A4
Opinion
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2017
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Adelle Chua, Editor
EDITORIAL
Grossly insufficient
T
HE Twelfth Division of the Court of Appeals has acquitted Janet Lim Napoles of illegal detention.
The decision, penned by Associate Justice Normandie Pizarro and concurred in by Justices Samuel Gaerlan and Jhosep Lopez, said a Makati court erred in convicting Napoles of detaining her relative Benhur Luy because the evidence supporting Luy’s claim was grossly insufficient to
sustain a conviction. There was reasonable doubt, the court said, because Luy, who claimed he was detained at the Bahay ni San Jose retreat house in Magallanes Village, Makati, did not exhibit behavior consistent with somebody being held against his will. According to the CA,
Luy did not try to escape or tell anybody of his captivity, even as he was able to meet with his family three times during the period in question. His journal of his retreat contained spiritual reflections and no hint of a life in captivity. Finally, Luy even resisted rescue by the National Bureau of Investigation even if his brother was part of the supposed rescue team. To be sure, the link between Luy’s supposed de-
tention and his eventual role as whistleblower for Napoles’ other cases remains too much of a coincidence. But whatever the judgment on the illegal detention case, it’s a great consolation that Napoles is not walking free anytime soon. She still faces plunder and malversation charges before the Sandiganbayan for her role in the pork barrel scandal—she is accused of setting up dummy non-government organizations through
which numerous lawmakers channeled their Priority Development Assistance Fund. For many months, the pork barrel scandal galvanized Filipinos. We were all aghast at the great lengths which some public officials took to siphon off people’s money. Unfortunately, the strong public sentiment was used as a political tool such that affiliations rather than actual guilt or innocence became the basis of who
were prosecuted and who were not. It is apparent Napoles has a story to tell. It is the anti-graft court that must now pull her story apart and ensure nothing is left out, nothing is invented, and that all guilty parties must pay, whatever their political color. Prosecutors must make the cases airtight. If they botch the plunder cases by failing to present sufficient evidence, public outrage is sure to follow.
A good shepherd for our country
of Corrections and the Tagum Development Corp. is merely an offshoot of the personal fight between Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and his fellow congressman from Davao del Norte (and erstwhile “BFF”) Antonio Floirendo Jr. And, as everyone knows, as well, the Tadeco probe originated from the quarrel between the partners of both Alvarez and Floirendo. The origin of that, in turn, is really something only women in certain relationships will fully understand. But the supposed catfight between two women has now led to a full-blown investigation that has spread outside of Congress, after Alvarez used his considerable clout to get back at Floirendo, thus bringing agencies like the Department of Justice and the Ombudsman, among others, into the probe. Surely, there must be more important things to occupy the time of those conducting this strange investigation. I fail to understand, for example, why the Tadeco-BuCor deal, which allowed the Floirendo’s company
LAST Sunday, the Christian world celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday. The Gospel is familiar, inviting us to reflect on Jesus as the Good Shepherd. In the Gospel, Jesus speaks in terms of his flock and he as the shepherd, a depiction understood by the people during that time. In the Old Testament, the image of the Shepherd is often applied to God as well as to the leaders of the people. The book of Exodus several times calls Yahweh a shepherd. Likewise, the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel compare Yahweh’s care and protection of His people to that of a shepherd. In Christian imagery, a shepherd is one who enters through the gate. And the gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, He walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. As shepherd of his flock, Jesus speaks of himself as the gate for the sheep. And all who enter through him will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. Alluding to the Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus however said that those who came before him are thieves and robbers, and the sheep will not listen to them. In the Gospel, Jesus castigates the Pharisees for misleading the people because of their legalistic and hypocritical interpretation of the Law of Moses. The true path to salvation, according to Jesus, is by following the real shepherd, Jesus himself, who is compassionate, merciful and will offer his life for the safety of his flock. Christ as the good shepherd is the oldest depiction of Christ, appearing in the Roman catacombs, with Christ carrying the injured, straying sheep gently on His shoulders back to the sheepfold. This is a most popular image of Christ, which has always appealed to Christians. While us his sheep not being always guileless, with many going astray, there is reason to rejoice because of Christ as our shepherd who is genuinely concerned about our welfare. The Pharisees and Sadducees were false shepherds who tried to mislead the people with their false teachings. Yet, despite all they did to prevent Christ from fulfilling his mission, they all failed. In the end, He rose from the dead and secure the salvation of his people. Like in the days of old, today we still have false teachers. Fake news, alternative facts, sensationalist headlines, and messages of hate abound. They offer all sorts of teachings that purport to lead us to salvation and a utopian existence. Yet, these false teachers can only mislead and lead us to an existence worse than ever before. They can only present empty
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Sing, Janet, sing! LOWDOWN
JOJO A. ROBLES ONE of the biggest coverups of the previous administration may soon explode out into the open, now that Janet Lim Napoles has been acquitted of the charge of serious illegal detention by the Court of Appeals. Right about now, the Aquino administration officials and members of Congress (both the House and the Senate), who thought they were already in the clear as far as the billion-peso pork barrel scandal that rocked the first half of the previous government is concerned, must already be running for legal cover to avoid ending up in jail like Janet herself. The appellate court found, as most people with half a brain already did, that Napoles’ nephew Benhur Luy had not been held against his will by “Ma’am Janet,” as Mar Roxas respectfully addressed the pork scam mastermind. But then, everyone also
knows that Napoles was convicted of illegal detention only to keep her from spilling the beans on President Noynoy Aquino, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Senate President Franklin Drilon and a host of other top officials and lawmakers who partook of her largesse; the failure of the government to properly prosecute Napoles for implementing a diabolical scheme to pocket billions in congressional project funds was the real elephant in the room that went unnoticed. But everything about the Napoles case (the real one concerning the pork-barrel scam, not the largely irrelevant one for which she was convicted) has always smelled distinctly of a coverup from the highest levels of Malacañang and Congress on down. The fact that three senators were charged and detained for dealing with Napoles did not remove the stink—this only gave the whole whitewash operation a distinct partisan flavor, even if, by all accounts, Napoles dealt with any willing legislator regardless of party affiliation, with the help of officials of the Executive at the
highest levels. If Napoles decides to cut a deal with the Duterte administration, which really has no motivation except to find out who stole how much with Janet’s help, she could finally complete the story. Only she, after all, could explain how Abad “mentored” her, how Noynoy Aquino, Mar Roxas, Leila de Lima and even Edwin Lacierda
Napoles must be allowed to sing her song—and to sing it to the very end.
protected her, how a multi-partisan majority in both Houses led by Drilon benefited hugely, like she did, from her use of bogus nongovernment organizations to re-
ceive funds intended by congressional projects, for sharing later with her lawmaker “clients.” I know President Rodrigo Duterte doesn’t consider investigating the scandals of his predecessor a priority. But Duterte should make sure that Napoles isn’t suddenly “silenced” now that she’s been acquitted, so that the people may know what truly went down. Janet Napoles can still be prevented from singing, even if most of the officials who benefited from her unique brand of entrepreneurship are no longer in power. She must be allowed to sing her song—and to sing it to the very end. *** Today, two House committees start their investigation into alleged anomalies in the deal between the government and the biggest banana plantation in the country. Of course, as everyone now knows, the sudden keen interest in Congress and at various other agencies regarding the half-century-old joint venture agreement between the Bureau
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