OPINION: LUISITA, NOY AQUINO'S DEFINING MOMENT
MANILA, JULY 14, 2011 - (MANILA STANDARD) There are both believers and non-believers insofar as news on the controversial P2.5 million luxury turbo Porsche sportscar toy of President Aquino is concerned. Opinions differ in the wake of reports coming from Malacañang that he had sold it for the same price for which he allegedly bought it.
Malacañang claims that the President had to get rid of it because the Porsche had become a security risk, being owned and used by the country's chief executive.
To whom it was sold and from whom it was bought in the first place, we'll never know. Malacañang doesn't want to show the deed of sale or the invoice. That's transparency and accountability for you—Aquino style.
The non-believers—and they swear they know—claim however, that the reason the President had to get rid of it was because it was a total wreck after the President, accompanied by his security past midnight, went through a big road bump en route to Hacienda Luisita. The car's axle was destroyed, the story went. Hence, the President's P2.5 million luxury vehicle was ready for the junkyard after.
Santa Banana, I really don't know whom to believe until the President divulges from whom he bought the Porsche and to whom he sold it – and for how much. That would be consistent with his vow of taking the "Daan na Matuwid" (straight path)! Transparency and accountability counts a lot if we must have change.
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In the wake of the recent Supreme Court ruling (6-4) revoking an earlier referendum at the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita to have a Stock Distribution Option scheme, President Aquino cannot dodge the issue claiming he has divested his interest.
In fact, I would even say that as a disinterested party having divested his interest, the more he should be true to his mandate as president. Aquino must comply with and implement the law. Such is consistent with his declaration when he was sworn into office on July 1, 2010 that he will respect the mandate of the Constitution, obey the laws of the land, and do justice for every man.
Well, the law says that the President must do just that—comply with the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program and respect the entitlements of farmer/tenant beneficiaries. Thus, when the CARP Reform Council decided to give Hacienda Luisita to its farmers, if was incumbent for the President to comply with the law. But, my gulay, he did not claiming that he still had interest with family-owned corporation then. This was his copout (palusot) to his earlier vow during the 2010 poll campaign that he would return Hacienda Luisita to the land tillers.
But, then, like his late mother, who skirted the law on land reform to have the Cojuangco-owned hacienda adopt the SDO option which ultimately allowed the Cojuangco's control and management of the sugar cane plantation. President Aquino is now doing "evasive gymnastics" by not trying to get involved in the issue.
I would even go to the extent of saying that aside from implementing the law as the country's President, this could very well be Aquino's defining moment - the litmus test of a President who is willing to give justice to every man despite his own familial interests.
Compliance with the law is a challenge the President cannot get away from. It's a test not only of his commitment to law, but of his sincerity and desire to lead by example, especially in the face of other big estates and plantations yet to be covered by the CARP.
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Another challenge that the President must face is having to deal with his ally, Sen. Ping Lacson. The Department of Foreign Affairs said Lacson returned to the Philippines, entering Cebu via Hong Kong after over a year in hiding as a fugitive of justice and entered— supposedly with fake travel documents.
It is inexcusable and unforgivable for a senator of the land to be travelling with fake papers. It sends a wrong message that if a publicly-elected official can make a mockery of the rule of law and judicial processes, how in the world can he beso righteous in condemning fellow leaders, especially former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo? The senator continues to rant against GMA for alleged scams and anomalies. To Lacson, my gulay, I ask him: did you not mock the rule of law and justice when you travelled with fake papers?
Lacson continues to claim his papers were authentic saying they were given to him by a consul in authority. Santa Banana, that makes it all worse when a senator claims that his papers were authentic despite claims of the DFA to the contrary. If we were to believe Lacson, then something is terribly wrong with the DFA since the number of Lacson's travel papers, according to the department, are still intact and unused.
I say Lacson's case is a challenge to President Aquino. Lacson, being his ally, should also follow the straight path. The President should have Justice Secretary Leila de Lima pursue the case. For De Lima and Malacañang just to turn blind and deaf to a travesty of justice makes the President's vow for the straight path hollow.
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I can only pity and sympathize with many sectors in Davao City. Expensive advertisements have been placed in newspapers expressing support for Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio for punching that hapless sheriff who was just doing his job, trying to implement an eviction court order against informal settlers.
My gulay, anybody opposing the Dutertes within their turf of Davao City would be courting disaster. Even the poor sheriff said he was sorry for being punched by the mayor while her police aides held him. Even the court had to apologize.
That punching incident was inexcusable and unjustifiable in any language, no matter the intention of the mayor—compassion for a marginalized sector notwithstanding. The means can never justify the end.
My fellow columnist Amando Doronilla said it well when he wrote: "The most disturbing aspect of the incident is that a dynasty of provincial warlords has want only declared. Themselves beyond the reach of the rule of law of the land. This cannot be tolerated, whether or not the assault was not just the sheriff. It is the primacy of national legal authority that is at stake in this incident."
As this column goes to press, I cannot speculate what the DILG fact-finding team had recommended to DILG Secretary Jesses Robredo, who had already justified Duterte's punching as both "right and wrong," which simply means that her assault could be justified in some way.
Likewise, I cannot speculate what the Supreme Court will do, the sheriff being an agent of the court, and the mayor, herself a lawyer. But Santa Banana, if nothing is done to make the people believe in the primacy of the rule of law in this country, then we are a condemned nation.
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BIR Commissioner Kim Jacinto Henares is a bright spot in the Aquino administration for going against even the high and mighty in her campaign against tax evasion. I am certain that Henares won't be coming out publicly against those charged with tax evasion unless she has the goods on them. Also being a lawyer, she knows the risks.
But, here's one that should not get away.
Remember that Reghis Romero of the Dos Palmas kidnapping scare? Well, Romero's R-II Builders construction company somehow won the right during the Ramos administration in 1993 to rehabilitate and turn into a low-cost housing project for the poor, the notorious Smokey Mountain that had exemplified the country's degradation and poverty.
I recall that we, at the 365 Club at Hotel Intercon, were even invited by the former President for a look-see of the project. Admittedly, we were impressed. But as it turned out, it was a debacle and government had to take over. Soon enough, after the Ramos administration, when eventually the Home Guaranty Corp. had to take over the project, it was found out that R-II Builders had no financing capability, relying heavily on government funding.
Instead of being penalized, R-II Builders got a windfall. It managed to collect P659.27 million from government supposedly to pay whatever spadework was done. During the poll campaign, Romero was made treasurer of a major political party. There are claims that R -II Builders is now boasting closeless to Malacañang.
My gulay, if the BIR cannot make the Romero-owned R-II Builders pay its taxes for the P659.27 windfall from government, then questions should be asked. So much earned, and Romero did not even get to finish the project.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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