Reheating the kaldero

Dredging up the corruption allegations in the construction of the New Clark City sports complex and its kaldero landmark reminded the public of offenses imputed on Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano.

Reviving the issue, however, is also fraught with political landmines.

It risks tainting the anti-corruption campaign of President Marcos, since the other top official involved in the project, and who was slapped with a graft and malversation complaint before the ombudsman, is none other than the guy tasked by BBM to clean up the Department of Public Works and Highways amid the flood control mess, DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon.

With National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag announcing that the NBI would take a second look at the issue, would the charges against Dizon also be reviewed?

The Office of the Ombudsman threw out the complaint against Dizon at the height of the COVID lockdowns in December 2021, during the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, who also cleared Cayetano of corruption accusations related to the issue.

Duterte trusted Dizon enough to pick him as the chief “testing czar” for SARS-CoV-2 and deputy chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID 19.

Unlike Dizon, no complaint was filed against Cayetano, who was House speaker when he chaired the organizing committee for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. But Dizon was the signing authority in the project, so any NBI probe of Cayetano would have to include a second look at the role of Dizon.

Otherwise, the Marcos administration would reinforce accusations of selective justice – a point raised by the Cayetano siblings and their ally Robinhood Padilla at the start of Day 6 of the impeachment trial last Wednesday.

The timing of Matibag’s announcement, as the Senate minority has lamented, is also suspect, coming on the heels of Cayetano’s questioning the resetting of the NBI chief’s testimony before the impeachment court so Matibag can jet off to Thailand for a symposium on transnational crime.

Matibag yesterday canceled the trip.

Still, the timing of the announced probe bolstered the Cayetano siblings’ accusation that the NBI chief is trying to intimidate the minority leader, and the broader accusation of the Senate minority that they are being eliminated one by one from participating in the Senate trial, to lower the number of votes required to convict Vice President Sara Duterte.

Impeachment court presiding officer Francis Escudero has already ruled that 16 is the number needed to convict, and that those who disagree can take the matter to the Supreme Court.

Also, any senator unable or unwilling to cast a vote will be counted as a vote for acquittal, so it won’t matter if known pro-Duterte senators are MIA or tossed in jail without bail.

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There are people who find it stressful to watch the Cayetano siblings in action, at the Senate or online.

It was also irritating to have the first 30 minutes of the impeachment trial on Wednesday spent on the siblings’ lament about Matibag’s supposed intimidation. These are matters that could not be addressed by anyone in the impeachment trial.

Alan Peter could have instead vented as usual on Facebook, or called a press conference to denounce the NBI chief, instead of eating into the precious time of the impeachment trial. Or he and his sister could have saved their outrage for next Tuesday, when they can confront Matibag as he faces the impeachment court.

The trial is moving at snail’s pace as it is. If all personal laments of senators would be manifested at the start of every trial day, the proceedings could drag on all the way to Christmas 2028, when the VP could already be the president (and Rodante Marcoleta, backed by the Iglesia ni Cristo, her vice president).

But it must also be pointed out that the siblings’ lament resonated, and not just among the DDS. This is mainly because of the timing of Matibag’s announcement.

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Matibag had disclosed that he received information including documents about the alleged anomalies during a recent visit to New Clark City for the construction of an NBI Academy on a 70-hectare property.

About P9.5 billion was spent for the New Clark City sports complex built in Capas, Tarlac for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. Its most controversial feature was the 50-meter-high cauldron that was designed by the late National Artist for Architecture Bobby Mañosa.

The project was built without public bidding and reportedly funded quickly through a congressional insertion in the national budget.

The joint venture agreement for the construction was signed in early 2018 by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, at the time headed by Dizon, with Malaysian developer MTD Capital Berhad under a Swiss challenge. Construction began in April 2018, when Cayetano was Duterte’s secretary of foreign affairs.

Cayetano was appointed as chair of the Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee by the Philippine Olympic Committee in June 2019, taking over from then POC president Ricky Vargas.

The sports hub was finished in October 2019, a month before the 30th SEA Games, when Cayetano was already the House speaker.

Some folks think the revival of corruption allegations against Cayetano will resonate enough to damage his expected reelection bid in 2028. But Cayetano’s constituency is the DDS, whose abiding belief is that their political leaders can do no wrong.

Cayetano will rail against unfairness, but then, in this country, all is fair in love and politics.

Malacañang defended the NBI from the accusations of intimidation. The nation also wants to know the truth about the unresolved scandal, so Matibag must go ahead and pursue the probe. Even if it blows up in the administration’s face.