THERE ARE a lot of things said about you and your family in the media. Your name is now synonymous with Maya, Sir Chief, Vincent, Eric and Laly. You even surpassed them considering that you are being shown in all channels, talked about in the radio, and splashed over all the papers.
The netizens are also focused on you, with your trending mansions, parties, possessions, bank accounts, and riches. I apologize that most of my countrymen have prejudged you as guilty for masterminding the alleged P10-Billion Pork Barrel Scam. They even criticize the President because of your “special treatment”.
I will not look at you that way. My profession as a lawyer would see you as a mere respondent, a suspect, and a person of interest who must enjoy all the rights afforded by law and the Constitution. Nothing has yet been fi led in connection with the P10-Billion Pork Barrel Scam, not even a portion of it.
And yet, you have been deemed guilty, even pending preliminary investigation. You cannot blame the Filipinos. It angers us when we discovered that the taxes we pay are wasted on the personal pockets of the leaders that the majority of us have chosen to elect.
Yes, we have heard in the past about 5%, 10%, 20% or even 40% commissions and bribes on government projects. We are accustomed to the billions of pesos earned by persons engaged in jueteng, illegal drugs,
smuggling and such other illegal activities.
We have been exposed to vote buying, election cheating, bribery, corruption and other major scandals in the government. But nothing of this magnitude where you are involved now has been exposed. Nakakasuka at nakaririmarim, Janet.
Imagine, politicians and their partners pocketing the whole pork and leaving nothing to the people that they vowed to serve? That is the ultimate greed. Greed that united many Filipinos to demand for the abolition of the pork.
But the demand should not end there, Janet. Change would never be complete without putting those who committed these scams behind bars… and getting their loot back to the people.
Janet, you know very well that these oinking of the pork barrel fund would not be made possible by the indispensable cooperation of Senators, Congressmen, executive officers and their subordinates/chiefs of staff, the people in the Department of Budget and Management, our auditors at the Commission of Audit, and
private persons like you who were too willing to be used and abused for personal gains.
Whatever you say to defend yourself, people will not believe you. Yes, they have prejudged you as evil incarnate not worthy of redemption. But I disagree. Janet, you can be an instrument of change.
How? You just have to tell the truth. Tell us who are these people in the government and in the private sector who joined you in ransacking the coffers of the government. Tell us exactly how you did it and who are duplicating it. How much did one receive and when?
Leave no one, be they in the administration or the opposition. Your testimony would be very crucial to help this nation achieve change and justice. The whole nation is waiting for you. Do this not to exempt yourself from the arms of the law.
Remember that you have to face trial too, for these charges. You should not expect total exculpation from any criminal liability. But I am telling you: If you speak the truth, it will set you free.
You will feel that somehow, despite all the bad things you have done against the people, you have redeemed yourself. You can become a hero for change, a catalyst for real progress.
You may not see or even feel immediately the fruits of your sacrifi ces. But your children and your grandchildren and their children and grandchildren will reap them. Janet, I will continue praying for you.
That you be guided by the Holy Spirit to have the courage and the strength to tell the truth. Do not be afraid. Do this now before the bigger demons shut you up forever.
