Hall of infamy

Hall of infamy | Daily Tribune

The filing of cases against Zaldy Co and some DPWH officials may be seen as an initial and crucial step in the ongoing crackdown on corruption. This is what most people expect the government to do, considering they have long demanded public accountability above anything else.

Pursuant to this, the Ombudsman also assured the public that warrants of arrest would be issued against prominent members of the Senate and the House, as well as other personalities, before the year ends. Supposedly, this is in keeping with the President’s commitment that heads will roll and justice will be served before his term ends.

While these initiatives are promising developments, I cannot help but wonder if these are being weaponized to crush the administration’s enemies or if they would also genuinely target supposed allies of the President, particularly the former Speaker of the House, who happens to be his cousin.

In fact, in one of his interviews, the Ombudsman said the former House chief might possibly be held liable only for gross negligence and not plunder for his failure to supervise and oversee the actions of Zaldy, who was then his appropriations committee chair.

While I do not wish to say that he is guilty — considering he remains innocent until proven otherwise and should be accorded due process, and that any case against him should be evidence-based — prematurely saying that he is not liable for a far graver offense casts doubt on the integrity of the ongoing probe.

This leaves a bad taste in the mouth because the people want to get to the very bottom of this mess, which should include everyone involved, regardless of political affiliation. So far, the consensus seems to be that the government, just like in the past, is being selective.

In fact, based on reliable sources, there are other senators whose names appear in Engineer Hernandez’s laptop and who should have been investigated, but are allegedly not included because they are currently members of the majority. If true, this seriously jeopardizes the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s sincerity in pursuing this issue in aid of legislation.

As I always say, I think the President initially wanted merely to shift the blame for this flood-control controversy onto other individuals. At best, he wanted to conveniently divert attention away from himself. However, given the magnitude and complexity of the issue, he has unwittingly opened a Pandora’s box which, if not handled critically, may result in him being implicated one way or another.

The fact that Zaldy, his supposed ally, is now seriously bent on passing the buck all the way to the President indicates there is more to these issues than meets the eye. At the end of the day, the onus is on the Chief Executive to prove that he means business and will send everyone to jail, even if they turn out to be his friends.

Unless Marcos is in cahoots, he should not protect anyone and must see to it that all involved are brought to justice. If he is able to do that, it may yet become his lasting legacy as President.