“What a country! Shame on us!”
Shame on us!
A top prisons official is wanted for the murder of a muckraking journalist identified as the mastermind by apprehended gunmen.
After appearing before the justice department, he does a Houdini. That was more than a year ago. Till now, he has not been found despite a warrant for his arrest.
Or are they looking for him at all?
The governor of a once genteel province was shot to death in his own house in broad daylight by a group of armed men.
Suspected of having ordered the killing of his family’s political rival is a congressman known to be a gambling lord by everybody in Negros Island except the national government itself which, because he is a rich and powerful lawmaker, closed its eyes to his illegal activities.
The next thing we heard about this “wanted” personality is that he has flown out of the country.
First they say, he went to Cambodia, then to Timor L’Este, where he lived the life of a wealthy dethroned prince, playing golf almost every day.
Our NBI went to the tiny but now oil-rich country once wracked by civil war, and, yes, they found the suspect.
They thought they could bring him home, but Timor’s prosecutorial system told them – not so fast. We have legal processes here, just like in your “democratic” country.
He is still in Timor, and still playing golf, while his lawyer keeps invoking his right to equal protection under our laws.
It’s also been a year ago, right?
A few months ago, PAOCC raided an illegal gambling operation in sleepy Bamban, Tarlac. The huge gambling parlor, er, den, no, correct that, a complex, located right at the back of the municipal hall, was supposedly owned by no less than its mayor, a very Chinese looking lady with a Filipino passport.
Weeks later, they raided another huge compound dedicated to illegal gambling, bigger than Bamban’s, in the town of Porac in neighboring Pampanga, which straddles the international airport in Clark and a future government center at that!
The Senate goes into the act, and investigates, as usual, “in aid of legislation.”
The raid turned out to be just the icing on a huge cake filled with unseemly ingredients that included prostitution, torture, murders, cybercrime rackets, and every crime you could imagine, among other things, the mysterious presence of a Mr. Supranational linked to a Cabinet member of the ancient regime!
In the process, our senators discover the lady mayor had dubious citizenship credentials, which was proven by the fact that her fingerprints matched those of another person who was certifiably a citizen of the People’s Republic of China.
How did she pass through Comelec with flying colors, certified as qualified to run for town mayor, and win by a huge margin at that?
Onli in da Pilipins, as they say.
For weeks stretching into two months, she refused the summons of the Senate, and the HoR committees which waded into the controversy.
Kami rin, the HoR committees said, “in aid of legislation.”
She is ill; she is suffering from depression, her lawyers claim.
‘Yun pala, she too has flown the coop. Into Bali Denpasar first, then to Kuala Lumpur, then to Singapore, and now holed up in Batam, Indonesia, less than two hours by ferry from Singapore.
Mercifully, Indonesian authorities apprehended her sister and an associate who gave free lodging to Mr. Supranational in Porac, and forthwith sent them back to Manila.
They are now in the custody of the NBI while our prosecutors are studying what crimes they may have committed so they can be charged accordingly.
Then there is the case of the “appointed son of God” charged both here and in the once upon a time land of milk and honey, for making honey with his “pastorals,” rape, money laundering, you name it.
He has been holed up in his magical kingdom in Davao and, a month ago, 100 troopers raided the kingdom but failed to apprehend him.
In the wee hours the other day, 2,000 soldiers swooped down on his lair, but once more, nada as in nothing similar to a “son of God” was sighted.
Did she ride a magic carpet, past Batam to Cambodia, to Laos, to Myanmar and landed among the Hmongs, as PAOCC surmises?
Did the “appointed” take his private jet to Chiang Mai, whisked away to the river crossing to Myanmar, past the elephants and into the Golden Triangle as well?
What a country!
