Outrage

Have we no sense of outrage?

A public official carts away our tax money by the millions from cooperating government banks, squeezes the thick bundles of notes into gym bags, hauls away the loot through fire exits (not the bank’s guarded main doors) and merrily motors the huge cash stash into private homes and offices.

That’s our tax money, our hard-earned money, being treated like worthless Japanese play or Disney toy money, spirited away by the hundreds of millions in a matter of minutes and disappearing into utter nothingness. Four instances in less than six months, VP Sara withdrew cash, totaling half a BILLION in just minutes. The VP is VIP.

We dare cannot ask questions. It’s confidential. The hush hush money. The psst, psst money. Our money. Your money.

“It’s unusual,” says the Land Bank manager, a veteran banker of 32 years during which 50 million more Filipinos were born. But “just because it’s unusual does not mean it’s illegal. Tama po ba?” retorts the bearded Alan Peter Cayetano. Indeed, the LB manager said, the check encashments, a uniform P125 million withdrawn four times, “ay dumaan po sa tamang proseso.”

Presumption of regularity. Tamang proseso, even if the LB manager, a certain Ms. Constantino, admitted never having seen before such colossal cash withdrawals during all her 32 years as a banker. Not until September 2022 when Sara became VP and opened the OVP account with Land Bank Shaw Blvd.

Constantino told the Senate impeachment court July 29, 2026 they were previously advised about the OVP’s one-time, big time cash withdrawals. Tamang proseso.

Still, admitted Ms. Constantino, she wondered, replying to Sen. Erwin Tulfo’s questions, “Saan kaya gagamitin po iyong cash na ito? Hindi naman po namin tinanong na kasi may advice naman po siya.” Only the OVP among government agencies makes such massive withdrawals, she said.

Did you know that 100 babies die daily in the Philippines because of malnutrition? They have nothing to eat. It’s unusual. But not illegal.

Did you know that 164 Filipinos die daily from tuberculosis in the Philippines? It’s unusual. But not illegal.

Did you know that as recently as 2005, 150 Filipinos died daily from malaria in the Philippines? It’s unusual. But not illegal.

Had the P612 million that Sara Duterte stashed into gym bags in a matter of minutes from her cooperating government bank been spent to feed the 100 babies who died of malnutrition, cure the 164 who died of TB and cure the150 who died of malaria on the day she withdrew the money, she could have saved those 414 lives.

Sara’s confidential P612 million withdrawn in a matter of minutes, surreptitiously, via the fire exit, from Land Bank, could have saved hundreds of lives.

But VP Sara would probably sneer: “Nothing could come between me and my confidential money.” No one. Nothing. Not even impeachment.

Chief Justice Gesmundo at the MOPC Judiciary Night

The Manila Overseas Press Club, Asia’s oldest press club, will have for its “MOPC Judiciary Night” guest of honor and speaker, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, this Friday, Aug. 7, 6:30 p.m. at the New World Makati Hotel grand ballroom. (Call MOPC, 920-204-9229 for details).

The country’s premier law firms have booked tables. Prominent lawyers, professionals and businessmen have pre-paid reservations to attend the event to honor the country’s third branch of government and its CEO.

Gesmundo, the 27th Chief Justice, is a reformist jurist, one rich in knowledge and practice of law, skilled in the administration of a complex and labyrinthine system that is the judiciary, imbued with enormous integrity and independence and yet keenly attuned to the needs of people who have less in law, less in life and less in the dignity that all men are entitled to.

Gesmundo serves as chief justice for five years, six months and 16 days from April 5, 2021. He retires this Nov. 6, 2026.

He finished law at the Ateneo de Manila University in 1984. Passing the Bar in 1985, he joined the Office of the Solicitor General and became the Most Outstanding Solicitor in 1998. He was commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government from July 17, 1998 to Feb. 15, 2001. In August 2002, he was promoted to assistant solicitor general and on Oct. 15, 2005, associate justice of the Sandiganbayan, later becoming chair of its 7th Division. He was appointed to the Supreme Court as associate justice on Aug. 14, 2017 and chief justice April 5, 2021.

In 2022, the Chief launched the Supreme Court’s pioneering reform agenda, the Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027, to streamline the judiciary, make it lean, nimble and truly powerful and relevant amid the age of AI and leapfrogging advances in technology, a growing population, troubling social inequality and exploding demand for justice and human rights for all.

Major achievements so far: the workplace collaboration Judiciary 365, Judicial Online Learning Platform, digitized Benchbook for Philippine Trial Courts, Judiciary Enterprise ICT Governance Framework and a much improved eCourt version 2.0.

The overarching goal: the delivery of responsive and real-time justice, anchored on four guiding principles: timely and fair justice, transparent and accountable justice, equal and Inclusive justice and technologically adaptive management.

These principles should propel the Judiciary to three outcomes: efficiency, innovation and access.

Chief Justice Gesmundo was conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, by five major universities – Centro Escolar University School of Law and Jurisprudence, the Manuel L. Quezon University, the Philippine Christian University, Lyceum of the Philippines University and the University of Cebu School of Law.

He was presented with the 2023 Chief Justice Richard W. Holmes Award of Merit by the American Judges Association, the first non-American recipient of such award.

Gesmundo is the son of a farmer and a public school teacher. He and Mrs. Lynn Magpantay-Gesmundo have a son, Alastair, and twin daughters, Ashley Nicole and Allison Arden.

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Email: [email protected]