After inheriting House post, Judy Syjuco faces jail term

"We inherit nothing truly, but what our actions make us worthy of."
--George Chapman

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Was it a case of "ako ang bahala, ikaw ang kawawa?" (I'll be in charge, you face the consequences).
If she did not "inherit" the congressional post from her husband, former Iloilo second district Rep. Judy Syjuco would have been enjoying her life as a private citizen today.
Syjuco is a wealthy woman. She looks more of a socialite than a public servant.
She was supportive of her politician husband, but was never a politician herself in her entire life until she became a congresswoman in 2004.
In fact, she did not need to run for any public office to steal and enrich herself. She could donate her salary for three years and her net worth wouldn't suffer a dent.
Her income as a politician would be peanuts vis-a-vis her family's income from their business empire. 

RICHEST

In fact, Rep. Judy Syjuco was among the richest solons during her time.
Her trouble started when husband, Augusto a.k.a. "Boboy", did not want the position to be grabbed by their political rivals, thus he convinced Judy to succeed him.
It was Augusto's obsession for political power that drove Judy to enter the dirty world of politics, which was probably far from her dream when she married Augusto, a successful industrialist before he became a Constitutional Convention delegate in 1971.
Now Judy is in trouble and there is a chance she would end up in jail if she can't wiggle out from a graft case filed by the Office of the Ombudsman.

EVIDENCE

The Sandiganbayan has ruled that the evidence submitted by the Office of the Ombudsman is enough to proceed to trial for the alleged payment of P5.9 million to West Island Beverages Distributor (West Island) for the purchase of 1,582 units of Nokia 1100 cell phones using Syjuco’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel.
Payment was made despite the non-delivery of the cell phones to the intended beneficiaries–the municipal tele-centers in Western Visayas, according to the Office of the Ombudsman. 
Since West Island is not an accredited supplier, it should have been disqualified from the bidding, added the Office of the Ombudsman.
"What cell phones? I never saw cell phones nor any single centavo,” Syjuco said in a statement after the Sandiganbayan Third Division denied her motion to dismiss the graft and malversation cases filed against her and 10 other individuals including former officials of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).