BY ELLEN TORDESILLAS
TODAY, photos of the President with Janet Napoles, the alleged brains of the mindboggling pork barrel scam, made the rounds in Facebook and Twitter. They were taken at the same occasion where Napoles daughter, Jeane, had her photo with President Aquino- after the national thanksgiving mass for the canonization of San Pedro Calungsod in Cebu November last year.
Jeane’s picture with the President was sent to broadcaster Anthony Taberna Wednesday afternoon and made the rounds of social media immediately after it was posted.
Today’s photos came from Malacañang. Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Secretary Ricky Carandang said after checking Malacañang’s photo files of that Cebu event, they found more photos of the President with Janet herself and her husband, Jaime. He said in that event, a lot of people were having their pictures taken with the President.
He said they decided to release the pictures “so people would not speculate.” The President had earlier said he does not remember having met Napoles until her surrender last week in Malacañang.
But we doubt if we have seen the end of photo releases from different sources. Last Monday photos of Senate President Franklin Drilon with the Napoles couple were passed around in social media. Drilon said it was taken during an event at the Heritage Park in Taguig City where seminarians from China were guests.
At the same time, Drilon stressed that none of his Priority Development Assistance Fund went to any of Napoles bogus non-government organizations.
From the testimony of Ben Hur Luy, former associate of Napoles, and his fellow whistleblowers, at least ten persons will be charged in court. But those who are implicated in the Napoles scam- are reportedly taking a ‘scorched earth’ strategy of bringing down with them everybody.
It is good that social media is being used actively in making the public aware of the gross abuse of public resources. We should focus on the issue and not allow those who want to distract us to escape accountability.
Communications executive JB Baylon is spot on in his FB comment that “The question is not ‘do you have a picture with Napoles’ or ‘did you spend your PDAF’”. The question is ‘did you steal your PDAF — through Napoles or some bogus NGO or ghost project”? In the end it all boils down to accountability and transparency. “
JB said:”Let’s keep focused on the right issues and right questions folks. For obvious reasons, some interests want to muddle the issues.”
On the part of the officials, who had the misfortune of having been photographed with the social climbing Napoleses in one of those social gatherings they have attended (they could not be discriminating who to have pictures with in public), our advice is: “Grin and bear it. It comes with the territory.”
In the end, truth will prevail.
