"Corruption has its own motivations, and one has to thoroughly study that phenomenon and eliminate the foundations that allow corruption to exist." EDUARD SHEVARDNADZE
By Alex P. Vidal
The way he answered questions from reporters who interviewed him in Manila recently, it's obvious that Senate President Frank Drilon was hurt if not irritated by the first-ever criminal and administrative cases filed against him as a public servant before the Office of the Ombudsman.
It's probably double the hurt because the suit was filed by his former Twitter handler Manuel "Boy M" Mejorada, a former provincial administrator under Gov. Niel D. Tupas Sr.
The cases stemmed from the implementation of the P13.5-million manual irrigation system of the Iloilo Esplanade in Iloilo City, which Mejorada described as "anomalous."
Classified as "Improvement/completion of the E. Trenas Boulevard Along Iloilo River (from Benigno Aquino Jr. Avenue to Carpenters Bridge)," the project was implemented through the Department of Public Works and Highways Regional Office(DPWH-6) and the fund was sourced from Drilon's Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or "pork barrel."
Also indicted together with Drilon for alleged violation of Republic Act No. 3019 or Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and Republic Act No. 9184 or Government Procurement Reform Act, were his alleged "conspirators" DPWH-6 Regional Director Edilberto Tayo, Assistant Regional Director Lea Delfanado, Marilou Zamora, Jose Al Fruto, Marilyn Celiz, Luzviminda Narciso, and Danelo Penoy, whose names appeared in the procurement and implementation of the multimillion-peso contract.
AMISS
Claiming there was something amiss with the project, Mejorada accused Drilon, et al of committing dishonesty, grave misconduct, falsification of public documents, and malversation of public funds.
Drilon and some of the respondents have already denied Mejorada's charges claiming the project's documents were in order and procedures were followed properly. Drilon maintained he never committed any irregularity in all the projects he poured in Iloilo since he joined the cabinet after the EDSA Revolution in 1986 under President Cory Aquino.
One comment that caught the attention of many Ilonggos was when Drilon, who dismissed the complaints as "no basis", disclosed that Mejorada was his former consultant who received from him P30,000 from September 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011.
Another startling revelation was Drilon's admission that he once tasked Mejorada to handle his Twitter account, and that he discovered some "unauthorized" posting using the Twitter account to hit Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog.
APPOINTMENT
Mejorada lambasted Mabilog after the mayor nixed his appointment as city administrator, according to the Senate President.
"I also was not able to help him in his desire to be regional director of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). From that time on, the relationship soured," Drilon was quoted by Tara Yap in a Daily Guardian report as saying.
Drilon was trying to insinuate that his former consultant was only sour-graping thus he hauled the third highest official of the country in the Ombudsman. His admission of a past liaison with Mejorada has conjured an image of two lovers who went on a kiss-and-tell binge after their relationship nosedived.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, however, is expected to decide on the merits of the complaints--if there is a prima facie evidence or at least patterns of irregularities, among other forms of investigation--not whether the accused and the accuser are former lovers, Facebook friends, buddies in social media, or business partners.
FUNDS
The Ombudsman will establish whether public funds were spent judiciously on certain projects and purposes, or went to the pockets of dishonest government officials, employees and their collaborators.
Drilon can always claim that the charges were meant to embarrass him or just a form of retaliatory attack for reneging on a promise to help install Mejorada in a certain government position, but it can't be denied that he was shaken a bit and his myth of political invincibility has been wobbled by the Ombudsman case.
Whether he will be exonerated or jailed (the latter is a far-fetched probability since, so far, no "big fish" has found his way behind bars in this country), Drilon will not anymore bow out from public service spotless and immaculate. Without the graft suit, he would have joined the bunch of other national figures who retired from government service without a stain of even a morsel of suspicion of having pocketed public funds.
Engaging Mejorada, now a private citizen, in a lovers' quarrel-type of verbal shootout in media, will serve Drilon more harm than good. In street fighting, Goliath has no match to David. Mejorada has everything to gain and nothing to lose in his protracted war against the biggest man in the Philippine Senate.
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