Is Butch Abad really from Batanes?
It now turns out that deposed Chief Justice Renato Corona was less sinful—much, much less sinful—than the House members and senators who voted to convict him.
Corona’s sin was in not declaring his true statements of assets, liabilities and net worth.
He may have been dishonest in not declaring the wealth he accumulated over the years, but who knows—it could have been money acquired legally and honestly.
But the senators who voted to convict Corona for not declaring his assets, liabilities and net worth stole money from the people when they pocketed their pork barrel instead of using it for their constituents.
Now, who’s more guilty—the senators and congressmen who voted to convict Corona or the ousted Chief Justice?
* * *
I have no love lost for former Sen. Ping Lacson, but I admire the guy for not touching his Priority Assistance Development Fund, or PDAF, otherwise known as the pork barrel, when he was in office.
Another former senator who should be hailed is Joker Arroyo, who didn’t touch the money as it went directly to medical institutions, like the Philippine General Hospital or indigent patients.
Both Lacson and Arroyo have the moral ascendancy to speak out against their former colleagues and some members of the House of Representatives who abused their pork barrel.
* * *
I’m a big fan of the people of Batanes for their inherent honesty and integrity.
In one unattended store in Batanes, people get the goods they need and leave the exact amount for what they took.
Budget Secretary Butch Abad, who hails from this northern Luzon island-province, is probably not an Ivatan, which is what they call a native of Batanes.
Abad’s honesty and integrity is under a cloud as he has been linked to the pork barrel scam.
Joker Arroyo says Abad gave away additional pork barrel allocations allegedly as bribes to senators who voted to convict Corona.
* * *
My staff at “Isumbong mo kay Tulfo” accompanied Dr. Elizabeth de Guia-Godino to the Department of Justice to appeal a car theft case filed by her husband, William Godino.
Ms. Godino, who claims to be a battered wife, was charged with car theft by her husband after a Parañaque court ordered him to stay away from her.
In retaliation, Mr. Godino filed two counts of car theft, a heinous crime, against his wife.
Parañaque City Prosecutor Amerhassan Paudac filed the case in court, which Judge Noemi Balitaan accepted with alacrity.
If another prosecutor and judge handled the case against Godino, they would have dismissed the case outright as the complainant and respondent are husband and wife.
Prosecutor General Claro Arellano promised Ms. Godino he would act on her motion for review which she filed in the Parañaque Prosecutor’s Office but which has been consistently denied.
* * *
There’s an immorality drama in a Parañaque court which a court insider shared with me.
A woman judge, who is married, is allegedly having an affair with a prosecutor assigned in her court.
The prosecutor reportedly “fixes” cases filed in the judge’s court and the couple then splits the fruits of corruption, says my source.
