18 pairs of eyes

18 pairs of eyes | Daily Tribune

Evasion efforts and attempts to obfuscate the revelations of the 18 former Marines contained in an affidavit submitted to the Ombudsman will not help the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

It was the President who called for investigations and sought a forum for those accused to be heard, but now the commitment wavers.

Former Congressman Mike Defensor said that if the commitment were there, the President would not pass up the chance to learn the truth behind the corruption allegations in the revelations of the former Marines who claimed to have been fugitive former Ako Bicol Representative Zaldy Co’s henchmen.

“You said Zaldy Co was the mastermind — these are his men, more than 90 of them, now speaking out about money deliveries. This is the opportunity to determine the truth about corruption in this country,” according to Defensor.

The former Marines’ revelation provided the missing pieces in the trail that leads directly to the Palace as they described how money deliveries allegedly happened, even providing details on how envelopes were prepared and the arrival of congressmen in suits during breaks or holidays.

“These are details they are willing to testify about.”

Instead, the Palace tried to divert calls for a probe, alleging that Defensor orchestrated the revelations involving the 18 former Marines, calling him “Ador Mawanay 2.0,” a reference to a former bogus witness who was planted for political attacks.

Defensor admitted to being behind securing the 18 Marines and having a “personal agenda” in doing so because of the experience of former Marine Sgt. Orly Guteza.

“When Sergeant Guteza surfaced, he was supposed to testify in the Senate under Marine protection. Later, I said he was illegally detained. I have evidence showing he had problems. When I spoke in November and asked that he be released, they had already made him sign a retraction stating that it was not true that he delivered money and that Senator Marcoleta and Defensor had promised him money.”

When I learned about these Marines, I said I would not allow what happened to Guteza to happen to them. “That is my personal agenda — to protect their families and their security,” he added.

What likely happened, Defensor said, after the State of the Nation Address where Marcos vowed to “investigate,” was that it exploded beyond the administration’s control.

“Perhaps it went beyond what they could control. They charged Zaldy Co, saying he was the mastermind and would be brought home. Now his people are here. When they heard stories they didn’t like, suddenly it’s no longer acceptable,” the former Malacañang chief of staff said.

On the suggestion that he is part of a destabilization group out to subvert the government, Defensor scoffed, saying that plotting against the administration is unnecessary.

In this situation, you don’t need to destabilize the government; it is destabilizing itself, he explained.

Never before had corruption been “this systematic and this severe,” warranting an incisive investigation that may unearth links to other corruption scandals.

“When you remove budgets from healthcare and infrastructure and reallocate them to flood control without transparency, people notice. When a subway project is delayed because funds were diverted, people see that. When Cebu receives massive flood control allocations despite not being a priority area, people notice. That’s not me destabilizing the government.”

The Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) has also called for transparency and urged that the Marines’ revelations be investigated.

What makes them credible is that 18 whistleblowers — and more are coming out — are willing to spill the beans on the greatest heist in the budget, involving P1 trillion over three years.