[Vantage Point] The Senate probe absurdities 

On September 30, the Senate committee on authorities firms and public enterprises (CGPE) carried out a listening to to probe alleged malfeasance dedicated particularly by the Authorities Service Insurance coverage System (GSIS).

Throughout that exact session, it was came upon that the GSIS nonetheless has to account for its funding in Alternergy Holdings Company which the pension fund president Jose Arnulfo “Wick” Veloso promised to right away handle. 

For context, Vantage Level had uncovered on July 22 that Alternergy had inadequate market capitalization/monetary energy and its market capitalization was means beneath the minimal required underneath GSIS funding guidelines. 

Alternergy was additionally closely leveraged (i.e. excessive debt relative to fairness) and had weak curiosity protection, which made it financially dangerous. We additionally reported that the shares (most popular shares) bought by the GSIS weren’t listed on the Philippine Inventory Change (PSE) on the time the settlement and fee had been made. Since GSIS guidelines require investments in listed firms (or at the least correctly listed securities) for such fairness exposures, this non-listing is a violation. 

Representatives of the Fee on Appointments (COA) validated Vantage Level’s exposé throughout that CGPE listening to.

Stronghold Insurance coverage is GSIS reinsurer

Not too long ago, I came upon that Stronghold Insurance coverage Co. Inc. (SICI) — the corporate which supplied bonds to the Division of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) flood management tasks of Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya II and Cezarah Rowena “Sarah” Cruz Discaya and the place Senator Rodante  Marcoleta’s spouse Edna is an impartial director — can be the reinsurer of the GSIS. 

SICI gained in 2023 the Reinsurance of the GSIS Property and Engineering Mixed Danger and Disaster Extra of Loss Treaty Service with a complete protection of P14 billion. It’s an settlement aimed toward safeguarding authorities and personal properties towards unexpected occasions. Was this a coincidence or simply one of many many absurd issues occurring within the Senate today?

One other absurdity is the truth that the Senate CGPE, chaired by Senator Mark Villar, can be being investigated alongside together with his household enterprises for a much more critical transgression.

Such is the unhappy state into which that erstwhile esteemed establishment has spiraled.

Flawed probe

What started as a second of reckoning for contractors, legislators, and bureaucrats who fattened themselves off taxpayers’ cash is now turning right into a circus of self-preservation and selective amnesia. The promise of accountability has been washed away by political undercurrents that search to confuse, divide, and exhaust the general public, and dampen their ethical outrage.

On the coronary heart of the investigation lies a deadly flaw: the absence of independence and prosecutorial coherence. Every committee, fee, or lawmaker now appears extra engaged in finger-pointing. The Senate drags in witnesses with doubtful backgrounds; the Home selectively names enemies whereas shielding allies; and the so-called “impartial fee” has been gutted by resignations, political meddling, and lack of subpoena energy. The end result? A fragmented inquisition the place each camp tries to weaponize testimony quite than uncover info.

Early on, together with majority of Filipinos, I had excessive hopes that justice would finally meet up with the entrenched community of fixers and contractors who for years have been turning flood-control tasks right into a cottage trade. However the supposed “star witnesses” — a few of whom are accused masterminds themselves — have transformed the hearings right into a theater of comfort. They bear in mind solely what advantages them, title solely these from rival factions, and plead innocence in the identical breath as they confess to huge bribery. It was an execrable script written for a state of affairs that echoes previous scandals which led to hole verdicts.

This selective disclosure has crippled the integrity of the probe. As an alternative of constructing a timeline of graft and corruption, investigators are actually chasing ghosts of allegations that shift weekly. The COA, Ombudsman, and Division of Justice (DOJ) ought to have been the spine of this inquiry. Sadly, their findings are being drowned by political noise and media sensationalism.

The absurdity of a probe turned inward

Maybe essentially the most damning proof of this circus’ collapse is how the investigators themselves have turn out to be the investigated. Senators are being accused of bias, committee chairs are dealing with ethics complaints, and even members of the so-called “impartial” fee are being scrutinized for alleged conflicts of curiosity and leaks.

What was speculated to be a seek for fact has degenerated right into a round firing squad — a tragicomic spectacle the place everybody claims to be clear, whereas pointing soiled fingers at one another. It’s a degree of absurdity that defies logic: the accusers now demanding immunity, the enforcers pleading innocence, and the supposed watchdogs biting one another as an alternative of the culprits.

When fact commissions flip into mutual protection golf equipment, justice is not the purpose — harm management is. And the general public, pressured to look at this farce, learns the worst lesson of all: that corruption probes on this nation hardly ever punish the responsible, however nearly at all times devour the sincere.

The credibility disaster of the Discayas, and the spectacle of senators like Marcoleta turning witnesses into martyrs, all level to a deliberate marketing campaign to blur, not reveal, the reality. The COA’s purple flags on DPWH contracts are being buried underneath political noise; the Ombudsman has but to file a single strong case; and the DOJ appears paralyzed by factional stress.

Accountability can not survive in a swamp of politicking. Except this probe is rescued from self-interest and rebuilt on forensic proof — not confessions traded for defense — it would produce nothing greater than a deluge of wasted time and the reaffirmation that, within the Philippines, each flood finds a option to rise and justice at all times sinks first.

Within the Senate, former Senate president Francis Joseph “Chiz” Escudero is sparring with Home allies of former speaker Martin Romualdez, every accusing the opposite of politicizing the probe. The Impartial Fee for Infrastructure (ICI) created by Malacañang — as soon as hailed as a impartial truth-seeker — has been gutted by the resignation of Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong and exacerbated by the general public’s rising distrust with the continued ICI investigation which, based on its government director Brian Osaka should be saved closed-doors. These troubling developments symbolized what many feared from the beginning: the fee was by no means meant to reveal the complete rot, solely to handle the fallout.

Senator Marcoleta and his bloc have gone to extraordinary lengths to vouch for his or her witnesses’ credibility — even suggesting witness safety — regardless of obtrusive inconsistencies and a lawyer’s denial of ever signing their affidavit. 

Escudero thunders towards corruption in flood-control tasks whilst questions mount over his personal alleged fund insertions in DPWH allocations. Paperwork flagged by auditors reportedly hint questionable objects tied to native tasks in Escudero’s political stronghold — tasks inserted late within the funds course of and now underneath quiet assessment. 

In the meantime, former DPWH Secretary Mark Villar, as soon as the architect of the Duterte administration’s “Construct, Construct, Construct” program, is now underneath preliminary investigation by the DOJ for alleged irregularities tied to flood-control contracts. The DOJ’s fact-finding groups have begun inspecting venture clusters from Villar’s tenure — many awarded to companies now tagged in COA purple flags and whistleblower affidavits. If substantiated, the findings may blow open the whole system of collusion between DPWH insiders and their favored contractors.

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What was meant to reveal rot has become a mirror reflecting the decay of the whole system. The irony is grotesque: senators defending tainted witnesses, whistleblowers underneath state safety regardless of self-confessed crimes, and Cupboard males feigning ignorance when their names negatively floor in audit reviews.

Why this investigation is failing

Three causes now clarify why I imagine this fact-finding campaign towards authorities corruption has turned to rubble:

• Ethical Compromise. Escudero’s alleged receipt of kickbacks working into billions of pesos, Romualdez and Zaldy Co’s alleged involvement on this entire train, and Villar’s DOJ probe have eroded no matter remaining credibility this inquiry had. When the accuser can be the accused, fact is collateral harm.
• Selective Outrage. Lawmakers assault their rivals, however defend their allies and themselves. COA reviews, Anti–Cash Laundering Council (AMLC) traces, and DPWH disbursement data stay unexamined, whereas Senate hearings chase headlines.
• Political Interference. The flood-control investigation has turn out to be a battlefield between the Escudero camp and Romualdez bloc, making certain that no last report will survive unedited. Every faction now fights, not for justice, however for narrative management.

A dismal endgame

If nothing adjustments, this probe will finish like all its predecessors — theatrical, wasteful, and totally inconsequential. Billions in flood-control funds will stay unaccounted for; tainted contractors will quietly reemerge subsequent fiscal 12 months; and senators will resume posturing as reformists, whereas burying their very own fingerprints underneath procedural mud.

Opaque ICI’s investigations, the DOJ’s transfer towards Villar, and the swirling whispers of everybody partaking of the loot all level to a single, damning fact: the investigation has turned inward, devouring itself. The COA’s purple flags have been twisted by partisanship; the Ombudsman has but to behave decisively; and the DOJ is strolling a tightrope between publicity and complicity.

Accountability can not bloom in poisoned soil. Except rebuilt on onerous proof and purged of hypocrisy and self-preservation, this probe will drown — not in floodwater, however within the sludge of its personal deceit. – Rappler.com