I was expecting some drama in the Senate hearing today, with Mrs. Erlinda Ligot present, she being the emotional, crying type. But too bad that never happened. Even while Sen. Jinggoy Estrada was preparing to ask Mrs. Ligot about her trips abroad and her houses in the US, her blood pressure shot up to 180 over something. She had to be wheeled out of the room and stayed in the clinic with doctors hovering around in case something happened.
Jinggoy, not wanting to have a load on his conscience, postponed the questioning for some other time. When that will be is still a big question. Unlike her husband, Erlinda looks frail and shaken up. She might just break down and be hysterical. Probably she never expected in her jet-setting days that life would suddenly come to this, when millions of Filipino people would stare at her in the boob tube and, in their minds, pronounced her guilty of the charges imputed on her. I wonder what it feels to be stripped of one’s dignity in front of a crowd who knew she had no choice but to lie.
After all, documents had proven that she had traveled with Gen. Reyes’ wife 42 times in several places all over the world, with money she probably didn’t know was looted at that time. Probably she thought those were the privileges of a comptroller’s wife and the wives of other generals. No, never had she dreamed that one day she would be questioned where all that money came from because she must have been assured by her husband that things were alright. She could not condition herself to lie…unlike hubby Jacinto.
But her brother Edgardo appeared to have been properly coached by his counsels. And so he even managed to throw a few quips to Sen. Drilon in the inquiry. Like Jacinto, he had memorized his lines well, refused to answer when pressed for answers, invoking his right against self-incrimination. He would not even admit that the bank deposits worth P255 million distributed in three banks were his. Maybe some rich benefactor had deposited those millions in his account. But when Drilon pursued the issue and challenged him to forfeit his claim on the accounts, he refused.
From his own income, Edgardo could not have amassed such wealth in so short a time – unless he was involved in big time business, which he was not, or some illicit activity, like drug dealing. He told the Senate he was in a mere trading firm that sold confectionaries to stores like Rustan’s and SM. Certainly, that was not a multi-million business that enabled him to deposit hundreds of millions in dollars and pesos in three banks.
It was during the years that his brod-in-law Jacinto was comptroller that Edgardo made his deposits, bought three luxury cars in three years and acquired a P25 million condo unity in Bonifacio. And during these years, he was jobless, his business had closed because it was losing, and he declared no income with the BIR. The amount amassed could have built more than 1,000 school rooms, Drilon said, as if Edgardo would have a troubled conscience afterwards.
Bigtime crooks, who have been used to looting the coffers of government agencies, are not expected to lead moral and exemplary lives. Lies are part of their game plan, and conspiracy a part of their modus. That much is evident in this Senate inquiry. Other than documents already gathered by the Anti-Money Laundering Council, crooks like Garcia and Ligot and now Yambao are not expected to tell the truth “and nothing but the truth.”
I just hope our present Ombudsman gets the ax, is replaced with someone worthy of our trust and confidence, and then probably we can watch with glee when these crooks will finally bite the bullet or will walk to the guillotine.
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