In late June this year, four of those accused of having exploited for their personal advantage funds from the Congress ‘pork barrel’ have, one by one and separately, voluntarily presented themselves to agencies executing the decisions made by of the Office of the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan for their arrest and arraignment. To me, this was an ok gesture done by Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla and co- accused Atty. Gigi Reyes (former chief of staff of Sen Enrile) for themselves to maintain whatever small dignity was left within them.
But, nagpyesta pa rin our kababayans in MetroManila as many of them even went to witness these five major accused of plunder and other major crimes go through police procedure leading to their detention. There they were, concerned groups and the masa themselves, ok lang na jostling one another outside these agency buildings, hoping to witness the rare events when celebrities are accused, surrender and are detained, and go through the motions allotted for any accused but di lang kasali cguro ang bugbog (1st degree, 2nd degree, or whatever degree man ‘yan, that is what is done DAW to make ordinary suspects own to crimes) fingerprinting and photo-taking, and then, their arraignment in court.
The rest of our kababayans were in their residences and places of work, but are very interested din, with ears and one eye tuned in to tv or radio, following details of what was happening before, during and after the separate surrenders of the four personalities..
Now that the four are in detention in secured but simply- equipped cells (except for Sen Enrile who, due to advanced age, was allowed to ‘languish’ in a small air conditioned room in a government health facility within the compound of the Philippine National Police area), our masa seems to guess what will happen next- that each of the 4 detainees will request to be moved to better facilities than what they are in now. The masa also profess to guess the excuse- a malady, an ailment needing close and constant medical attention that can be provided better in a hospital facility/
True enough, this suspicion seems to be happening for real – Sen. Revilla’s wife who is also Cavite Congresswoman, Lani says the good senator’s medication for an ailment needs to be supervised and monitored- wala pa naman formal request for transfer but the masa is expecting it; Sen Ejercito’s mother who is a medical doctor and also former senator Loi Ejercito has announced that she will personally check on her son everyday- monitoring pa lang yan, ha, sabi ng masa; and now the latest bulletin, Sen, Gigi has suffered a ‘panic’ attack and rushed to the nearest hospital where she has stayed ( for a few days daw for monitoring) after the attack was stabilized. The lawyer’s counsel is now using this experience of Atty. Gigi as the reason for a plea requesting the SandiganBayan to transfer her from Camp Bagong Diwa to the PNP Custodial Centre. Atty. Gigi’s attack daw was triggered by her fear of the other form of ‘attack’ from 9 National People’s Army rebels also detained there.
‘Novel’ idea daw, sabi ng masa- bagung bagong. Sariwang sariwang excuse, daw. E panu naman daw, kumita na sa takilya yung mga naunang excuse (remember former Pres. Gloria Arroyo and former PCSO Chair Manoling Morato? They are both under hospital arrest). For credibility purposes, Atty. Gigi’ lawyer therefore had to think out of the box daw, hmmm.
Many are in awe at how great the detainees’ health quickly deteriorate if one is made to believe their legal counsel- meaning, di po sila bilib.
But I am not wondering at all and others might tend to agree with me. Problems faced by persons of less than excellent health condition may trigger or help in the deterioration of one’s health and I know this by personal experience (I am not a medical practitioner, neither am I a psychiatrist but in my experience, past pains, hurts and concerns have had serious health after effects for me). Add to this the humiliation one goes through once the public gets to learn about crimes or even just initial accusations hurled on the person- pagkapahiya di lamang ng sarili kundi ng buong pamilya, mga kaibigan at iba pang nagmamahal dahil sa mga paratang. Totoo man o hindi. A person accused may have various ways of coping up- he may show his fangs and fiercely fight back; he may become withdrawn and depressed ( some may even go to the extreme and commit suicide- remembering former Arroyo cabinet Sec. Angelo Reyes now); and he may develop health maladies that may eventually become serious.
The drama won’t stop just yet. The masa is hoping authorities who may make the transfer decisions would be fair to all concerned to show the nation that there is only one form of justice that applies to the poor and the rich.
This nation, now populated by empowered men and women who now feel free to express themselves in many ways, expect no less.
THANK YOU, TORONTO!
