Senator Alan Peter Cayetano took a dig anew at Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for avoiding talks on corruption during the hearings on the P10-billion pork barrel scam allegedly involving the latter.
Answering a question from the audience on the issue of penalizing corrupt officials during the vice presidential debate at the University of Santo Tomas on Sunday, Cayetano said it’s not the penalty that matters but the certainty that the offenders will be caught and punished.
READ: Cayetano presses Marcos on corruption
He then pointed out the great difference between punishing small-time thieves and punishing officials stealing from the government’s coffers.
“Sa Pilipinas, ‘pag pandesal ninakaw mo sigurado mahuhuli ka. Pero kapag nagnakaw ka ng malaki, magiging congressman ka. ‘Pag mas malaki ninakaw mo, magiging senador ka… Kapag naging Presidente ka, mga kasama mo kasama sa corruption,” Cayetano said.
(In the Philippines, if you steal bread, you will surely be caught. But if you steal large amounts of money, you will be a congressman. If you steal bigger than that that, you will be a senator. If you become president, you will have accomplices in corruption.)
Marcos rebutted Cayetano’s statement but the latter responded sarcastically, “Alam ko sa Europe ka nag-aral kahit peke ang diploma mo, ang sinabi ko magiging congressman ka, that’s sarcasm. It applies not to all.”
(I know you studied in Europe, even if your diploma is fake. I said you can still be a congressman. That’s sarcasm. It applies not to all.)
He then asked Marcos, whose family is accused of stealing billions of pesos from the government during the martial law regime of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos: “Nasaan ka kapag corruption ang pinaguusapan?”
Marcos explained that he did not show up during the Senate hearings on the P10-billion pork barrel scam, where his name has been dragged into, because it’s clear to him that those were merely intended for politics.
READ: Bongbong Marcos sued for plunder over pork barrel scam
“Maliwanag sa akin na hindi ito anti-corruption kundi pamumulitika. Hindi ako sasama sa ganyan (It’s clear to me that these hearings are not anti-corruption, but just for political gain. I do not want to be part of it),” he said.
Cayetano then recalled that Marcos objected when the former wanted to summon Maya Santos, an alleged accessory in the Priority Development Assistance Scam (PDAF) scam.
“‘Yun pala in-between nila ni (Janet Lim-) Napoles (si Maya Santos),” the running mate of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said.
(It turned out that she was his in-between to Napoles.) IDL