Napoles shames Batanes

Alleged pork barrel queen Janet Lim-Napoles has not only destroyed the reputation of Budget Secretary Butch Abad, she has also shamed the people of Batanes who are known for their impeccable honesty.

Abad is from the small island-province on the tip of Luzon which is visited by typhoons almost half of the year.

In Batanes, there is a store where customers drop money into a box for items they bought. If they have any change coming, they can just get it from the box, even if the owner is not around.

Nowhere else in the country is this display of honesty practiced.

So it would seem unthinkable that Abad, a true-blue son of Batanes, could be involved in the theft of government funds.

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In her affidavit submitted to the Senate blue ribbon committee, Napoles has accused Abad of teaching her how to steal from the government when he was still a congressman.

Abad, according to Napoles, taught her to set up a nongovernment organization (NGO) or cooperative to go through the bureaucratic maze of siphoning money from the government through the congressional Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), otherwise known as the pork barrel.

But how can you believe a woman who earlier denied any knowledge about the P10-billion pork barrel scam during a Senate investigation, and now admits her involvement?

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On the other hand, a person on the brink of death who unburdens his or her sins is supposedly telling the truth.

Napoles was about to undergo surgery for a suspected cancerous growth in her uterus, so she decided to confess to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

People who read this should be able to judge whether Napoles was telling the truth or lying when she supposedly made the confession to De Lima.

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As for Abad, how does he explain the mansion on top of a hill in Batanes that was built at the time he was secretary of education in the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?

Before he was appointed education secretary, he was a congressman of the province.

That jibes with Napoles’ claim that Abad was a congressman when he supposedly taught her to set up an NGO or cooperative so she could siphon off allocations for the poor from the PDAF.

And how did a high school graduate from the impoverished province of Basilan walk into the corridors of power without a powerful politician showing her the way?

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By the way, who facilitated the surrender of Napoles to President Noy in Malacañang?

Don’t tell me she just went there without an insider opening the door for her.

Connect the dots, dear readers.

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A lot of my friends have been bugging me for my comment on a photo wherein my brother Raffy and former actress Claudine Barretto are seen together with a publicity-seeking lawyer and another woman.

Claudine was supposed to have reconciled with Raffy.

But what did she reconcile with Raffy for when it was I with whom she had an altercation?

Those who have seen the photo can see Raffy wearing a smirk on his face.

If I know my brother, he was just humoring her and the lawyer who set him up.

As for me, I’ve forgiven Claudine a long time ago.

She needs plenty of understanding and sympathy, considering her condition.