I was apprehensive about the recent survey listing Justice Secretary Leila de Lima as the 12th choice for the senatorial elections in 2013. I believe her unassailable persona has infused gravitas and an unmistakable sheen to the position of justice secretary. Moreover, she will be rendering genuine public service to her kababayan as justice secretary.
I hope De Lima will not succumb to this alluring PR machination. She has shown her principled fearlessness in stopping Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s shameless attempt at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to escape accountability for her years of oppressive sins of commission and omission. None has wielded so steadfastly the mace of decency and uprightness than the “Lady Dragon” of the Department of Justice. This is noticeable in her actuations in high-profile issues, both as the head of the Commission on Human Rights and the DOJ.
Enough laws have been crafted by our congressmen and senators for every human activity in our daily lives, but they have stopped short of refining them to make corruption very difficult to do. Witness the ban on opening foreign currency deposits (FCDs) to public scrutiny. We saw at the impeachment hearing of Renato Corona that the lawmakers refused to touch it with a 10-foot pole, though it is obvious to the man on the street that government people can park their unexplained wealth in FCDs. Otherwise, if they want to expatriate these dirty funds, they have to run the gauntlet of foreign banks’ Anti-Money Laundering Act policies. The private sector has triggering mechanisms that detect and combat fraud and deception scams.
The opinion piece of Jose C. Laureta, “Contemplating Corona (and also Cuevas),” (Inquirer, 3/23/12), states that “violations of the SALN law are rampant, wholesale and, worse, witting, which may include as “violators” some or all of the sitting senator-judges, House and public prosecutors.”
Secretary De Lima surely doesn’t want to sow her fortunes with this craven lot.
—ELEANOR PLAN POPPLE,
Pucci_popple@yahoo.co.uk