Telling it like it is

A world used to the hypocrisy of political figures is having a hard time grappling with the brutally frank President Rody Duterte whose candidness always lands him on global headlines.

Filipinos, on the other hand, have considered Rody’s being forthright to a fault as a godsend after their experiences with previous leaders to whom they reposed trust but later on would betray them.

Many remember that unremorseful “I am not a thief” speech of Rody’s predecessor Noynoy Aquino in 2013 after a public outcry over the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) fiasco where P142 billion to P200 billion in budget funds were misappropriated.

The Supreme Court (SC) ruled the creation of the DAP as unconstitutional since such method diverted funds from what was appropriated through a mandated role of Congress.

The funds collected were also used clearly to achieve political ends such as the impeachment of the late former SC Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Rody had vowed to fully expose and prosecute those behind the controversy.

The defender of selective justice Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales charged Noynoy and his Budget Secretary Butch Abad with usurpation of legislative powers which has a penalty of P1,000 and not more than seven months of imprisonment.

The filing of the friendly case was obviously meant to preempt more serious charges against Aquino and his cohorts.

In his speech, Noynoy defended the DAP as “a huge contributor to economic growth” despite the SC ruling.

It was found later that members of both chambers of Congress were beneficiaries of DAP funds, particularly during the impeachment proceedings that ousted the late Chief Justice Corona.

Public hearings held at the Senate established that all DAP releases needed the knowledge and approval of Noynoy which meant that he knew the purpose of the P50 million incentive given to each of the senator-judges who convicted Corona in the 2012 impeachment trial.

Department of Budget Management representatives invited as resource persons said the special allotment release orders, which were the source of the alleged diversion of Priority Development Assistance Funds, were known to be part of DAP since all releases carried the signature of Aquino.

Noynoy even brandished the “tuwid na daan” (straight path) mantra which was considered a mere disguise where he pretended to fight corruption by training the guns on his opponents.

Noynoy in his speech feigned being baffled on how his political cleansing operations targeting the opposition through the P10-billion pork barrel scam issue backfired on him to the extent that he was called the “pork barrel king” vice Janet Lim Napoles the pork barrel queen.

The public demand then was for him to end all discretionary funds, both those in the budget and outside of it similar to the DAP.

Noynoy then alleged the DAP issue was manipulated and funded by his political opponents, mainly those who are principally accused in the pork barrel scam.

His ridiculous claims backfired and was instead taken as an insult to the intelligence of those protesting against the pork barrel system.

Rody lately hit global headlines again for baring his heart out and at the forefront again of the attacks due to his controversial admissions are the yellow hypocrites who use deception and rhetoric to hide their past misdeeds.

The more the yellows make noises, the more that their isolation becomes evident since what they allege are already admitted and even came from a public confession of Rody.

Filipinos discern who is forthright and who are the hypocrites. The yellows do not bat an eyelash in hiding the truth and expecting that the public will appreciate them for the deception.