I Surrender
Pork Barrel queen Janet
Lim-Napoles surrendered to no less than President Noynoy Aquino on
Wednesday, fuelling speculations that the announcement of a P10M
reward and the eventual surrender is a just a ploy, ala teleserye.
Other even joked that she wanted the bounty for herself.
Social media users
particularly commented on the alleged 'special treatment' that
Napoles received after her surrender. She wasn't even hand-cuffed. It
was deemed unacceptable for someone who is accused of master-minding
a convoluted scam to squander the government's PDAF which should have
benefited the general public rather than enrich a few into a lavish
lifestyle with all the cars, mansions, luxury goods and pools of
cash.
Observers are also afraid
that Napoles' limited exposure to the public and media may lead to a
white-washing. Opposition leaders earlier and still allege that the
break-out of this issue is a demolition job to punish those against
the administration.
Senator Bong Revilla was
quoted as saying, “This is it. This controversy has been engineered
by the administration for only one purpose – to demolish the
opposition, especially those who enjoy the popular support of our
people..”
Revilla is among the
senators who supposedly received vast amounts from the Pork Barrel by
allocating them into bogus NGOs. In the spirit of fairness, another
senator dragged into the scam Jinggoy Estrada said, “It is not up
to the senators to determine whether an NGO is bogus or not…Alangan
naman na kami pa ang magsasabi na, 'Uy, bogus 'yan.' How will we
know?”
Abolish or just a new
name?
The long and miserable
way to finding the truth has already prompted the government to
'abolish' PDAF in favour of a new mechanism that will reform the
system of funding government projects.
But many said, it's just
a different name and basically, the pork barrel is still there.
The announcement,
however, is perceived to have deterred the turnout for the
MillionPeopleMarch on Monday (26 September). Instead of a million,
only a few thousands arrived for the protest that was born out of
social media.
President's Pork
Among the causes now
being pushed by protest starters is to also abolish the President's
Pork in the spirit of fairness, if what Pnoy really wants is genuine
change. However, Malacañang does not seem to like the idea.
State witness
Now
that Napoles is in the 'care' of the PNP, there are allegations that
her party may apply for her to be considered a state witness. But
many lawmakers immediately ruled out the notion.
First
off, Napoles is seemingly the most guilty among all names involved in
the case. That means a case can stand even without her testimonies.
Too many whistle-blowers are enough, DOJ also said.
Meanwhile,
Napoles has already been ordered to be sent to the Makati City Jail.
Albeit her party will likely appeal the order.
This
story, just like a teleserye, is only beginning to heat up. More
twists and turns will likely happen as a complicate web of lies
unravel. Names will be dragged, and reactions will fly like dragon's
breath of fire. Social media will be pretty busy.
Expect
tears, memorable statements of epic proportions and sarcasm as
hearing starts hopefully soon. We all hope for poetic justice to
prevail in the end – the bida (Filipino people) must be get a
happy-ever-after while the kontrabida get his/her bad karma in the
end. In the mean time, stay tuned for more action.
