LESS than a month ago, the nation was shocked by the sudden departure of Cong. Zaldy Co as the House Chair of its powerful Appropriations Committee. No less than the Presidential son, Zandro Marcos stood up and declared the chairmanship of the committee vacant.
There was no doubt that many of the House members may not have known the reason. The Filipino people too, were totally unaware of that development. Then, a week later the controversy on the alleged existing blanks in the Bicameral Committee report on the 2025 national budget bill exploded.
Was the Co ouster and the discovery of the alleged incomplete Bicameral Committee report coincidental? Or, was there a connection between the two incidents?
Then three days ago we received an e-mail from someone who claims to have extensive knowledge of Congressman Co’s various business interests which, according to our informant, were not totally divested by the Congressman. The same informant alleged that the Partylist Congressman’s businesses continued to transact and do business with the government. Under the law, such acts are prohibited if the owner goes into public service especially when he or she aims for an elective position.
From the information shared with us by our e-mail informer, the said congressman’s businesses even became more active in various government projects from the time he was chair of the Appropriations body.
True or not, we have no idea and we are not that ready to believe our informant. However, we are certain that many more Congressmen with businesses especially in construction, are still very much engaged in running their businesses. However, they are using dummies so they could dodge responsibility when the transactions with the government continue to flourish mostly because of the Congressman-owner’s influence.
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The Philippine National Police (PNP) all over the country commemorated the mass deaths of some 44 Special Action Force (SAF) in a one-sided encounter in Mamasapano, Maguindanao exactly a decade early last week.
The mowing down of the policemen was a result of the highest police officer in Metro Manila giving advice to then President Benigno Simeon Aquino III who issued the order to the SAF men to serve the long-standing arrest warrant against a Malaysian bomb-making expert holed up in that Maguindanao site.
The advice, however, was a product of miscalculation on the armed support to the Malaysian terrorist. It also failed to consider the terrain and Mamasapano being an “alien” territory for the SAF members who were all not familiar with the place. And they did not even have a backup force close to the area.
The result of that raid is now one dark blot– if not the darkest – in police history, which was not assuaged by the killing of the bomb expert and subsequently his close associate a few days later.
What remains now is the annual commemoration of that very bloody carnage. Unfortunately, not a single member of the ambushers was ever apprehended and prosecuted. Even those who decided to launch the operation to serve the warrant of arrest were not clearly made to account for their irresponsible action. Whatever initial moves done to make them answer for their omissions apparently vanished with the passage of time and change in national administration.
We have even heard of some close relatives of the massacred 44 SAF members complaining that the government has failed to make good its commitment to help the heirs of the slain policemen.
What then does that make of the annual commemoration of the deaths of the brave SAF men? What else but a hollow ceremony to bring to the consciousness of the public that at one time there were men who made a supreme sacrifice of their lives in compliance with a lawful but seemingly “reckless” order?
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So the charges filed by the Philippine National Police (PNP) against Vice President Sara Duterte and the head of her Security Group for the respondents’ alleged disobedience to authorities and harassment were dismissed by the City Prosecutor’s Office in Quezon City for lack of probable cause?
Well, that only shows the Philippine justice system has remained functional and fair, and those serving the office for the cause of justice are not influenced by any other group.
We can only hope that the dismissal of the charges against VP Sara will create even just a dent in the hatred of those who are chastising the current administration and reserve space for the possibility of unity and cooperation.
Unfortunately, however, this possibility is hard to overcome as ambitious politicians are out to destroy those who they believe are potentially their opponents in the position they are aspiring to occupy.
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We agree fully with the observation of our friend and once-media colleague Pete Tiu Lavina that the growing enmity between the United States and China is more stoked by rivalry in business than in asserting military power.
Yes, in a recent post on social media, Pete detailed the businesses that once were dominated by the US in the global market. Some of these are the production and marketing of telecommunications products, automobiles, food production, and others.
From Pete’s post people are made aware of the huge losses of American firms involved in telecommunication, and car production including vehicles powered by electricity. Based on the prices of relatively similar quality products, the Chinese manufacturers are much lower in cost yet similar in quality.
With the saturation of Chinese-manufactured products in markets previously dominated by US brands, the US manufacturers are entailing huge losses.
So, it is from here that the United States feels insecure about its continued lording over the world market.
