What’s the difference between their alleged links to shady deals?

I would like to know why the Ombudsman excluded Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya from the charges triggered by the awarding of the allegedly anomalous MRT maintenance contract to Philippine Trans Rail Management and Services Corp. Wasn’t it Abaya’s signature on the approved contract, or was the signature forged? Yes, Abaya’s signature. And this case is not unlike Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala’s signature appearing on the documents that allowed the release of millions, or even billions of pesos that eventually went to fake projects and bogus agencies connected with Janet Napoles’ alleged billion-peso pork barrel scam.

I do recall and am fully aware that former president Gloria Arroyo is being held in detention at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center simply because she was the president during the time some anomalies were allegedly committed at the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO)—anomalies involving missing PCSO funds that cannot be shown to have gone to or benefited Arroyo.

I am only bringing up Arroyo’s case because I actually don’t know what is the real difference between Abaya’s link to the the alleged anomalous MRT maintenance contract and Alcala’s link to the Department of Agriculture anomalies, on the one hand, and Arroyo’s alleged involvement in the alleged PCSO scam, on the other. The one difference I do see is that while Abaya and Alcala roam free without any charges filed against them for those shady deals, Arroyo is a prisoner not allowed bail.

—GERARDINE PABLOR, [email protected]