Use of dummies is a double-bladed weapon
Politicos and public officials know only too well that there are no permanent friends, only permanent interests. Their frequent use of “dummies” to hide ill-gotten wealth can be a double-bladed weapon which can be wielded either to protect them against criminal prosecution or to stab them in the back! Likewise, as everyone knows, such manipulations are always backed up by “secret counter-deeds” to show actual ownership, supposedly as an insurance against being ripped off by the “dummies” in the future.
Vice President Jejomar Binay (himself a lawyer) and the battery of lawyers in his law firm are not unfamiliar with those schemes. If true that they are using “dummies” to front for him and his family in their unlawful acquisition of so much wealth and assets, the Binays are truly running the risk of losing everything they are said to have worked so hard to amass over the years—to their “dummies”! Lessons from martial law suggest that former president Ferdinand Marcos mastered the art of using “dummies” with the help of topnotch law firms. That was four decades ago. Now, news reports come out frequently about the Marcos heirs having extreme difficulty recovering their hidden assets from some “dummies” who have decided to help themselves to the loot! Tough luck! Courts in general do not place any probative value on any “secret counter-deeds” as they clearly subvert public policy and public interest.
—MARC ANTHONY L. LEVISTE,
