Let the innocent step forward to show he’s clean

When it comes to enlightening the public concerning the important issue(s) of the day, the Inquirer never fails its readers. “Nothing there,” its Nov. 17 editorial, was no exception. In fact, in the last paragraph, after summarizing the Senate blue ribbon committee’s hearing on the alleged overpriced Iloilo Convention Center (where the accused showed up in the hearing with his “robust defense” and where the accuser failed to adequately back up his accusations), the editorial wisely concluded: “Would that Vice President Jejomar Binay, who faces exactly the same kind of controversy, also show up before the same committee, and answer any and all questions about the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall building 2.”

Would he? Interesting question. The fact is, most people of upright moral standing, when falsely accused of any wrongdoing that puts a big question mark on their integrity, would waste no time to confront an accuser to let him know what a damn, lowdown liar he is.

With Vice President Binay, however, the accusations regarding his morality all seem like nothing more than a laughing matter! Instead of confronting his accusers to defend his reputation, he goes around explaining away to the media that those accusations are plain political sabotage, and wearing a smirk that looks like a phony smile. Which, I’m sure, only makes people think that, perhaps, the guy is, indeed, guilty as accused and is desperately trying to prevent making things worse for him by laughing it off while avoiding having to answer hard questions that he might face from the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee.

If the Vice President thinks he is on his way to winning the next presidential election just because he still tops the poll, he should think again: The Filipino people are not as dumb as he might think they are. Hiding behind the skirt of the media or pretending to be busy doing his job while being haunted by questions on corruption, corruption and more corruption, can be a dead giveaway of guilt.

If he’s clean, he should face the music and prove it. Otherwise, he can’t be too sure of becoming the next president of the Philippines because the Filipino people are already up to their neck with news reports on rampant corruption in the government.

They are plain sick and tired of slick and sly leaders, especially those who seem to believe that the government is a family-owned business they can freely ransack. Having seen enough and heard enough, I’m sure the Filipinos have become too smart to be taken for a ride again by unscrupulous, lowdown phony-baloneys.

—JUANITO T. FUERTE,

jtfuerte@comcast.net.