[Edgewise] Inform it to the marines 

This all looks like a badly written script

A lawyer neighbor (who shall stay unnamed) excitedly instructed me he helped file a blockbuster affidavit that might convey down the Marcos administration and derail each the upcoming impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte and the trial of Tatay Digong on the Worldwide Prison Court docket.

“We accuse President Bongbong Marcos, Senate President Tito Sotto, ex-speaker Martin Romualdez, ex-senator Antonio Trillanes, Consultant Leila De Lima, and greater than 30 present and former authorities officers of receiving a whopping 805 billion pesos in kickbacks from anomalous flood management initiatives,” he bragged.

Oh, c’mon, P805 billion? Inform it to the marines.

“I did,” he beamed. “Eighteen of them, to be actual, signed the joint affidavit I drafted stating that they counted and packed the money — or that the stash got here already packed in suitcases, because the case could also be — and personally delivered the loot. They have been bagmen and safety escorts of congressman Zaldy Co, the cash’s supply who’s now hiding in Portugal.”

So, the joint affidavit means they have been all the time collectively delivering cash — every time, on a regular basis? You’re pulling my leg. What number of vans did that take? Your buddy Mike Defensor’s spouse will need to have a fleet of them. 

“No naman, don’t be so simple-minded. And for the document, Mike Defensor will not be concerned in any respect. Simply his spouse’s van.”

However why embrace Sotto, De Lima and Trillanes? You’re telling me they delivered the cash to Sotto when he wasn’t even a senator on the time, De Lima whereas she was nonetheless in jail on Duterte’s trumped-up prices or earlier than she was even in Congress? I’ll consider that when pigs fly.

“Who mentioned something about ex-PNP cops? I mentioned ex-marines. High quality. I’ll scratch De Lima from the checklist. Joyful now? It was only a slip of the pen. However Trillanes wanted hundreds of thousands to bribe the ICC. That’s why that overseas courtroom is treating Tatay Digong so badly.”

Nonetheless, P805 billion is such an unbelievably large quantity of kickback. It’s virtually twice the protection funds. In truth, it’s 60% of training’s, and 15% of all of the money in circulation within the Philippines. You imply to inform me Zaldy Co & Co. cleaned out the central financial institution? Go pull my different leg.

“Nicely, it’s big-time graft and corruption we’re speaking about right here,” he shrugged.

Simply blowing smoke

So, the ex-marines packed the 805 billion pesos in 13,000 suitcases — the whole stock of baggage in SM, Landmark, Greenhills, Divisoria? In the event that they counted half 1,000,000 pesos a day, it might’ve taken them over 4 years nonstop to complete. The haul would weigh 800 metric tons! 

“What can I say? They have been actually quick and bodily match ex-marines, you recognize. At all times outnumbered, by no means out — one thing, one thing.”

By no means outfought. That’s from the previous Philippine Constabulary, foolish, not the marines. By no means outbought, possibly. In addition to, eight of them have been by no means assigned to Zaldy Co, some weren’t marines or have been dishonorably discharged, and 6 are even going through homicide raps. How credible does that make them? You higher get your story straight, my buddy.

“Hey, wait a minute. My shoppers are patriotic whistleblowers who’re keen to testify towards wrongdoers for the great of the nation. Why are you treating them like they’re the accused?”

Appears like they’re simply blowing smoke. This all looks like a badly written script. Like an previous film the place Joseph Estrada and the kontrabida have a fistfight that begins within the morning, stumbles up and down two hills, and ends within the night.

“Don’t be so dramatic. I’m a topnotch lawyer not a screenwriter. Go fly a kite.”

Talking of flying, how dependable can your ex-marines be? One mentioned he flew with Zaldy Co to ship cash to President Marcos. However there’s no document of any such flight. That marine can’t even say what city in Ilocos President Bongbong’s residence is situated.

“Should you don’t consider us you may go leap in a lake!” he snarled.

A lake, my buddy, is strictly the place you and your 18 ex-marines will find yourself, like lacking sabungeros, when your declare sinks and also you all pose the danger of exposing your secret handlers.

“Oh, go take a hike.” – Rappler.com

Rene Ciria Cruz is an editor at positivelyfilipino.com. He edited the e-book A Time to Rise: Collective Memoirs of the Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP), (UP Press), and was Inquirer.internet’s US Bureau Chief 2013-2023. He has written for the San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, Pacific Information Service, and California Lawyer Journal.