AMLC must also freeze 49 congressmen's bank accounts

By now, the entire nation has learned about the dilemma in our present political situation... that the man leading the pack of presidentiables, Vice President Jejomar Binay, is in hot water for charges of corruption, not just because of that 12-story parking building that he built in Makati that cost as much as a 40-story building. To add to his woes, all this exploded into public view when he had a fallout with his old buddy, his former vice mayor Ernesto Mercado, who now has spilled the beans on his former pal.

This reminds us of what our Lord Jesus Christ said, which was written by the Evangelist Luke in Luke 12:3, "Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops." This should be a message to all politicians that whatever sinister dealings they are doing behind closed doors, would someday be exposed to the ears of the public, then that day of reckoning would commence.

Of course, VP Binay isn't taking this sitting down. He made sure that he too exposed his former pal through his daughter Sen. Abigail Binay, accusing him of owning 10 properties in California – a P21.8 million house in Pasadena, California and other properties, which was splashed in the news. Well, last week the big breaking news was about the expose of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) that literally raised the eyebrows of the entire Filipino nation – that the Binays have 242 accounts in various banks. The average Filipino doesn't even have a bank account. This was a revelation.

Of course, all this was denied by VP Binay, but then came the news that the Court of Appeals (CA) granted the petition by the AMLC to freeze the bank accounts of Vice President Binay, which amounts to some P600 million! The CA's 33-page order that was issued on May 11 also covered the bank accounts of Binay's son Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin "Junjun" Binay Jr., his wife Elenita and his alleged dummies Gerardo Limlingan, Eduviges Baloloy, Antonio Tiu, Lily Hernandez Crystal, Carmelita Palo Galvan, Francisco Balaguer Baloloy, Bernadette Cezar Portollano, Mitzi Sedillo, Margeurite Lichnock, Melissa Gay Castañeda Limlingan, Victor Limlingan, James Lee Tiu, Pee Feng Lee, Ann Lorraine Buencamino Tiu, Frederick Dueñas Baloloy, Mario Alejo Oreta, Jose Orillaza, Daniel Subido, Man Bun Chong, Joy Mercado, and Omni General Services Inc.

To add to Binay's woes, the Senate ordered the arrest of some 17 alleged allies of the Binay's, the names of some of them we already mentioned here. Why is this happening only now? I reckon that with the voting on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) hugging the headlines, the Yellow propagandist of President Aquino is using this Binay issue as a smokescreen to take away the attention of the Filipino people from the BBL issue.

This brings us once more to ask the question…what about the 49 congressmen, allies of the president in the Liberal Party? Why aren't cases filed against them? I'm sure that these members of Congress so named in the Janet Napoles Lim report three years ago must have signed the Bangsamoro Basic Law with some kind of guarantee from Malacañang that there would be no cases filed against them, so they can run for their respective political seats and after winning these seats apply the Aguinaldo Doctrine in their future cases for corruption that would be filed against them.

Speaking of the BBL, in case you didn't know I have gone around for the past two weeks asking friends questions about their thoughts on the BBL, and somehow the thinking of the people I met were very similar and against the passage of the BBL. Again, while we laud the AMLC and the CA for doing what they should be doing in trying to ferret out the monies of corrupt politicians, however ,we must demand that the AMLC dig up the bank records of the 49 congressmen whose names appear in the files of Janet Napoles Lim for any irregular bank transactions.

In my book, the AMLC is supposed to be apolitical. It should look at the greater interest of the Filipino people, not just the interest of the ruling Liberal Party. So if the AMLC was successful in freezing the bank accounts of VP Binay, we must also demand the same petition to the CA by AMLC for those potentially corrupt politicians and friends of PNoy!

Finally, we're glad that the Commission on Audit has unearthed records indicating that Senator Antonio Trillanes IV paid a monthly compensation of as much as P94,000 for a single consultant, (for consultancy fees from 2012 to 2014) prompting the agency to request the Senate leadership for an explanation and justification because it exceeded "budgetary allocations" provided by law. Now you know why Senator Trillanes is the "poorest" millionaire in the Senate! From a poor sailor to a rich senator! Wow!!!