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My
Palace source was concerned about the recent surge of
robberies.
“People
have no respect for anything anymore,” he lamented.
“Because
someone stole election documents from Lintang Bedol?”
“Yes,
but that’s not the only robbery that occurred,” he
replied.
“Who
else was robbed?” I asked.
“Well,
remember that $329-million contract signed between DOTC
(Department of Transportation and Communications) and
ZTE, the one Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo witnessed?”
“So?”
“It was
stolen from the hotel room of the Philippine commercial
attaché.”
“Really?
Why? Who?” I asked.
“We
think it was done by people who wanted to derail the
contract.”
“How
could stealing those contracts mess up the deal? Were
there no other copies?”
“None.
We had to reconstitute the whole thing.”
“Reconstitute or reconstruct?”
“What’s
the difference?”
“Look it
up. Anyway, is that why the contract was not made
available to the public right away, because you were
reconstituting it?”
“Yes,
and we kept it under wraps because it was a national
shame.”
“What
was a national shame, the contract or the theft? . . .
But seriously, you told the Chinese and ZTE about your
little problem, right?”
“Yes,
and they were very helpful and sympathetic.”
“I can
imagine why.”
“We did
ask the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] to
investigate,” he added.
“You
mean the Chinese government allowed the NBI to conduct a
robbery investigation in their territory? Did the NBI
send a crack Chinese-speaking investigation team to
interrogate Chinese suspects?”
“Why
don’t you ask the NBI yourself?” he said, irritated.
“Okay,
let’s move on. What other robberies do you have?” I
asked.
“License
plates,” he replied.
“Where?”
“From an
impounded vehicle in an army compound in Bulacan.”
“Huh?”
“Some
people sneaked into an army camp in Bulacan, stole
license plates from an impounded vehicle, attached those
stolen plates to another vehicle, most likely stolen
too, drove to a busy shopping mall, and kidnapped a
young man in front of hundreds of witnesses.”
“Why go
through all that trouble?”
“I guess
to make the AFP look bad.”
“That’s
a bit too convoluted for me to follow. Let’s go back to
Lintang Bedol and the stolen Maguindanao election
documents. Did [Comelec chief Benjamin] Abalos find
them?”
“Yes, in
General Santos City.”
“Is
General Santos City in Maguindanao?”
“No,
stupid. General Santos City is in South Cotabato.
Maguindanao is a different province.”
“Huh?”
“The
recovered election documents were brought to Abalos in
General Santos City from Maguindanao.”
“So
Abalos could very well have waited for those documents
at the PICC.”
“Yes,
but he wanted to be sure that those documents would not
be tampered with during transit from
General Santos City
to Manila.”
“But how
did he know they were not tampered in Maguindanao to
begin with?”
“Well,
that’s beside the point.”
“Hmmm. .
. that’s even more tortuous than the license plate
robbery tale, dude. What else was stolen?”
“Investigation reports on that Post Office fire in Pasay
City.”
“What
happened?”
“Someone
who wanted to derail the investigation stole the
reports.”
“Now
that, I can follow…any other robberies?”
“Mikey
Arroyo’s identity.”
“What?”
“Yes.
Mikey had to sit in a meeting with his mother and her
new antismuggling czar to tell them that some people
were using his name to facilitate the release of
questionable shipments.”
“Like
race horses and stuff?”
“Among
other things. The antismuggling czar said Mrs. Arroyo
was very angry about the identity theft. He said she
said ‘she will not hesitate to use an iron fist against
anyone who will drag the First Family’s name in the
illegal deals at the Bureau of Customs.’”
“Well,
that’s not unexpected. What about the vehicle used in
the strafing of the house of Aquilino Jacob Jr., the
retired police general close to Mayor Jejomar Binay of
Makati, was that stolen too?”
“You
mean the black Honda sedan assigned to Pagcor?”
“Yes,
that one.”
“That
car was last seen in Pagcor premises one week before the
shooting. A lot can happen in a week. . . .”
I
interrupted him, “Okay, I get the picture.”
Buencamino writes political commentary for Action for
Economic Reforms (www.aer.ph). |
