Justice is not enough, says the ICI chair. We must have restitution.
Those are reassuring words. It has dancing in our minds images of tables full of cash and boxes of money delivered to prestigious addresses. It recalls pictures of nepo babies spending extravagantly in the fashion capitals of the world and fleets of executive jets hiding in private hangars.
If only we can get back part of the loot from those who transformed our government into an engine for plunder, we might close the yawning classroom gap or finally deliver medical care to the rural poor.
To date, the Anti-Money Laundering Council has frozen about P5 billion in accounts identified with the plunderers. That is fairly significant – and does not yet include the truly vast amounts accumulated by the main players who truly deserve garnishment. But it is really a drop in the bucket. Over the past three years alone, the Republic might have lost over a trillion pesos to corruption.
In the schemes said to have been perfected by Zaldy Co and his co-conspirators, the looting runs into the hundreds of billions. Even minor provincial players involved in these schemes were able to afford Italian supercars.
The principals were in another league, of course. They collected mansions in the most expensive places: nice places to drop bags full of cash.
But getting back loot in favor of the Republic will not be easy. This will involve filing thousands of civil cases that could be trapped in the court system for decades.
Remember, we are not yet done with the cases filed against the estate of Ferdinand E. Marcos nearly four decades after he was overthrown. In most of these cases, government lost. And where government won, as in the estate tax case, we could not collect.
The flood control scams alone could involve thousands of cases. Here, too, precedent is not very encouraging. Remember the Napoles scam that involved many politicians. Napoles is in jail. The politicians managed to get themselves reelected – soon to be indicted again.
Strange that the ICI chair would seduce us with thoughts of recovering ill-gotten wealth at this stage of the investigation. At about the time he made those remarks, the notorious Discaya couple decided they would no longer cooperate with the ICI. This underscores the inherent weakness of the Commission. It could not compel testimony. It could not cite suspects in contempt.
At this stage, Zaldy Co’s passport has not been cancelled, despite the trajectory of the accumulating evidence. This should have involved an almost ministerial act.
The investigation has not touched the Ilocos Norte projects at all – despite that province having the third largest share of flood control funds after Oriental Mindoro and Bulacan. The bulk of the projects in this apparently protected province were awarded out to Discaya-owned companies.
Not one account belonging to former speaker Martin Romualdez has been frozen. No move has been made by his colleagues in the House to open his SALN and ask unavoidable questions about it. Even more unsettling, the new ombudsman has floated the idea that the distinguished gentleman from Leyte might suitably fit into the role of state witness.
We have a seriously under-capacitated ‘independent’ Commission, whose first lead investigator has resigned, leading a slow and opaque investigation. Yet that same Commission would rather that the public refocus its interest on the possibility of ‘restitution.’
At the moment, the inquiry into the public works scandal looks like a bottomless pit. The more we dig, the deeper the rot appears.
Apart from the flood control projects, we now know the architects of the scam have allocated funds to grossly overpriced farm-to-market roads that should be under the oversight of the Department of Agriculture. The majority of health centers now appears to be ghost projects.
Like icing on the cake, the PNP this week returned to the Treasury P500 million apparently ‘parked’ in its intelligence fund by the same suspects in Congress.
Martin Romualdez has appeared before the ICI. But from all accounts, he was asked pretty routine questions about the budgeting process. The same information may be gained from an introductory lecture on public administration.
Zaldy Co has kept beyond reach. But the ICI could have done the next best thing: summon his ‘senior’ vice-chair Stella Quimbo, who should have an intimate view of the goings-on at the bicameral conference committee. That elementary step has not been done.
Meanwhile, the closely observed Senate Blue Ribbon committee (BRC) hearings on the public works scandal is in some sort of intermission. Although the Senate in on recess, the chamber’s working committees should be able to work.
Alas, too many explosive things have been revealed at the previous BRC hearings. Some might have reason to fear that these hearings could fly off the handle or slip off-script.
Since Panfilo Lacson resigned, the BRC has been without a leader. Its vice-chair Erwin Tulfo does not seem to have confidence in his own gravitas – especially after he mixed up a colloquial expression about ‘bending the rules’ with ‘bending the law.’ Saying that, he overturned the whole history of political theory.
Pia Cayetano, properly trained in the law, has been offered chairmanship of the committee. She is still praying over it.
The investigation on the most scandalous looting seems to be sputtering.