MORE than two years after the Supreme Court found the Development Acceleration Program (DAP) unconstitutional and directed all appropriately mandated agencies of the government to investigate officials who had any hand in the program’s administration, the Ombudsman is currently acting on that directive. The Ombudsman, as reported, is now investigating President Aquino, Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad, some lawmakers and officials of local government units for actions taken relative to the DAP.
We regard these inquiries with great seriousness, although some administration critics laugh them off, especially the one aimed at the President, as nothing more than moro-moro. Lawyers tell us that the President cannot be held liable for official acts carried out in the performance of his duties. If the matter is nonofficial, that will be something else, of course. Whether the President is liable does not unduly concern us at this time.
What concerns us is the truth of the matter.
For instance, were DAP funds used to bribe the senators, each of whom reportedly got P50 million or more in order to convict Chief Justice Renato C. Corona? Who are the bribe-givers and the bribe-takers? What should be done to them? What other purposes were the DAP funds used?
Except the money disposed within the bribery ambit, much of the funds, as it is turning out, were coursed through non-Napoles non-governmental organizations. But the modus operandi, according to Assistant Ombudsman Asryman Rafanan, who is leading the investigation, is almost the same.
The DAP is, of course, different from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), which is the legislators’ pork-barrel kitty. The disposition of PDAF funds is under separate investigation. Three legislators—Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr.—are currently in detention for plunder of PDAF funds, although Enrile was recently released on bail on “humanitarian grounds.”
For far too long, our justice system has been tainted with class bias and extreme inefficiency. How many rich people have we ever seen being sent to prison? In contrast, poor people are incarcerated on the flimsiest of excuses, even before their cases have been investigated. And how long do the courts decide? Years, if not decades? And the most repulsive part of it is the fact that moneyed people sent to prison are allowed to enjoy life in jail as free men, complete with air-conditioned cabanas, television sets, mobile phones, iPods, and other advanced and technologically sophisticated gadgets. They are even permitted to be entertained by live bands and stage shows.
Perhaps, the timing of the DAP investigations is inopportune, close as it is to national elections, encouraging critics to think that the investigations are no more than “demolition jobs” of politicians who want to destroy their opponents. But the timing of these inquiries notwithstanding, they are necessary to reestablish respect for our justice system.
We want these investigations to be carried out without fear or favor, the cases tried in court and just sentences meted out. The judicial proceedings, however, must be completed within a reasonable
Image credits: Jimbo Albano