As I See It : Lying is contagious in Malacañang
Neal Cruz opinion@inquirer.com.ph
Inquirer News Service
HOW can the sending of FBI files to the Philippines by Leandro Aragoncillo and Michael Ray Aquino be "espionage" when the information they contain is about the Philippines? And I don't understand why the two bothered to send them at all when all that information was already public knowledge here. Just go to any coffee shop frequented by journalists and camp followers from both sides of the political fence and you will hear talk of an "impending coup," of "disgruntled military officers" and of "troop movements." In fact, if you listen closely enough, you will hear certain characters say with certainty, as though they are in the know, that the coup would take place in a few days or weeks. These are what the American "spies" heard and reported to Washington -- and what Aragoncillo and Aquino allegedly stole and sent back here.
But they are not facts but dreams and wishful thinking of our homegrown steak commandos who do nothing the whole day but stay in coffee shops and spread rumors. Most of them have no jobs so they have all the time to concoct scenarios and spread them around like manure.
There are certain characters who, when you ask them the hour of the day, will answer like zombies, "Malapit na, malapit na," [meaning the coup is near] as if they are the ones giving the orders to the coup plotters. Any journalist can give you their names if you ask, but I won't name them here for the sake of charity. But while we laugh at them, the gullible Americans, alas, took them seriously. And due to the characteristic Filipino colonial mentality that anything American must be correct, the equally gullible Aragoncillo and Aquino fell for the trap, too. Now you have an idea why the US intelligence reports on Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction" were all false, most likely gathered by American "intelligence" agents from the camel camps of the Middle East.
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Is lying a contagious disease? Judging from the way Malacañang zombies have been lying right and left, it would appear so. National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales has been caught lying like crazy on the venal Venable LLP contract. Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye has been caught lying not once, not twice, but many times, the latest also about the Venable deal. Ditto for the other denizens of the snake pit called Malacañang. They're all afflicted with the disease. Guess who contaminated them.
When the Venable secret deal (so secret that not even Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita knew about it) was discovered with Gonzales' signature on it, he prattled like a gangster in Alcatraz. When told that the P4.2-million monthly retainer fee for Venable was too much for a bankrupt Philippine government, Gonzales replied that the money would come from "private donors." When asked who these donors were, he replied that only President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo knew. When told that letting private donors and foreigners have a hand in amending our Constitution borders on treason, which is punishable by death, Gonzales announced that the Venable contract had been rescinded and that the three-month advance fee of P12.6 million would be refunded. When asked where the refund was, Gonzales replied that no money had been paid to Venable yet, and so there was nothing to refund.
If Gonzales had been strapped to a lie detector, it would have lighted up like a Christmas tree and all the buzzers and bells would have sounded off.
When the opposition demanded that President Arroyo fire him, Gonzales threatened that if he is fired, he would expose venalities about the opposition, adding, "What I know about them, wow!"
Gonzales put his foot in his mouth again there. It is his duty as a public official to expose any venality he knows about, and not use that knowledge to prevent himself from being fired. Now he is liable for a charge of obstruction of justice.
More likely, the threat was not intended for the opposition but for Ms Arroyo, a warning that if she fires him he would expose the wrongdoings he knows about her. In the first place, Gonzales would not have done what he did if he did not get his orders from the President herself.
As for the President, she knows that the Venable contract was full of venality and that the two of them are liable criminally, and so she ordered its rescission immediately.
But the cancellation of the contract and even the refund of the advance fee do not extinguish the crime. The crime has been committed and the criminals must face the music.
What this latest scandal shows is that it seems to be the policy of the Arroyo administration to go ahead with secret deals even if they are illegal and immoral. Whatever happened to transparency and public accountability? Rep. Ronaldo Zamora says there are nine other similar secret contracts.
If only for this, we should all resist with all our might all attempts to change our Constitution. For the Arroyo administration has shown that it would do anything, even invite foreign meddling in our sovereignty, just to change the Constitution. They must all have a very strong and sinister reason for wanting to.
Now that the treasonous Venable contract has been unmasked, the administration, especially the House of Representatives, should stop all moves to change our Charter. Almost 80 percent of Filipinos, the constituents of the congressmen, have said in opinion polls that they want neither Charter change nor a shift to a parliamentary-federal system of government.
Congressmen, obey your masters!
