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The
allegations of Romy Neri, Joey de Venecia, Jun Lozada
and Dante Madriaga about the shenanigans surrounding the
ZTE-NBN deal are true. That’s why instead of disproving
those allegations, the Palace chooses to discredit the
whistle blowers. Shoot the messenger, as the old saying
goes.
Tapped
phone conversations between Benjamin Abalos Sr. and de
Venecia and between de Venecia and Lozada were posted
on YouTube and played on radio and TV stations prior to
the last Senate hearing in order to lay the groundwork
for administration stalwart Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile to
play tapes of more tapped phone calls.
Senator
Enrile knows that possession of illegally tapped phone
conversations is a criminal offense, but he says, “I’m
willing to face the music.” Pure bravado. He knows he
won’t be facing any music. Justice Secretary Raul
Gonzalez is tone deaf when it involves criminal activity
in aid of keeping his patrona in power.
The only
reason for playing those tapes is to show that de
Venecia and Lozada are just as bad, if not worse, than
the people they accuse of bribery and “game” fixing. It
is the only way the Palace can respond to the bribery
allegations.
The
Palace is playing the old “pare-pareho lang
magnanakaw silang lahat” (they are all crooks) card
once again. And with good reason: it works. It turns the
public off and makes them accept the canard that it’s
futile to think they can improve their lives by getting
rid of this administration.
Gloria
Arroyo’s allies have been laying the foundation for the
coming demolition job on the whistle blowers.
The CBCP
pastoral letter said that we are all sinners. Cardinal
Vidal of the Archdiocese of Malacañang followed that up
and said of Lozada, “Why do we have to make him a hero?”
Soon
after he uttered those words, there was not one priest
in Cebu who would celebrate a Mass for truth. Other
bishops followed in Vidal’s wake and, likewise, allowed
their priests not to celebrate Masses for truth.
Meanwhile, Cerge Remonde, the man who took over Mike
Defensor’s job as Gloria’s valet, was allowed to brief
Vidal’s priests on the “real” truth about ZTE-NBN.
The AFP
applied the same double-standard strategy toward truth.
It banned Lozada from their camps but allowed Gloria
supporters to hold a prayer rally in Camp Aguinaldo.
The
Education secretary tried to ban Lozada from speaking at
state-run schools.
“Shut
them up, shut them out, play the tapes and it will all
go away,” that’s the shortsighted view of an
administration that thinks only of how to get through
the day.
The long
view is to worry about the effect of playing the tapes
at a Senate hearing and demonstrating to the whole world
that communications in this country are not secure, that
anybody with the right connections can listen in on
anybody and everybody’s phone conversations.
A
responsible government will ask, “How will the phone
taps affect foreign investments? Will investors want to
set up business in a country where phone taps are a dime
in a dozen, where company secrets discussed over the
phone can be sold to competitors?”
Foreign
investors know about the tapping of Garci’s phone, and
they probably just shrugged it off as something seasonal
and contained within the political arena.
But
these new taps are different. They are taps placed by
one businessman, Abalos, on his rival. That takes it
beyond politics and into business. And that will drive
investors away.
The
economy stands on foreign investments and OFW
remittances. Gloria Arroyo is willing to cut off one leg
just so she can keep on standing.
Play the
tapes and play them loud. And we will see how long
Gloria can hobble on one leg.
Buencamino writes political commentary for Action for
Economic Reforms (www.aer.ph). |
