Dying dreams breathing more life?

The Duterte administration is reviving some dying dreams.

Through its Office of the Solicitor General, the administration recently moved for the acquittal of Janet Lim Napoles of the serious illegal detention charge she had been convicted of by a trial court and for a reversal of which she had appealed before the Court of Appeals. Napoles’ acquittal will not only taint the integrity of whistle-blower Benhur Luy, the principal witness in the plunder case filed against her; it will also indirectly benefit former senators Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla in their pork barrel scam cases.

It may be recalled that during the campaign season, then Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte assured Cavite voters that Revilla would be able to avail himself of the right to bail should the mayor become president. As for the Estradas, the President is “God-given from heaven.”

The same is also happening in the House of Representatives, where Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez is seeking to transfer the duties of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG). Through the years after the overthrow of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the PCGG has recovered millions worth of Marcoses’ ill-gotten wealth and has tirelessly promoted methods to combat and prevent corruption in government. If PCGG’s powers go to the OSG, will it be like the Senate justice committee which suddenly steered away from the possibility of implicating President Duterte in extrajudicial, drug-related killings, after his ally, Sen. Richard Gordon, took over its chairmanship?

Rumor has it that former Sen. Bongbong Marcos will soon head the Department of the Interior and Local Government, a powerful political machine that can catapult him and his family back to power. It will indeed benefit Duterte that an ally of his will head the agency which has long aimed to pin him and his family down for alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings and corruption.

So, is it a President Marcos and Senators Estrada and Revilla again in 2022?

REJINEL VALENCIA, [email protected]