Give Janet an incentive to talk

As this is being written, Janet Lim Napoles has not yet arrived at the Senate where the blue ribbon committee, by questioning her on the P10-billion pork barrel scam, hopes to share the spotlight with her first public appearance and testimony. Like many in the Senate and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, I do not think she will say much beyond invoking her right to remain silent and against self-incrimination. If so, not much information on the pork scam can be gathered from this circus as Janet will not spill the beans. Why should she? She will gain nothing from it except the ire of her partners in crime.

The way to make her talk is to offer her something. Immunity from suit will not be taken well by the public as she appears to be the most guilty, being the supposed mastermind. The agency with the best chance of making her talk is the Office of the Ombudsman, not the Senate, as the blue ribbon committee hearing is obviously a bid for the publicity that her testimony will generate.

In exchange for her testimony, the Ombudsman can offer her a plea to the Sandiganbayan to give her a lighter penalty, not the life imprisonment that the crime of plunder carries. And the best that her lawyers can do for her is to bargain for as much leniency that they can get for her.

Her testimony will make the work of the prosecution easier against the lawmakers and other public officials involved in the scam. But even without it, the oral and documentary evidence against her is enough to convict her. At least 10 whistle-blowers, her former employees, have first-hand knowledge of the scam and the people involved. The public records obtained by the National Bureau of Investigation and audited by the Commission on Audit are damning.

Once it is known that Janet will become a witness for the prosecution, we can expect that assassination plots against her will intensify. Her testimony will bring down many rich, powerful and influential people. But dead women tell no tales.

So the Ombudsman should get her antemortem statement as soon as possible, before bullets or bombs or poison get her. Once there is such a statement, it will be useless to kill her. That statement will be used as evidence against the accused. And defense lawyers cannot subject it to cross-examination, unlike a live witness like Janet.

A smart defense counsel can use that antemortem statement as a strong bargaining point. Going through a trial and hoping for an acquittal will be out of the question. People will lynch her (and the judge or justices) if she is acquitted.

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I do not understand why SM Land and Ayala Land have to fight over the reclamation of 300 hectares of Manila Bay in Pasay City when there are so many other areas waiting to be reclaimed without any opposition. One example is the part of Manila Bay adjacent to Navotas. Reclaiming it will bring untold advantages not only to Navotas but to the whole country, especially to commerce and motorists.

Roxas Boulevard becomes North Bay Boulevard after Del Pan Bridge. North Bay now goes through North Harbor and then to Navotas where it disappears. But it was originally planned to go up to Bulacan to connect to MacArthur Highway.

So why not follow the original plan by reclaiming the sea beside Navotas and Bulacan? The outer edge will be the seaside boulevard. Wouldn’t it be a pleasure to drive along the seaside all the way from Cavite to Bulacan, and perhaps until Bataan and Zambales? Not only that: Another highway to connect north and south Luzon will be made available. Vehicles that have no business in downtown Metro Manila don’t have to pass through there anymore, thus improving traffic there tremendously.

In between are hectares and hectares of reclaimed land that will go 50-50 to the developers and to Navotas and Bulacan.

This land can be used for commercial districts and medium- and high-rise residential buildings, as well as tourist-oriented developments. With more land the Navotas fish port can be developed like the Fishermen’s Wharf in San Francisco. Beside it can be a yacht club where luxury cruise ships can dock. It will be a tourist attraction with souvenir shops, boutiques, and restaurants serving fresh seafood from the fish port. In another section there can be another wharf for the small boats of subsistence fishermen.

Best of all, it will bring development to Navotas and Bulacan. Navotas is so small—one of the smallest municipalities in the Philippines—that it is bursting at the seams. With more land, medium-rise housing can be provided for squatters and low-income residents. It can also benefit neighboring Malabon, which is also overcrowded.

Beyond the boulevard, there can be a boardwalk or even a beach. Imagine the tourist and commercial potentials.

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Another area that has good potential for reclamation is the coastline of Laguna Lake. Again, have a lakeside boulevard around the outer edge; the reclaimed land beyond it can be devoted to tourist-oriented development—yacht basins, fish port, fishermen’s wharf, restaurants, souvenir stores, shops, bookstores, luxury lakeside condos, etc.

Laguna Lake is now so shallow it desperately needs dredging. Use the silt for reclamation. Thus, the lake will not only be deepened and absorb more of the water runoff from the mountains and save the lowlands around it from infernal floods every time it rains hard, it will also provide more land for development.

The lakeside boulevard will provide still another connection between north and south Luzon and help reduce traffic congestion in Metro Manila. This will also bring development and progress to the municipalities around the lake.