Hostage
More than ever before it has become nauseatingly obvious that the government is being held hostage by the Opposition and even the justice system, the bulwark of democracy, is perilously threatened.
At presstime, with the Sandiganbayan about to render its verdict on the plunder case of deposed President Estrada the Opposition has vociferously raised the spectre of a possible upheaval if the accused is convicted. It is a form of coercion for the Court to ignore facts and testimonies gathered throughout fi ve years of prolonged Court proceedings, a type of anarchy that in reality has gripped this country.
There is also the threat foisted by the Opposition that trouble may erupt if Antonio Trillanes, the acknowledged leader of the Oakwood coup plotters, is not allowed to attend senate sessions since he is presently under detention. This, despite a precedent in our justice system when Romeo Jalosjos who was accused for rape of a minor remained imprisoned even when he won as Congressman and was not allowed to attend sessions. Whether or not Trillanes would be allowed to attend sessions is only for the Court to decide and clearly not for the Opposition to dictate.
The government, the Arroyo Administration to be precise, was virtually being held hostage as the Opposition continued to complain of poll fraud and hinted at widespread disturbance even as most winning senators belonged to the Opposition.
Bluffs some of these may be.
But this habitual inclination to sow fear among the people and terrorize the government
is not at all a healthy refl ection of the kind of democracy obtaining in this country.
Thieves
With all the flagrant, massive vote-buying in the last elections particularly in the Third District of Camarines sur the constituents now have to be extra vigilant that the irregularity would not precipitate equally massive corruption. For indeed, some government officials have developed the habit of stealing to recover enormous expenses during the elections, the COMELEC being a toothless tiger unable to penalize violators of election laws.
Some government officials are, in fact, believed to have used money already stolen from the government through ghost projects or projects undone but payments for which have been surreptitiously collected.
One glaring anomaly that people in the Third District of Camarines Sur must begin to dig into now are the road rehabilitation outlay involving 12 projects with identical costs of P14,475,000.00 each or about P170,000,000.00. Bidding for these projects was supposed to have been conducted by the DPWH Third Engineering District in November last year.
At this time the projects should have been completed but no rehabilitation workwhatsoever has been done especially along the Caramoan Peninsula Road. Who pocketed the huge amount?
Unless thieves in the government get what they deserve or perhaps because the Arroyo government tolerates malfeasances the Curse of Sisyphus will forever torment the people.
