Bad karma for Coronas

If Ana Basa, niece of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s wife Cristina, is telling the truth, then the bad things that are happening to the Coronas now are the result of bad karma.

Basa revealed how her family and other relatives “were oppressed by the Coronas” in a question-and-answer interview with Inquirer reporter Cynthia D. Balana.

The two-part article appeared in this paper’s front page on March 6 and 7.

If Corona is being oppressed by President Noy—although supporters of P-Noy would disagree—he brought it upon himself for oppressing others in the past.

P-Noy is just an instrument of poetic justice.

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What did Basa say about the Chief Justice and his wife?

Basically, that they used their power over their relatives when they wrested control of Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc. (BGEI), a clan-owned corporation.

In one incident, according to Basa, Corona, then a Malacañang official, pointed his gun to the head of a Pedro Aguilon, a caretaker of a piece of property that was the subject of a dispute between Cristina and her relatives.

The law of cause and effect, the law of karma, poetic or karmic justice—or whatever you call something that boomerangs on you for your past deeds—has caught up with the Coronas.

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I took up the cudgels for the Chief Justice in his quarrel with the President because I always root for the underdog and the oppressed.

(I have a daily program at Radyo Inquirer-dzIQ, “Isumbong Mo kay Tulfo,” which champions the cause of the oppressed, remember?)

But my sympathy for the Chief Justice was somehow lessened after reading Basa’s story.

If her story is true, let the ends of poetic or karmic justice be served on Corona and his wife.

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People who are in power should take to heart the admonition of the sages:

Greet the small people on your way up because they are the very same people you will meet on your way down.

Had Gloria and Mike Arroyo heeded that admonition when they were in power, they wouldn’t be in the rut they’re in now.

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The proposal of Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima to tax mining firms operating in the country 50 percent of the revenues they earn is very sound.

Mineral deposits belong to the people;, therefore, they should have a big share of the revenues generated from their extraction.

At present, a law imposes only a two percent excise tax on the value of the mineral at the quarry site.

That’s why even if so much minerals have been dug up—Purisima estimates their value at P1 trillion—the government has only earned P2 billion from the mining industry since 1995.

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Why doesn’t the national government look into the Cagayan Valley experiment?

The Cagayan provincial board has passed a resolution imposing a $6 tax per ton on iron sand at quarry sites.

The price of the iron sand at the quarry sites is $80 per ton, so the tax is about 7.5 percent of the price.

As a result, three barangays in Cagayan, from where the iron sand is mined, are now very rich because a big portion of the taxes goes to them.

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It’s been more than a year since the murder of broadcaster-environmentalist “Doc” Gerry Ortega in Puerto Princesa City, and yet the case has remained unresolved.

The suspected mastermind and his alleged accomplices are free as birds.

When will the Department of Justice, which is fast in resolving other big cases, reach a resolution on the murder?