Why hide the list?

Justice Secretary Leila De Lima is standing pat on her decision not to show Janet Napoles’ supposed master list of the people she connived with to steal billions of pesos from the Filipino people. She has offered lame excuses to defend her decision. But come on, Ms Secretary, be honest with the Filipino people: Why are you hiding this list that the entire Philippines has been demanding to see? And come to think about it, why has President Aquino been silent and has not compelled De Lima to make this list public?

According to reports, after meeting with Napoles and receiving a copy of the list, the first person De Lima went to see was President Aquino. It is safe to assume that she showed him the list, right?

Is there a legitimate reason for withholding this list from the public, including the senators? Or could it be that after Mr. Aquino read the list he saw the names of some of his close allies and associates, and he needed a space to either inform them or give them time to prepare? Or maybe, they are just keeping this list under wraps to give them enough opportunity to edit the list —guess in whose favor?

—ANDY MATHERS,

moneymathers2me@gmail.com