Using Napoles

Iwatched on television Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre’s press con on the Janet Napoles case the other day. After listening to him answer a question or two, I walked away. That has been my way of coping with recent developments in the country. I know that government’s plan for Napoles would only anger me, so I drive it away from view. It’s best to look for feel-good stories these days.

That time early this year when Solicitor General Jose Calida intervened in the review by the Court of Appeals (CA) of Napoles’s conviction by the lower court in the serious illegal detention case filed by Benhur Luy, I could already sense where things were headed. Government wants to use Napoles like it used the New Bilibid Prison convicts in jailing Sen. Leila de Lima.

Admittedly, I thought early on that Napoles spilling everything about the multi-billion-peso Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam would be the best thing to happen to efforts to convict those involved in the said irregularity. But it soon became clear to me that Napoles will do everything—even do the bidding of whoever wants to act as her patron—just to evade prosecution.

Following Napoles’s acquittal by the CA with, I would say, some nudging by Calida, it now looks like the implementation of the plan to shift the direction of the prosecution of the PDAF scam cases is finally moving. I just hope this wouldn’t weaken the cases that are now in court, like those of former senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.

After Napoles’s acquittal, the next move for Aguirre and company is to work to have her turn state witness. This is supposedly part of the reopening of the PDAF scam investigation by the Aguirre-led Department of Justice (DOJ). How Aguirre will treat the pieces of evidence on the scam unearthed by the past administration and the testimonies of whistleblowers like Luy would be a good point to monitor.

Ideally, a new investigation done by the present dispensation would be good because of the possibility the previous administration of Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III may have committed, intentionally or not, some lapses. But considering the nature of the current government and of the officials dominating it like Aguirre, the ideal may not be achieved. That is why I am worried by this development.

Aguirre said the intention of the re-investigation is to correct an “anomaly” wherein the previous administration may have deliberately glossed over the involvement of its allies in the scam. If that is so, then I am for it. But only if in doing so Aguirre would not weaken the PDAF scam cases that are already in court.

This development, I think would be a test for the judicial branch of government, specifically the courts like the Sandiganbayan, and for the Office of the Ombudsman. It is not only the DOJ that plays an important part in bringing what can be considered the biggest anti-corruption action in decades to its completion.

The unearthing of the PDAF scam and the subsequent prosecution of those involved is the best thing to happen to government’s drive against corruption. It would be unfortunate if this is scuttled by politicking and incompetence.