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“Janet, here na me…where na u?”

August 28, 2013August 28, 2013 Ellen Leave a comment

My favorite placard in last Monday’s Million People march in Luneta was the one held by a young man which said, “Janet, here na me…where na u?”

The placard showed several aspects of the inspiring event which gathered some 400,000 to 500,000 bound by outrage over corruption in government.

The simple message, written on a cartolina was in a text lingo: “where na u? “edsa na me.” “w8 lang.” Many of us, schooled in the importance and propriety of staying and writing complete sentences and correct spelling are aghast by the text language but that’s how the cellphone generation speaks.

This gadget generation is also the social media generation. They are Facebook and Twitter denizens.

That’s why last Monday, Globe and Smart lines must have been overloaded, we were having a difficult time sending our reports from Rizal Park. We saw everybody taking pictures using their cellphones and posting them in Facebook and Twitter. Result was online overload.

But it was so much fun. It was democracy at its best.

From the Facebook page of Direk Joey Reyes which he said he borrowed from Eric Cabahug. Pahiram na rin, Eric.

Since there was no one group that dominated the gathering, it was free for all. It was just a matter of finding your corner or you space in the park. If you want what the militant groups – Bayan, Gabriela- offer, you can stop and listen to their explanation about pork barrel and other messages in the corner that they have set up shop.

There was a group of artists that entertained with ethnic dances and songs. A Catholic Mass was also being offered.

Looking at the happy crowd, my faith in the Filipino is re-affirmed.

Seeing the many young committed faces, I feel re-assured that this country will be in good hands after my generation has passed on the torch to them.

Little Buddha

Clearly, last Monday’s crowd was anti-corruption. It was not necessarily anti-PNoy. There was no “Oust PNoy” chant.
Disgraced Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona misread the sentiments of the people when he went there to join the rally. He was booed big time.

The message is anti-corruption. That should be made clear to everybody, past and present administration.

The enterpreneurs:

Aquino fires Palace consultant linked to Napoles

August 26, 2013August 26, 2013 Ellen Leave a comment

By Ellen Tordesillas,VERA Files

Brian Yamsuan (in white) , then DILG assistant secretary, with his boss, Secretary Ronaldo Puno.

Alleged big-time pork barrel operator Janet Lim-Napoles has close ties with a Malacañang consultant whom President Benigno Aquino III ordered fired as soon as he discovered the connection two weeks ago.

Brian Raymund Yamsuan, consultant to Executive Secretary Paquito “Jojo” Ochoa, was ordered dismissed after he was mentioned as having brokered Napoles’ meeting with editors of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The transcript of that meeting was published in a series from Aug. 11 to 14. Yamsuan’s name was mentioned twice.

Palace officials were also concerned over Yamsuan’s behavior, including receiving several millions of pesos from Napoles through a senator, sources said.

Assistant Secretary Jed Eva of the Office of the Executive Secretary confirmed the firing of Yamsuan. “Mr. Brian Yamsuan was hired as a consultant because of his experience and expertise in communications, but it was agreed that the engagement would be discontinued due to conflicts of interest with his other consultancies,” he said.

Eva stressed, “At no point during Mr. Yamsuan’s consultancy did he broach any of the issues concerning Ms. Napoles.”

In the Aug. 11 issue of PDI, Napoles told Inquirer columnist Solita “Winnie” Monsod that she asked Yamsuan if he knew people in Inquirer, which had been running stories of her multibillion-peso pork barrel scam operation based on the documents provided by her former associate Benhur Luy.

“Sabi ko kay Brian, may access ba para sa Inquirer (I asked Brian, Do you have access to the Inquirer)?” she said. Yamsuan’s wife, Cathy, is a PDI reporter covering the Senate.

Told about Yamsuan’s role in the Napoles interview with PDI, Aquino, according to Palace sources, asked Ochoa, “Is this true?”

When Ochoa told Yamsuan about the President’s concern, Yamsuan promised , “Aayusin ko ito (I’ll fix this).”

The brief mention of Yamsuan’s name, however, led to the discovery of his alleged indebtedness to Napoles due to his gambling.
Sources said Yamsuan, former assistant secretary for public affairs in the Department of Interior and Local Government and spokesman of then Secretary Ronaldo Puno, recently lost P5 million in a poker game at Resorts World Manila. Wanting to recover his loss, he supposedly borrowed more from casino financiers that same night but lost even bigger.

A source said Yamsuan found himself deeply in debt he had to sell his two units in Rockwell (depending on the type of unit, prices range from P10 million to P50 million) and some vehicles (two of his cars are a BMW X5 and a Toyota Sienna). Despite this, the source said, he was still short by several millions to fully pay his debts.

Threatened by casino loan sharks, Yamsuan sought the help of a senator who, in turn, called Napoles and told her, “Janet, tulungan natin si Brian (Janet, let’s help Brian).”

Napoles immediately delivered the money in cash, according to the sources.

VERA Files tried to get the side of Yamsuan and Napoles through texts and calls, but they didn’t reply. Detailed questions were sent through the text messages.

From PR to big league operator

Yamsuan had worked as media officer of then Sen. Edgardo Angara and later, Sen. Tessie Oreta.

He joined Malacañang’s Media Relations and Accreditation Office during the administration of President Joseph Estrada where he met then Press Secretary Ricardo “Dong” Puno. He helped in Puno’s failed senatorial bid but later on joined another Puno, Ronaldo, at the DILG during the Arroyo administration. He rose to become assistant secretary for public affairs and spokesman for the DILG secretary.

Yamsuan found himself jobless after the Arroyo administration. But not for long because through his friendship with lawyer Edward Serapio, forged during the Estrada administration, he was able to connect with Ochoa and obtain an appointment in early 2011.

Serapio did not respond to VERA Files’ request for a statement nor did he reply to text messages.

Serapio is a partner in MOST, a law office where Ochoa is also a founding partner. MOST stands for Marcos (Liza Marcos, wife of Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.), Ochoa, Serapio and Joseph Tan.

MOST had participated as collaborating counsel in the preliminary stage of the kidnapping case filed against Napoles by Luy.
In a July 12, 2013 memo to media clarifying its role in the Napoles controversy, MOST said Napoles asked them in April to collaborate with her lawyer, Alfredo L. Villamor, regarding a kidnapping case that she was allegedly involved in.

The memo said, “The firm’s written engagement with Ms. Napoles was limited only to handling the preliminary investigation stage. It was agreed that should the Department of Justice (DOJ) recommend the filing of the kidnapping case against Ms. Napoles and her brother, the firm would have to determine whether or not it would continue to represent her at the trial stage.’’
MOST further said, “Even before the DOJ issued its resolution dismissing the complaint, MOST withdrew from the kidnapping case.”

Napoles has gone into hiding after a warrant of arrest was issued against her last Aug. 15 in connection with the Luy kidnapping. She is the subject of a joint investigation by the Department of Justice, Ombudsman and the Commission on Audit in the alleged P10 billion misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund, also known as pork barrel.

Sources said Yamsuan’s links with Napoles go back to his DILG days where he wielded influence over local officials. He is rumored to be brokering pork barrel deals for Napoles with some senators.

A Malacañang source said not a few eyebrows were raised with the appointment of Yamsuan as consultant given his closeness with Puno and his position in the Arroyo administration.

But the source said Ochoa believed it was better to have Yamsuan on his side than for the latter to work with those who may want to undermine the Aquino administration. “He believes in the strategy of ‘keeping your friends close and your enemies closer,’” the source said.

(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for “true.”)

Malacañang buys time on pork barrel scam

August 20, 2013August 20, 2013 Ellen Leave a comment

Your presence is a statement.

More than a month into the Janet Napoles pork barrel scandal that started with the involvement of five opposition five senators, the Aquino administration finds itself on the defensive.

After dismissing the Napoles-operated pork barrel scam estimated to reach P10 billion as paling in comparison to the P728 million fertilizer scam during the Arroyo administration (what kind of math is he using?), President Aquino last Monday rejected calls for the abolition of much- maligned practice saying that it can be used for the good of the people. “As in everything else, there are good uses, and bad uses. Perhaps the right thing to do is apply the appropriate punishment for the misuse, but support its good use especially in communities outside the National Capital Region,” he said.

Aquino’s stand dismayed many of his supporters who held on to his campaign promise of a reformist government bannered by the “Tuwid na Daan” slogan. Some of those are calling on everybody to join the “Million People March” to Rizal Park on Aug. 26, National Heroes Day, startijg at 9 a.m. to express their outrage over how the funds for the less fortunate have been flagrantly misused by persons elected to serve the people.

Public outrage intensified with the release by the Commission on Audit of the results of its audit of the 2007-2009 PDAF which showed that the abuse was not confined to Napoles and the five opposition senators ( Senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr.; Jinggoy Estrada, Gregorio Honasan, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, and former Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile).

A number of Aquino administration- allied lawmakers were mentioned in the report who misused their PDAF namely now Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, now Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, now Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon and Joel Villanueva, now chair of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

Rep. Iloilo Niel Tupaz, who headed the prosecution team in the impeachment of disgraced Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, was also mentioned. Coffee shop talks mention other officials very close to Aquino.

Many also asked why COA stopped at 2009 fueling their nagging suspicion that Aquino was either trying to douse water on the pork barrel expose or limit it to Napoles to protect persons close to him.

Realizing that the expose has taken a life of its own and it would be a political suicide for them to buck the public’s anger, Malacañang is now doing damage control measures.

Monday, Aquino ordered the suspension of pork barrel funds until investigation of the scam is completed. Lawmakers who were reluctant to undertake an investigation on the fund are now willing to conduct an inquiry although many doubt if they would do an honest-to-goodness investigation of an irregularity involving them.

Even the Aquino administration allied party-list, Akbayan, finally issued a statement Monday calling for the abolition of the PDAF.

Roxas, the head of the Liberal Party, also pledged that party members found guilty of misusing their PDAFs will be sanctioned.

Nothing of these actions indicate genuine and lasting solutions against the evils of corruption and patronage politics. They are just to buy time.
***

The evolution of a Filipino politician. Unfair to pigs.

Many are asking the origin of the term “pork barrel.”

Former Senator Panfilo M.Lacson mentioned the history of the phrase in a speech on March 11, 2003 explaining why he was not availing of his PDAF:

“It should not matter anymore under what name the system sounds. Be it the Countrywide Development Fund, or the Congressional Initiative Allocation, or the Priority Development Assistance Fund. It is, and will remain to be a fund of compulsive corruption.

“The name itself traces its origin to the pre-civil war days in the United States when, in periodic fits of generosity, white masters would give their black slaves salted pork in barrels. More often than not, the eagerness of the slaves would result in ugly shoving and rushing to grab more pork than the others. The more pork one could grab for himself, the more triumphant he would appear than the others who were meek and reluctant.

“We may not realize it, but the Filipino people would sometimes see us behave like slaves rushing to the pork barrel. A critic has a worse description – that of swines rushing to get more slabs than they can consume.”

***
In the midst of the destruction wrought by “Maring” a friend wondered, , “Saan kaya si Janet Napoles?”
Then added: “Sana nalunod siya.”

I said that was an unchristian thought. He replied, ““Nalunod sa pera ang ibig ko sabihin.”

Ask Napoles to spell ‘forty’

August 15, 2013August 15, 2013 Ellen Leave a comment

Janet L. Napoles

Retired Marine Colonel Ariel Querubin remembers that when Jenny Napoles, the pork barrel queen who is now a fugitive, wrote a check for forty thousand pesos for the interest of the money she owed his late first wife, Loretta (Cercenia), she didn’t know how to spell the word “forty.”

“Ano nga ang spelling ng forty (How is forty spelled?),” Querubin recalled Napoles asking him.

He spelled out F-O-R-T-Y to her.

Retired Marine Col. Ariel Querubin

“She probably was not sure if she would spell it with a “u” as in “four”, Querubin, a Medal of Valor Awardee, said.

Napoles’ being unsure how to spell “forty” (which shows that you need not be good in spelling to amass billions of money) is just a sidelight of Querubin’s unpleasant memory of Napoles, who borrowed money from his military doctor-wife, with a promise to pay it with a five percent interest, for an investment she was making in a shipyard business.

The transaction turned out to be traumatic for Querubin because after a day after a stressful meeting of his wife with Napoles on Aug. 18, 1994, the former died of “unexplained primary pulmonary hypertension.”

Querubin said the money lent by his wife came from their savings and that of relatives. Another doctor-friend also lent a substantial amount to Napoles.

The Middle- East based military doctor, who asked not to be named, said he, the Querubins and the Napoleses used to be good friends. (They were all involved in the 1989 coup.) Faye, Querubin’s only daughter, is Napoles’ god-daughter. Jeane, the fashionista Napoles daughter, is the god-daughter of Querubin and the military doctor.

Querubin said when Lorrie gave the money Napoles was borrowing, the latter issued post-dated checks for the interest. That’s when she asked about the spelling of “forty.”The first few checks were good, Querubin said. But later on the post-dated checks bounced.

Lorrie and his doctor-friend were later referred to another military wife, who was the one in the shipyard business and was the one who used the money Napoles got from the two military doctors.

One day, when they were trying to collect with the military wife, Napoles arrived. It was not a very pleasant meeting with Lorrie calling up Querubin and gave the phone to Napoles.

Querubin remembers Napoles being high-strung when they were talking on the phone and he told her not to raise her voice.
The next day Lorrie was dead.

Querubin said on the first night of Lorrie’s wake, Napoles came with a priest and full payment for what she owed Lorrie in dollars.

But the other military doctor was not as lucky. The last P50,000 check issued her by Napoles bounced.
The doctor said napoles issued that check in bad faith because when it was deposited, the bank said Napoles account had been “closed.” He said he was never paid in full.

“ When this pork barrel controversy came out , I asked my wife to look for that returned check.” he said.

When that returned check is found, it could be evidence against Napoles. But that probably is the least of her concern. She and her brother, Reynald “Jojo” Lim, are currently being hunted by the authorities in connection with the charge of illegal detention of Benhur Luy, former business associate of Napoles, who is now the star whistleblower in the P10 billion pork barrel scam.

De Lima admits they face difficulty in arresting Napoles because she is “well-connected.”

Those connections , who are rumored to be in high places, will make sure that she is not arrested.

In the olden times, punishment for an offense comes in the form of 40 lashes. Would Napoles prefer that , however it is spelled, to the situation she is now?