Arrest Grace Poe, Chiz Escudero, et al, not mayors who went abroad

By Alex P. Vidal

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”―Friedrich Nietzsche

I SUPPORT the majority of the Filipinos against rascals and political lunatics who wanted but failed to topple the Marcos Jr. administration, but I disagree with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to prioritize the arrest of some local officials who left the Philippines while it was reeling from successive super typhoons.

The arrest, of course, will commence once a warrant for their arrest has been issued after the cases were filed before the Office of the Ombudsman.

We aren’t against it per se; but we join the millions of Filipinos not only in the Philippines but also in other parts of the globe stirred up by the demand for the Marcos Jr. administration to prioritize the arrest of flood control project criminals.

They include DPWH officials and contractors, as well as prominent politicians—members of the House of Representatives and the Senate—who stole billions of taxpayers’ money through “ghost” projects and kickbacks.

Grace Poe, Chiz Escudero, Manuel Bonoan, the Bersamin uncle and nephew, Joel Villanueva, Nancy Binay, Bong Revilla, Jinggoy Estrada, Martin Romualdez, Elizaldy Co, Manuel Bonoan, and more than three dozen others who have hogged the headlines these past months for infamy and skullduggery in relation to flood control project anomalies.

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Only a handful of observers will jump with glee if those fleeing local officials—mayors, governors, vice mayors, vice governors, board members, councilors—will be arrested and jailed soon.

What the majority of the Filipinos want to see and hear is the immediate arrest of Grace Poe, Chiz Escudero, the Bersamin uncle and nephew, et al.

This will satisfy the impatient and irate taxpayers; this will help redeem the image of the president tainted by the outlandish allegations of Zaldy Co.

File the cases now and let these corrupt lawmakers and their subalterns in the anomaly spend time in jail while their cases are being tried in the Sandiganbayan for plunder and violation of the anti-graft and corrupt practices act.

The problem is the Marcos Jr. administration is too slow to dispense the kind of justice the Filipinos have been hankering for since the president exposed the flood control project anomaly tumult in September during his State of the Nation Address (Sona).

We have the names of the DPWH officials and their hand-picked contractors; we have the names of those venal and predatory senators and congresspeople, yet all the people have heard so far was procrastination, condemnation, press conference, denunciation, but no solid or concrete action.

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DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla can always whip those dromomaniac local chief executives who abandoned their constituents during the recent onslaught of storms, but he should set aside and let the Ombudsman dominate the discussions pertaining to the books being thrown against the flood control projects demons.

The DILG ordered November 8 all elected and appointed local officials to suspend their travels abroad from Nov. 9 to Nov. 15 to ensure their presence on the ground during the onslaught of Supertyphoon “Uwan” (international name: Fung-wong).

Around 24 officials will be charged, some from Cebu who flew to Europe just as Typhoon “Tino” (international name: Kalmaegi) devastated the province on Nov. 4, according DILG chief Remulla.

Remuhey face charges of abandonment of duty, gross neglect and insubordination.

Among the officials who were reported to have defied the travel ban and facing charges of abandonment of duty, gross neglect and insubordination were Isabela Gov. Rodolfo Albano III and eight Cebu local officials. They were Pilar Mayor Manuel Santiago, Poro Mayor Edgar Rama, Tudela Mayor Greman Solante, Cebu provincial council member Andrei Duterte, Liloan Mayor Aljew Jordan Frasco, San Francisco Mayor Alfredo Aquillano, Catmon Mayor Avis Ginoo-Monleon and Compostela Mayor Felijur Quiño.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)