A Sandiganbayan division headed by controversial Associate Justice Gregory Ong has ordered Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo suspended for 90 days as the congressional representative of Pampanga’s second district.
The anti-graft court’s fourth division issued the suspension order in connection with the aborted national broadband network deal signed by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) with China’s ZTE.
GMA, ailing and under “hospital arrest” for plunder at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, probably shared the general reaction to the order: Ong is just trying to save his own skin.
As we know, Ong may lose his seat in the anti-graft court for his reported links to businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles. The buzz is that he is lobbying with the Supreme Court (SC) for a mere suspension rather than expulsion.
Instead of saving his hide, the suspension of GMA should work against Ong. Anyone who takes such an interminable time to suspend an official facing graft charges does not deserve to sit in the Sandiganbayan.
We should thank Ong, however, for reminding us that the NBN-ZTE case is still pending, although litigation could crawl along for decades.
The broadband deal was signed way back in April 2007 in Hainan, China by the DOTC chief at the time, Leandro Mendoza, and ZTE officials. GMA flew to Hainan to witness the event.
Six months later, the deal was canceled as reports of fat commissions involving the contract began emerging. Benjamin Abalos, accused of brokering the deal with the Chinese (and chasing skirts along a hotel corridor), resigned as chairman of the Commission on Elections. Tong-pats, bubukol, and “moderate your greed” entered the Pinoy lexicon along with burjer.
Like many scandals of the past, however, this one faded away, eclipsed by the numerous events that guarantee endless agitation if not fun in the Philippines.
Now Justice Ong has reminded us that here’s yet another case languishing in the courts, with final resolution not to be expected within a generation.
* * *
The fate of the ZTE scandal should be disheartening for those who hope they will see justice within their lifetime in the case of the pork barrel scam.
President Aquino has made no secret of his wish to see someone convicted of plunder before his term ends at noon of June 30, 2016.
Everyone believes he is referring to GMA, or at least someone indicted for anomalous deals during her watch.
At the rate those cases are moving in the judiciary, however, P-Noy may not get his wish. Seeing anyone convicted in the pork barrel scam by 2016 is even less likely.
Snail-paced justice has to be one of the biggest incentives for corruption in this country. People see that it pays to steal from public coffers. By the time a public official is convicted of stealing people’s money, he or she would have already enjoyed the proceeds of crime, his family would have been richly rewarded, and their future is secured.
The loot is rarely recovered, especially when the looter knows how to use stolen wealth to buy the best lawyers and accountants, and buy off witnesses and justices.
A prominent personality who built a reputation for integrity, only to sell it to the highest bidder in his twilight years, reportedly said he had to make sure he would leave enough to ensure that his children would live in comfort when he’s no longer around.
I’m sure that attitude is not rare in this country.
Such “public servants” are helped along by the weakness of our judicial system, which not only moves slowly but is also extremely vulnerable to political influence because, let’s face it, members of the judiciary owe their appointments and promotions to the political establishment.
People are hoping that the judiciary may still surprise us, and show the nation that the pork barrel cases will be different.
* * *
RITE OF PASSAGE: With hazing claiming yet another young victim, people are again looking for explanations on why teenage kids indulge in violent fraternity initiation rites.
One possibility, at least in our society, is that rituals for entry into a fraternity is the closest Filipino youths – especially boys from privileged backgrounds – can come to a rite of passage into manhood.
Circumcision is done at an increasingly young age (in several cases at childbirth). And being gifted with a prostitute by your father for your first full sexual experience is not exactly a rite of passage.
In certain countries, the rite of passage is leaving home at 18 to strike out on your own, never to return except to visit parents and younger siblings. Parents in these countries have written about the pain of becoming empty nesters.
Fending for yourself at a young age has to be one of the scariest, most challenging experiences in life. This truly builds character, rather than the senseless beating of the defenseless by cowardly boys suffering from arrested development.
When these young cowards are done with their orgy of violence, they all run back to mama and the comfort of home. What kind of character is built in this way?