Perjury you say, Mr. Defensor? Ask Benjamin Abalos, First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and all those who lied under their teeth when the NBN controversy was being investigated. Ask Jocjoc Bolante and all those whose bank accounts grew fat courtesy of overpriced fertilizers. Ask yourself why you insisted the “Hello, Garci?” tapes were doctored even if Mrs. Gloria M. Arroyo had admitted she really called up Mr. Virgilio Garcillano, then an election commissioner, within the election period in 2004. Ask who between Garcillano and the Singapore government had the motive to lie in relation to his having gone to that country when the scandal erupted.
The list seems endless. Of late, the nation was bewildered by how education officials managed to have a low quality brand of noodle overpriced by at least 12 pesos. It’s pathetic, the way they tried to explain away what could be a crime of plunder by insisting that the stuff contains more nutrients than it actually does. Well, you’ve got a president who “won” through padded votes; expect padded costs for token social services.
What I’m saying all along is there are more glaring cases of perjury and abuses that should have merited government attention but which, for obvious reasons, have been swept under the rug, not least among them the kidnapping of Lozada upon his arrival from Hong Kong, in February 2008 – by government officials and law enforcers! Lozada had said Defensor forced him to lie about the kidnapping, a statement that made the latter file the perjury charge.
Defensor, displaying determination to pursue the case, declared that there’s nothing political about his action and that he was doing it for his children. Clearly another instance of perjury. Aside from his family, the case seeks to absolve the Palace of culpability in Lozada’s kidnapping. Protecting his name and that of his family is just an afterthought, although the real beneficiary of the suit has feigned ignorance of his move.
And Defensor should be the last to wonder why the whole thing is going back to the NBN-ZTE deal. It’s the root of the perjury case he filed and the evil motive that lurks thereabouts. His track record of shamelessly defending, if not denying, this administration’s failings and abuses would suffice to prove that he’s not simply bent on redeeming personal honor.
But would he admit it? That’s like saying the education officials would agree to lower the price of noodles. (MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. H. Marcos C. Mordeno received in 1987 the Jose W. Diokno Award for winning in a national editorial writing contest sponsored by Ang Pahayagang Malaya and the family of the late senator.)