There is no such thing as a perfect crime, especially if it is committed by several persons.
In a crime of conspiracy, or an act committed by several persons conspiring with one another, somebody is bound to spill the beans on the others later.
No matter how “perfect” the crime seems to be in its execution, as in a bank robbery, one of the conspirators will later expose the crime.
In all bank robbery cases, for example, one or two of the conspirators will think they were not given the proper share of the loot, and will go to the police.
Or, one in the group would boast of the crime to his buddies in a drinking session.
Or, one or two in the group decides to form another group to compete with the original gang, and the gang leader finds out.
The ensuing war between the “originals” and the mavericks reveals the gang’s existence.
A crime perpetrator’s chances of getting caught are almost nil if he did it alone. There’s nobody to squeal on him except himself if he is overcome by guilt feelings.
* * *
The modus operandi of Janet Lim-Napoles, alleged pork barrel scam queen, was uncovered by her own cousin, Benhur Luy, whom she hired as one of her assistants.
Luy’s revelations were followed by that of Gertrudes Luy, Merlina Sunas, Arlene Baltazar, Marina Sula and Simonette Briones, who are all Napoles’ former co-conspirators in stealing money from the country’s poor.
Napoles’ greed was her undoing.
She didn’t give her co-conspirators what was “due” them, so they squealed on her.
While Napoles and her family enjoyed the billions of pesos she stole from the people, her employees were just getting crumbs from the loot.
Luy must have thought: “If my cousin can steal billions from the pork barrel funds, why can’t I? I already know how to do it because I’ve been with her for years.”
So Luy stole from the alleged mastermind and also tried to grab his cousin’s clients away from her.
Napoles found out and detained Luy. The rest is history.
* * *
Janet Lim-Napoles is only a high school graduate from Basilan province, yet she has become richer than most who have earned a master’s or a PhD degree in business administration.
Apparently, she’s a very intelligent woman but she used her intelligence in the wrong way.
Society could have benefited from Napoles’ high IQ if she used it the right way.
* * *
Senate President Frank Drilon was right in opposing the move to have Napoles face the blue ribbon committee.
Drilon relented only because of strong public opinion against his opposition.
Drilon knew Napoles would clam up—as she had done before—during the Senate hearing. All the accusations against her by the whistle-blowers had already been published anyway.
In other words, the public already knew what was said about Napoles and her alleged scam in the media before Thursday’s Senate hearing.
The hearing didn’t come up with anything new, except to highlight the grandstanding of some senators who wanted to show off their investigative prowess.