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Philippines
Friday, March 29, 2024

Consistently inconsistent

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"Time to rebuild their crumbling credibility."

 

 

(Continued from Thursday)

Take the case of the Inekon extortion allegation in the MRT 3 bidding. While we are aware that the one who offered or gave the bribe to rig that particular bidding was a party to the crime, we instead focused on the supposed recipient of the $30-million bribe, former presidential sister Ballsy Aquino Cruz and husband Eldon. As it is a private company’s orientation to seek to make profit, it would only be expected to everything in its capacity to secure a favorable term for itself, hence the logical reason to focus on the government representatives.

Or maybe, let us simplify the matter more. When a motorist bribes a traffic enforcer of cop, do we criticize the motorist or move heaven and earth to have the kotong cop or enforcer relieved from duty?

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But Meralco, in this case, clearly had no hand in the bidding. So, why the extra push against the utility firm? What gives?

This is not the first time Bayan Muna raised issues against Meralco on this subject. Before, it protested against the late filing of Power Supply Agreement application, saying they were filed after the deadline and even after office hours.

As a “principled” organization, I was expecting more from Bayan Muna and Zarate. I was expecting them to deal on the merits and not on mere technicalities. Protest on technicalities are only for those losing bidders. Why, is Bayan Muna  now representing a business interest rather than that of the people?

The problem with Bayan Muna is that they are taking positions contrary to their purported orientation and principle. Last year, they adopted the case of lawyer Maria Lourdes Sereno, crying the case lodged against her was a clear manifestation of the lack of judicial independence.

But wait, didn’t they also cry that there was no judicial independence when Sereno upheld the opinion that the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement was a mere executive agreement, ergo, doesn’t need a Senate concurrence?

Are they also telling us there was no judicial independence when the former Malacañang resident bum summoned the senators to the Palace to ensure they would vote for the conviction of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona over a flimsy and correctible offense of filing an erroneous Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth? We all know Corona was impeached simply because he was appointed by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and that he upheld the recommendation of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council rescinding Cory Aquino’s stock distribution option, paving the way for the distribution of Hacienda Luisita.

Bayan Muna keeps claiming it is fighting for human rights and equal rights. But where were they when the janitress was being bullied by a gay dressed as a girl demanding he be allowed to use the women’s restroom? The janitress was later on bullied again by one of their colleagues in Congress when they were already in the police precinct. Up to now, we haven’t heard a word from them. 

The list of their inconsistency goes on. I can recite a litany but the limitation of space prevents me from doing so.

Nonetheless, the successful Competitive Selection Process proves that Bayan Muna is consistently inconsistent on their allegations.  When the dust settles, it will show that what Zarate has been blocking would at the very least, ensure power-sourcing at the least possible cost and ensure adequate stacking to minimize, if not avoid, power interruptions.

Constructing new power plants is an urgent measure to solve the country’s energy security requirements. We don’t want to again experience the serious power shortage in the early 90s. That crippled our economy.

Maybe they can take their cue from one of their former colleagues in the Makabayan bloc, former Kabataan Congressman Terry Ridon. A brilliant lawyer, Ridon has already moved on from the technical issue concerning CSP as the issue is already a settled jurisprudence, the SC having ruled on it. Instead, he is now focused on the pricing, whether this would really benefit the public as it was intended to provide.

Meanwhile, Bayan Muna and Zarate can start revisiting their positions and maybe start rebuilding their crumbling credibility.

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