What if Rep. Jojo Ang is found innocent?

By Alex P. Vidal

“A clear and innocent conscience fears nothing.” — Elizabeth I

EVEN if he will be proven innocent, the political career of Iloilo’s Uswag Partylist Rep. James “Jojo” Ang Jr is already over.

No politician—neophyte or veteran—has recovered after being linked to anomalies involving public funds.

Public perception is cruel. The politicians’ good deeds are often buried in the quicksand of history, their infractions—true or not—are permanently inscribed in memory of obloquy and infamy.

Even if Ang and other accused in the multi-billion flood control project mess are presumed innocent until proven otherwise, the stigma of being repeatedly mentioned in the national discourse related to the biggest corruption scandal in Philippine history is enough to destroy an aspiring or seasoned politician.

But what if Ang and some of his co-accused are innocent? If the damage is done, no amount of “not guilty” verdict can compensate or save someone whose reputation has been ripped to ribbons.

This is the dilemma politicians like Ang, et al are facing.

The only option if found innocent is for them to permanently say goodbye to public office—but not necessarily public service.

Some people have dementia when it comes to remembering past misdeeds.

In private, politicians devastated by false charges of corruption may be able to find the healing formula and rebuild their lives by staying away completely from public consciousness.

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IN the first week of December 2025, we expect the Office of the Ombudsman to file the second batch of criminal cases against individuals linked to flood control project anomalies in the Philippines.

We also expect the Sandiganbayan to immediately issue warrants of arrest against the accused similar to what happened in the first batch involving small fries in Oriental Mindoro.

This will commence to satisfy the people baying for prosecution of an estimated 200 politicians and DPWH officials and contractors.

One after the other or more are coming, vowed the government authorities.

In the second batch, we predict that some if not all of the eight members of the House of Representatives mentioned in the report submitted by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) to the Office of the Ombudsman November 26

Even if the evidence against some of the eight solons may not be airtight, the cases will have to be filed and those congressmen must be served with warrant of arrest because, as we mentioned earlier, that’s what the people want.

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Never mind if many of them may not be guilty beyond reasonable doubt, or the pieces of evidence against them may not really be crystal clear.

Incidentally, the eight solons had been “picked” from among the list politician suspects by virtue of their being contractors or link to construction firms.

But if we have noticed, none of the eight are prominent national political figures, except former Rep. Zaldy Co for the FS Co. Builders Supply.

The seven others are: Rep. Edwin Gardiola — for Newington Builders Inc., Lourel Development Corp. and S-Ang General Construction & Trading Inc.; Rep. James Ang, Jr. — for IBC International Builders Corp. and Allencon Development Corp.; Rep. Jernie Jett Nisay — for JVN Construction and Trading; Rep. Augustina Pancho — for C.M. Pancho Construction Inc.; Rep. Joseph Lara — for JLL Pulsar Construction Corp.; Rep. Francisco Matugas — for Boometrix Development Corp.; and Rep. Noel Rivera — for Tarlac 3-G Construction & Development Corp.

(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)