Former Vice President Noli de Castro’s past with the Arroyo administration is catching up with him. This is suggested by President Aquino’s recent criticism of comments made by Kabayan during some of his ABS-CBN news reports. Vice President Jejomar Binay may fire his own salvo due to the disappearance of Globe Asiatique’s Delfin Lee, who was rumored to be close to Kabayan during his term as housing czar.
Can Filipinos afford to forgive and forget people who seem to be going scot-free after being part of the Arroyo kleptocracy? As P-Noy said in his State of the Nation Address, Filipinos may be forgiving, but justice demands both accountability and restitution before anything can be forgotten. If Kabayan is accountable for housing fund misuse, he should be properly investigated and prosecuted. That would be part of the obligation of Vice President Binay and P-Noy to their “bosses,” the Filipino people.
Many more cases call for appropriate prosecution. Of these, the most glaring is the Maguindanao massacre, which is clearly tied to the electoral sabotage case of both the Arroyos and the Ampatuans. There is also the Bolante fertilizer scam that remains unresolved, despite two Senate investigations (by the agriculture committee and the blue ribbon committee) and government audit, because it looks like too many sacred cows might be involved. And there’s also the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System trustees’ profligacy that saw Arroyo cronies pocketing P2.5 million each annually just for attending board meetings and raising water rates so that water consumers can be bled dry by the MWSS and its two concessionaires. And this abuse by the trustees may only be the tip of the iceberg: It looks like billions more have been stolen by MWSS from Metro Manila consumers and Filipino taxpayers.
Forgive and forget? Not on “daang matuwid.” Not when so many lives have been lost and so many rights have been violated. Not when trillions of pesos have been stolen and not if P-Noy is serious about letting his “bosses” finally reclaim the greatness of their country!
Let the Department of Justice, Ombudsman and Sandiganbayan file all the cases needed to clean up the past. This is a job long overdue.
—JOSE OSIAS,
jzosias@gmail.com