential individuals tend to vanish or be murdered in this country. The nation saw this in the kidnapping and execution of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in 2000. More recently, several witnesses in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, in which members of the Ampatuan clan stand accused as principal players, were murdered.

There are boxes of documents from the Commission on Audit, the Department of Budget and Management as well as other sources that can pin down the government officials, private citizens and foundations implicated in the pork barrel scandal. The whistle-blowers led by Luy, however, can provide even more damaging testimony. They are ranged against certain individuals with sufficient resources to silence anyone permanently. Every effort must be made to prevent this from happening.