When Ted Turner, founder of Cable News Network (CNN), was asked why he donated $1 million to the United Nations, he answered: “I want to be on the side of the good angels.”
In a few days, Janet Lim-Napoles will face the Senate blue ribbon committee that will probe into the infamous pork barrel scam of which she is the alleged mastermind, according to whistle-blowers Benhur Luy and other former members of the Napoles household.
On that eventful day, this is my advice to Napoles (if all the allegations against her are true):
1. Like Ted Turner, be on the side of the good angels.
2. Tell the whole truth, how you started and perpetrated the pork barrel scam.
3. Name all your partners in crime. Don’t be afraid of them and their ilk, no matter how high and mighty they may seem to be. “Do not fear people that kill the body but have no power to kill the soul; rather, fear him who has power to kill both body and soul in the infernal pit” (Mat. 10:28-29).
4. Tell the truth about the tactics and methods you’ve employed in the pursuit of wicked activities. Also, please don’t forget to name your mentors.
5. Tell the millions of poor farmers whom you’ve stabbed in the back the actual number of the mansions, luxury cars and l estates you’ve purchased using the pork barrel of consenting and conniving politicians. Similarly, don’t forget the actual amount of those illegally acquired pieces of property.
6. Do not use your right against self-incriminaation. “Hindi natutulog ang Diyos. Hindi ka puedeng magsinungaling sa harap Niya.”
7. Junk the advice of your lawyer Lorna Kapunan, who will strive to save you from imprisonment but have absolutely no power to snatch you away from a life of shame here on earth and eternal damnation in the next.
8. Listen to what the Bible says: “Do not lay up treasures for yourself on earth, where moth devours and rust consumes, and where thieves break in and steal; lay up treasures for yourself in heaven, where neither moth devours nor rust consumes, nor thieves break in and steal. After all, where your treasure is, there too, is your heart bound to be.” (Mat. 6, 19-21, Kleist-Lilly translation).
9. Finally, be like the good thief!
—CARLOS D. ISLES
carlos_isles@yahoo.com