Distraction – trial balloon or conditioning?

Did Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre come up with the idea of making Janet Lim Napoles a “State Witness” in order to distract us from his recent debacle where two branded Drug Lords ended up being cleared of charges by no less than people in the Department of Justice? I can’t help thinking that Secretary Aguirre and his band of merry men at the DOJ may have thought that in order to correct the unbelievable, one must come up with an equally unbelievable and legally incorrect proposition. As they say the more incredible the idea, the more people tend to bite the bait of distraction.

On the other hand, is it possible that Secretary Aguirre’s idea is for real and he is simply floating the idea of “State Witness” like a trial balloon in order to know if people would let it slide? Aguirre surely knows that Napoles would not qualify as a State Witness because she is not in the category of the least guilty. She in fact has been labeled as a principal conspirator if not the mastermind of the PDAF fund scam. I suspect that Aguirre has made the announcement as a “Trial Balloon” or something you float to the media and the public to find out what the reaction would be. I don’t know if Secretary Aguirre is a “gambler” but his idea could either get him the jackpot or eventually land him in jail if he gets conned into believing Napoles can prove there is a bigger Mastermind when there is none.

A long time Congressman I know quite well, confided that if the present administration was really serious or sincere about its anti-corruption campaign, no less than 200 members would be behind bars alongside Senator Bong Revilla. Add to that at least a handful of cabinet members in two previous administrations. But so far none of them have been charged, now, no less than the Secretary of Justice Vitaliano Aguirre has pushed forward the strategy of using Janet Lim Napoles as a “State Witness.” That suggestion goes beyond Fake News; it is an outright insult to the intelligence of the Filipino people!

The problem with Secretary Aguirre’s big gamble is that all Napoles has to do is get “State Witness” status, give a schizophrenic version of events, let the case fall apart or jail a few small fish, and voila’ she’s free as any stool pigeon because of her “State Witness” status!

In the first place, why didn’t you just leave Janet Lim Napoles in jail? Let the slow wheels of justice go about its business and leave Napoles in detention until the case is finished or turned over to the next administration. Why did you have to pull out that bag of laundry when you could have let Napoles stay where she was? It was bad enough that so-called “Drug Lords” walked free due to procedural deficiencies in the case, but you had to make the Justice department look so stupid by suggesting that the alleged mastermind in the pork barrel scam be made a State Witness. Why not simply withdraw all charges? It would essentially be the same!

When I heard about Secretary Aguirre’s proposal for Napoles to be a State Witness, I quickly realized that he did not have the cold blooded indifference of a Biblical character who will once again be remembered come Holy Week:

“Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. What are we accomplishing? They asked? “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.

Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than the whole nation perish.” (John 11: 47-50)

I am not suggesting that we form a lynch mob and demand that Janet Lim Napoles be brought to Pampanga on Good Friday and be crucified. All I am saying is let justice take its course; let the guilty pay for their crime. If we have to settle for only one convict fine, but don’t make a mockery of justice and don’t mock the hope and belief of the Filipino people that there is justice in the land. Picking up from where Secretary Aguirre finished, no, it would be legal and political suicide to give Janet Lim Napoles a “Get out of Jail” card. In fact the move is so controversial and provocative that no less than Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales has gone on record saying she will block the proposal of Secretary Aguirre.

Given the double whammy and double jeopardy of Aguirre on the legal front, I cannot help but wonder; are these highly irregular and controversial legal events the reason why the administration is trying to oust the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as well as Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales? Are the Boys with all balls but no brains trying to eliminate two women who will stand their ground and fight ignorance with intellect? This question comes from a can of worms that Secretary Aguirre has opened with two blunders. Perhaps Secretary Aguirre can also file an indefinite leave just like Chief Justice Sereno, if only to assure us that we can make it to Holy Week without cursing!

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