Why are they not in handcuffs?

The non-lawyer in me asks why identified big-time contractors who have committed crimes displayed in broad daylight, belatedly witnessed up close by the furious Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary himself, the media, barangay officials, and local folks who have suffered, etc., have not been handcuffed? And paraded? To borrow a mockumentary title, didn’t they take the money and run? Didn’t they commit crimes in flagrante delicto—caught in the act, in other words—which means that authorities and even citizens can carry out warrantless arrests? Mismo. Forthwith. (The F-word in the Constitution is here to stay.)

When I say displayed in broad daylight, I am referring to the infrastructure projects, particularly those for flood control, that are either substandard or absent. Substandard means they caused more harm than good and put people’s lives and livelihoods in danger. Absent means they are nowhere to be seen. They are ghost projects that have been funded and paid for with people’s money. Kitang-kitang wala, a Pinoy oxymoron, if you will.

That handcuffing scenario is so much kinder than what the furious Nepalese mob recently did to one of their corrupt officials. They stripped him down to his underpants and threw him into what looked like a vermin-infested swamp. With or without crocs, I don’t know. It was difficult to watch, but I did not look away. I do not know if Filipinos can still rein in their rage and not do a copycat.

Other crimes that also involve money, like pyramiding scams, illegal labor recruitment, sextortion, kidnap for ransom, armed robbery, and the like, have police and National Bureau of Investigation agents kicking down doors and handcuffing suspects while they read them their rights. So why not do the same for the BGC (Bulacan Group of Contractors) for starters?

Sa presinto ka na lang magpaliwanag is an oft-repeated, smile-inducing line in Pinoy cops-and-robbers movie scripts. Like, FPJ’s ”Kapag Puno Na Ang Salop.” (Translate, if you can.) That means reaching the tipping point, the inexorable point of no return, a watershed moment. Either all hell breaks loose, or fiat justitiae ruat caelum.

These crooks, namely, the contractors who might not even have engineering degrees and with little business capital to start with, have amassed billions in public funds while we were sleeping. No thanks to conniving politicians and DPWH officials, and their underlings or the taga-abot. Diskarte lang, as the wily are wont to say.

The recent massive flooding, especially in Bulacan, Oriental Mindoro, and Metro Manila, even without a super typhoon, brought a tsunami of revelations. Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto exposed and blew the lid off the accumulation of a massive fortune by the Discayas, among the biggest bidders/contractors for flood control projects. These show-offs had their TV moments last year in two separate “lifestyle” shows that extolled their “rags-to-riches” story, with the show hosts held in thrall. That was before the Discaya missus ran to unseat Sotto but lost miserably. Luxury porn was how I called the Discayas’ sickening display of wealth. Now they are pleading to turn state witnesses. Sadly, there are so many more of them. Thankfully, one by one, the names, the faces are being revealed.

What we have been witnessing inside and outside the hearings in the Senate and House of Representatives on TV and social media is enough to make one utter murderous expletives and go out to the streets. How much can a people, sadlak sa dusa in song, take? As of this writing, cases are being filed. There is an eye in the sky…

And so, to the streets we go on Sunday, Sept. 21, which coincides with the 53rd anniversary of the imposition of martial rule by the Marcos Sr. dictatorship, which lasted 14 years. I make space for prayer for the braves whom I had known and written about, for those who fell in the night, as well as for those who survived and continue to offer their lives for the Motherland.

Sunday is the National Day of Action Against Corruption. Dubbed the “Trillion-Peso March,” people will express their outrage over the trillions for flood control that vanished and did not go where they should be—the riverbanks, the roadsides, the city’s gutters and waterways, the flood-prone villages and farms. Instead, they flowed into the pockets of the greedy, whose “nepo” kids have no qualms about showing off in bad taste. Behold the photo taken in a condominium unit of billions of pesos in cold cash waiting to fill pockets. A regular bank vault cannot hold that much.

The march begins in Rizal Park (Luneta) at 9 a.m. and will be at the Edsa People Power Monument by 2 p.m. Wear white. The invite comes with the Les Miz soundtrack and Filipino lyrics: Di mo ba naririnig, Tinig ng bayan na galit, Himig ito ng Pilipinong di muli palulupig, Dudurugin ang dilim, ang araw ay magaalab, At ang mga pusong nagtimpi ay magliliyab.

Sing! Harken and heed.

—————-

Send feedback to cerespd@gmail.com