Du30’s hangers-on
Some relatives or friends of President Digong have an arrogant sense of entitlement and think that presidential perks are transferable.
Take the case of this run-of-the-mill lawyer, a relative of the President by affinity.
This lawyer tells his current and prospective clients that he holds Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre by the neck.
He said he had appointed his son, also a lawyer, “ambassador to the DOJ (Department of Justice).”
Wow, as if his office is a sovereign nation!
To the President’s friends and relatives, the man whose name you invoke is of simple tastes and has forced himself to live in poverty.
You can see that in the clothes he wears. If you dine with him, you will be treated to simple Filipino dishes.
He lives in a house with a 20-square-meter living cum dining room and sleeps in a mosquito net.
Hoy, mga amuyong (hangers-on)! If the President is that humble, why can’t you be humble as well?
Martin Diño, until Monday the chair of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, reportedly grumbled he had not been informed before his relief order came out in the news on Tuesday, according to an SBMA insider.
But he refused to answer calls from Malacañang, particularly from the office of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, days before his relief.
“Apparently he knew he would be informed that he was going to be relieved of his position,” said my SBMA source.
His relief deprived him of all perks and privileges of the position, which includes staying in a luxurious house in the Subic Freeport Zone.
His two consultants also have houses in the freeport.
Diño, who claims credit for Digong becoming President, had consistently refused an order from Medialdea to vacate his post and move over to the Interior department as undersecretary for barangay affairs.
The former chair of a Quezon City barangay, who used to commute in taxis and tricycles, now has three vans and an SUV.
Once a gofer of Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption president Dante Jimenez, Diño went around the freeport zone with four bodyguards.
Diño has gone bigtime and power has gone to his head.
* * *
Malacañang should look into how the Land Transportation Office awarded the contract for the manufacture of driver’s license to Dermalog.
An unimpeachable source at the LTO said the bidding for the P863-million contract was allegedly rigged.
The lowest bidder was Banner Plasticard Inc. which put up a bid of P750 million.
Banner and the second lowest bidder, Kolonwel, were disqualified on flimsy legal grounds, according to the source.
That was because, the source said, Dermalog was the favored bidder.
A woman, who reportedly sold defective ammo to the military, was behind the rigged bidding, the source said.
