''Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." This counsel, known as the "Golden Rule," dates back to biblical days. It is as meaningful today and finds significance in the bawdy political power play in the House of Representatives.
Recall how the Makabayan bloc of party-list representatives maligned Vice President Sara Duterte over the issue of the P125-million presidential confidential and intelligence funds or CIF released to the Office of the Vice President to set up OVP satellite offices nationwide. They rabidly attacked the issue and impressed upon the public that the Executive act was illegal and unconstitutional.
The drama was a predicate to the move to deprive the OVP and the Department of Education — the two institutions headed by VP Sara — of CIF budgets. In the case of Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros, she jumped over the fence and ranted about the peace and order fund of Davao City, which she considered questionable. The gall.
At this point, former President Rodrigo Duterte did not find members of Congress demonizing VP Sara amusing. The elder Duterte, having been the mayor of Davao when the city invested heavily in intelligence gathering and security, felt dragged into the charges contrived by the hostile critics in Congress.
In a televised interview over SMNI hosted by Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy, FPRRD let out his emotions over the denigration of his daughter, who was being pictured as though she had misused the CIF.
Duterte returned the compliment and called the HoR the most corrupt government institution. Some representatives he branded as legal fronts of the CPP-NPA that he wanted to be terminated. He then proceeded to demand the submission of liquidation reports on each member of Congress' controversial maintenance and other operating expenses.
The mere mention of the MOOE stirred the hornets' nest. Newly appointed Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. dramatically resigned from the PDP-Laban after Duterte spooked them with the specter of MOOE.
In the case of ACT Representative France Castro, she went to the Quezon City Prosecutor's Office to seek redress from Duterte's warning that he would eradicate communist armed insurgents in the country. She claimed she felt gravely threatened. But why?
Out of the blue in faraway Zamboanga, AFP Gen. Romeo Brawner was quoted as saying there was restlessness among AFP retirees and wild talk of a coup and destabilization. Whether this was meant to prevent the MOOE from going viral is for the "Marites" to talk about. For some convoluted reasons, however, General Brawner issued a statement the next day saying that he was misquoted or was taken out of context. I think the Commander-in-Chief is not amused his two-year administration is being pictured as inept and fragile that there's a rumor of a coup plot.
The restiveness in the House became even more festive and absurd. A cabal of political sinkers and perennial losers under the Liberal Party and 1Sambayan trooped to the Supreme Court to question the constitutionality of what they termed the "transfer" of P125 million in confidential and intelligence funds from the Office of the President to the Office of the Vice President.
Looks like the verdict depends on the act of transfer. Malacañang, the Department of Budget and Management, the OVP, and the Senate had described the conveyance of the CIF from the OP to the OVP as a "release" and not a "transfer."
The fate of the CIF for the OVP was on the agenda of the Senate last week when it resumed its session. The muckrakers were prepared to crucify VP Sara anew, but she pulled the rug out from under them when she tersely announced that she was not pursuing the CIF as it was divisive. She also welcomed the case filed before the High Court.
Well, it looks like the CIF razzmatazz will fizzle out as quickly as it began. One thing is for sure, however — the MOOE scandal is here to stay.
