Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Chairman Camilo Sabio reacted to the demand of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile to explain his frequent foreign trips, which was also the subject of this writer’s inquiries as the then-justice secretary who has supervisory powers over PCGG.

Mr. Sabio told the media that he will speak at the right time. The question is: When is the right time? If there is nothing anomalous about the many peregrinations of the PCGG chairman—who usually travels with his wife, secretary and Commissioner Jaime Bautista—why can’t he make a clean breast of this issue as early as possible so that the matter may be laid to rest? If all these trips are aboveboard and can be justified, I see no reason why Chairman Sabio has not given a clear accounting of these trips and the benefits they have given to the PCGG.

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Billionaire Bernard Madoff, one of the worst scam artists the world has ever known when he duped thousands of innocent investors of billions of dollars, has been sentenced by a New York court to 150 years in jail. This means that Madoff will spend the rest of his mortal life behind bars. Of course, there is always the possibility that at some future time when memory of this scandal has receded, and who knows, Mr. Madoff may yet gain his freedom through a presidential fiat. But as of now, even his wife seems to disassociate herself from the scam.

I make special mention of this because in the Philippines, a person gets convicted of plunder, and before the ink on his sentence dries up, he gets pardoned for a very special reason, and goes free. But afterward, the convict, who is now an ex-convict, may again run for the presidency, challenging the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the Supreme Court, the Constitution and the intelligence of the entire population, and may even be elected president again—no sweat!

Back to Madoff; he was accused of stealing from the rich, the poor and the in-between. He was  described as having no values at all, bereft of compassion or conscience, just so “he and his wife can live a life of luxury beyond belief.” We, too, have our share of Madoffs, especially the so-called captains of industries who hold the moneybags of preneed companies and bankrupt banks, and who turn deaf ears to their obligations and to the cries and pleas of betrayed investors whose dreams for their children’s future have been shattered. I am sure people will now shy away from such schemes, at least until the next sucker comes along.

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The biggest news last week was the withdrawal of Total Information Management Corp. (TIM) from its partnership with Smartmatic, a Dutch-Venezuelan company and the winning bidder in the proposed automation of the May 2010 elections. As of this writing, there are already plenty of finger-pointing as to who is to blame. My first question is: Is the Comelec to blame? Or should it at least share the blame for this apparent fiasco in its overenthusiasm to automate? I ask this because one of the reasons given for TIM’s withdrawal was the supposed lack of capitalization for the project. Also, it appears that Smartmatic has not produced its incorporation papers which it submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission. This is a basic must-do procedure which the Comelec should have done from the beginning in order to avoid dealing with fly-by-night operators. But it appears that the poll body, with all its preparations and its avowed transparency in conducting the whole bidding process, has failed to do so. By the way, what corporate documents of Smartmatic and TIM did the Comelec require and scrutinize?

There are now reports the Comelec is exploring the possibility of forming a partnership with Smartmatic after TIM has pulled out just so the project will push through. The question in everybody’s mind is: Is this valid? Will this not violate the anti-graft and corrupt practices law?

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An editorial in a leading broadsheet on June 3 was entitled “Search for truth.” In relation to this, I think everyone should look at the truth in every facet of our relationship with others, reflecting the essence of that oft-repeated slogan we see everywhere today: “Be honest even if others are not.”

How can truth prevail if it is one-sided? We demand for truth, but are we ourselves telling the truth? Do we ourselves speak the truth, just as we ask if rumormongers speak the truth? Do columnists and media writers who always pontificate, as though they are the only ones who know how to run the country, write about the truth? I think most of us, especially those who present themselves to the world as the most virtuous and perhaps the most God-fearing, are maybe the greatest hypocrites, because we always pretend to be always truthful. And often, our conscience tells us that we are wrong, and yet we ignore its warnings for the sake of convenience. It is time to reexamine our conscience because in the end, it is our conscience that gives us peace of mind.