The DOJ: Doing the best for the country

I fully support the move of the crusading group Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption and the families of those killed in the Mamasapano tragedy who called upon Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales to resign for her refusal to indict former president Benigno Aquino III in connection with the death of 44 police commandos in Maguindanao in 2015. VACC founding chairman Dante Jimenez said Morales was incompetent and should be replaced.

Furthermore, Carpio Morales doesn’t want Janet Lim Napoles to become a state witness believing that she was a principal in the crime for the misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund. So the question is who is more guilty in this crime? The congressmen or senators who allowed themselves to be used by Napoles? I strongly believe that it was them who used Napoles who are the guiltiest of this crime of stealing the people’s hard-earned money!

So why is the Ombudsman blocking the effort of Department of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aquirre II to make Napoles a state witness in future cases that would be filed against her? Obviously the Ombudsman is scared Napoles will spill the beans on her principal patron, former president Aquino whom she is protecting like a hawk! So once again, it is high time for the Duterte administration to focus its efforts to eliminate this cancer of corruption, which means, we cannot have an incompetent Ombudsman that is very protective of corrupt politicians! So let’s get the balling rolling for the impeachment of the Ombudsman pronto!

Meanwhile, in a related case still on corruption, this time from the misuse of the Disbursement Acceleration Program, we learned that Justice Secretary Aguirre has confirmed that his department will be conducting an investigation on the previous administration’s alleged misuse of the DAP, simultaneous with the reinvestigation on the multi-billion peso Priority Development Assistance Fund scam because as the DOJ Secretary pointed out, “We have already received pieces of evidence of misuse of DAP funds.” This is the best thing that the DOJ has done for the country!

Mind you, this was common knowledge (it was exposed by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada) to many pundits during the trial of the late chief justice Renato Corona, but alas, the mainstream media wasn’t interested in blowing up this juicy piece of news because they were obviously part and parcel of the Aquino propaganda machinery. The DOJ investigation would cover the dangling of P50 million to senators to vote for the conviction of the late former chief justice Corona during his impeachment trial in 2012.

We know enough that each senator got a hefty amount from the Department of Budget and Management after they convicted Corona. This was their “reward” for doing the bidding of then president Aquino. All we need now is for Jinggoy to validate this story once more. In its 2014 report, the Commission on Audit showed that at least 46 former and incumbent lawmakers received DAP funds worth P229.6 million for a “milk feeding” program just days after the House of Representatives impeached Corona in December 2011.

The DBM released this money as a special allotment release order and notice of cash allocations for the lawmakers on Dec. 22, 2011, or 10 days after the House impeached Corona. Among those who allegedly received the highest amount of DAP funds were Sen. Francis Pangilinan, with P310.841 million and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV with P245 million. Now the plot thickens!

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Yesterday afternoon, I was watching TV Patrol Central Visayas discussing the report that Mandaue City was poised to shut down the five-hectare Omapad garbage dump and turn it into an eco-park. I support this move because Metro Cebu is seriously lacking in parks. The TV reporter interviewed the poor garbage scavengers who bewailed this move, as they would lose their livelihood. If you ask me, Mayor Luigi Quisumbing should prioritize their needs. After all, they are the poorest of the poor.

So the other major concern is the question on everyone’s mind; where do we throw our garbage when Mandaue City shuts down this garbage dump? I dare say that it is about time for Mandaue City to seriously consider what we call “waste-to-energy” power plants.

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