‘Imagine the Senate had to issue warrants of arrest to these people, when what the senators wanted was just for them to explain the deals that they made.’
PRESIDENT Duterte spent a good part of his pre-recorded TV appearance, “Talk to the People” vilifying Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, which is investigating alleged large-scale corruption in the purchase of face masks, face shields and other personal protection equipment (PPE) of the Department of Health.
Since the Senate probe is following the paper trail of corruption that is leading to his ex-presidential economic adviser and friend, Michael Yang, and grilling a favorite former Budget undersecretary, Lloyd Christopher Lao who is linked as assistant to then Malacañang functionary Sen. Christopher Go who has denied the link, the President is visibly irked.
Duterte and his spokesman Harry Roque have been parrying accusations of official corruption trained on the Palace, which is just normal, but the way they do it pathetically reveals the weakness of their arguments.
In the art of argumentation, when a debater uses ad hominem arguments and digs up other issues not related to the one on hand, you will know that his position is wobbly. When Roque compared the price of their three-item PPE package with the price of the Aquino administration’s 12-item PPE package and said that theirs is “cheaper” and “tapos na ang boksing,” you can discern that he is “nagpapalusot.”
Senator Gordon was too busy and his hands full of the various shocking details of corruption and trading manipulations going on in the Procurement Service-Department of the Budget and Management that he chose not to answer Duterte’s claim that there, too, are discrepancies in the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) that needs auditing. Gordon is also chairman of the PRC, a private institution which strong ties with the government in the area of disaster mitigation and response.
Duterte wants the Commission on Audit (COA) to audit the books of Red Cross, which the Board of Governors opposed. They explained that funds and expenses of the PRC are audited by a private international auditing firm which is also the auditor of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies which is furnished a copy of the audit report.
The board said these audit reports have no findings of any wrongdoing of the institution or its officers, in connection with regular operations and even in their initiatives during major natural disasters such as typhoon “Haiyan” (Yolanda), and tropical storms “Ondoy” and “Sendong.”
The Palace is well advised to use its personal relations with businessman Michael Yang and other personalities wanted by the Senate to shed light on the scandalous deals entered into by the PS-DBM. Imagine the Senate had to issue warrants of arrest to these people, when what the senators wanted was just for them to explain the deals that they made.
Given this impasse, we wonder how Christopher Go, a senator who seemed not to have left the Palace, will react.
