By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
How Sen. Jinggoy Estrada was making his biases against Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency ex-agent, Jonathan Morales, known in the continuation of the “PDEA Leaks” hearings at the Senate, should have made him prepared for a verbal tussle.
I have all respect for Estrada’s desire to establish credibility as to the CCTV footage presented by Morales before the congressional panel, but his direct reference to the resource speaker’s “criminal record” reeked of character assassination.
Naturally, it fired back. What did he expect? There’s a Filipino saying, which I can’t quite memorize… something like, “Galit ang… sa kapwa…” Oh, snap! Something like that, or not.
Sworn enemies
Former senator Antonio Trillanes’s filing of cyber libel charges against Harry Roque and pro-Duterte figures the other day underscores the deep-seated distaste for each other’s political camps.
One would argue it is a clash between accountability, as Trillanes fiercely intends to fight for, and freedom of expression, a solid principle behind which Roque takes legal refuge.
But even as this legal battle takes shape and wears on, what escapes the scene is the truth about what backdoor discussions or deals, if any, with the Chinese were sealed in the past two administrations.
Perhaps, this is the reason why Banat By, like Roque, dismissed Trillanes as an “attention seeker,” claiming that these charges are all just aimed to drum up publicity as the former senator prepares his political campaign for the mid-term polls next year.
Where is Yang?
Congressman Robert Ace Barbers is definitely going somewhere with his insistence on holding Michael Yang accountable. The troubling connections surrounding Yang, Duterte’s former economic adviser, are coming to light, revealing deep corruption and criminality.
Congress has every right to expose whether Yang’s associates, masquerading as Filipinos, indeed used fake documents to amass vast landholdings. It must be asked if these were used for illegal activities including drug trafficking.
If Yang and his associates just suddenly disappear and refuse to attend the hearings, Barbers’ suspicions of guilt might just be right.
Yang might have slipped and ducked allegations of involvement in the drug trade or even the notorious overpriced government deals with Pharmally, but this massive drug bust in Pampanga that yielded P3.8 billion worth of “shabu” is something else.
If Yang and his connections with Pharmally director Lincoln Ong — who was also tagged as one of the incorporators of Empire 999, the company that owns the warehouse where the drug haul was stored — extend to new heights of criminality, then he must answer for his actions.
It’s time for Yang to come out.
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SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View via X app (formerly Twitter). Read current and past issues of this column at http://www.thephilbiznews.com
