Finally, Iloilo’s Rep. Ang, 16 others in flood control hearing

By Alex P. Vidal

“A hanging typically occurs after someone is found guilty in the eyes of the law and irredeemable in the eyes of society. A lynching is the killing of an individual for how they look and what they represent to a vigilante mob.”― Stewart Stafford

WE will finally hear the other side of the coin.

Of the total 318 members of the Philippine House of Representatives, only 17 have been invited to appear in the “reinvigorated” next hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee chaired by Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson.

One of them is Iloilo City’s Uswag Ilonggo party-list Rep. James “Jojo” Ang, who comes from a family of contractors.

Aside from Ang, a protégé of former Iloilo City mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas, no other Iloilo or Guimaras solons are included in the list of the “Infamous 17.”

The “Infamous 17” have been implicated in the flood control corruption scandal by contractor couple Curlee and Sarah Discaya in their affidavit.

Those mentioned by the Discaya couple are Rep. Ang, Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo, Quezon City Rep. Patrick Michael Vargas, Quezon city Rep. Juan Carlos “Arjo” Atayde, Agap Rep. Nicanor Briones. Marikina Rep. Marcelino “Marcy” Teodoro; San Jose del Monte, Bulacan Rep. Florida Robes; Romblon Rep. Eleandro Jesus Madrona, Laguna Rep. Benjamin Agarao Jr., An Waray Rep. Florencio Gabriel “Bem” Noel, Occidental Mindoro Rep. Leody Tarriela, Quezon Rep. Reynante Arrogancia, Quezon City Rep. Marvin Rillo, Aklan Rep. Teodorico Haresco, Zamboanga Sibugay Rep. Antonieta Yudela, Caloocan City Rep. Dean Asistio and Quezon City Rep. Marivic Co-Pilar.

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We expect most if not all of them to belie the Discaya couple’s allegations that they have demanded kickbacks from the multi-billion pesos flood control projects initiated by the couple’s construction firms in the past.

Todd Stocker once said, “A forced confession is no confession at all.”

In fact, most of them have threatened to sue the controversial couple for libel.

We expect a heated exchange of words when two parties collide during the Senate committee hearing.

This is also the opportunity of those implicated to air their side of the story although in many parts of the country, especially those battered by two successive super typhoons, they have been marked as among those who are partly to blame for the destruction and death caused by massive flooding during the recent Typhoons Tino and Uwan.

Billions worth of taxpayers’ money were either wasted in ghost flood control projects or pocketed by rapacious representatives and senators, DPWH officials and their minions in several shady construction firms.

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Most Filipinos are probably more excited to see flood control project criminals manacled and arrested after a warrant of arrest has been issued against them than watching members of the Interpol bring Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa to The Hague in the Netherlands to join his idol and political benefactor, former President Digong Duterte, in the International Criminal Court (ICC) hearing for their alleged crime against humanity.

In fact, dela Rosa’s sudden entry in the picture has become a distraction.

The taxpayers are hankering for the arrest of the big guns in the national politics led by Senators Joel Villanueva, Chiz Escudero, Jinggoy Estrada, former senator Bong Revilla, etcetera, before Christmas day to give justice to all Filipino people affected, in one way or the other, by the flood control project brouhaha.

If dela Rosa will be canned after Villanueva, et all have been remitted to the Quezon City jail, the people will not complain.

The taxpayers will not have a peace of mind until after the flood control project criminals are sent to jail without bail first.

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SHUTDOWN NO MORE. By the time this article comes out, members of the United States House of Representatives would have headed back to Washington after a 53-day break, braving the congestion at the nation’s tangled airports for a vote that could bring the longest U.S. government shutdown in history to a close.

With nearly 1,200 flights canceled on November 11 due to the shutdown, lawmakers including Republican Representatives Rick Crawford of Arkansas and Trent Kelly of Mississippi said they were carpooling to the Capitol, while Representative Derrick Van Orden said he was making the 16-hour drive from Wisconsin on his motorcycle.

“It’s going to be a little chilly, but I will do my duty,” the Republican lawmaker said in a video posted to social media as quoted by Reuters.

The Republican-controlled House was due to vote November 12 afternoon on a compromise that would restore funding to government agencies and end a shutdown that started on October 1 and is now in its 42nd day.

The Republican-controlled Senate approved the deal on November 10 night and House Speaker Mike Johnson had said he expected it to pass his chamber as well.

President Donald Trump was expected to sign it into law. “We’re opening up our country. Should have never been closed,” he said at a Veterans Day event in Arlington, Virginia.

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