Cain and Abel

E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Cain and Abel
Sunday, 09 07, 2003

Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo, a.k.a. Jose Pidal, or so he claims, has the made the supreme sacrifice. He owned up to the accounts his elder brother was suspected to have opened and harbored. It is now open season for Iggy. Chances are he could be prosecuted for all conceivable crimes committed arising from the bank accounts using allegedly dirty money.

That of his kuya though is another woeful story. Kuya’s performance during the first hearing of the Senate committees last Tuesday was an abject lesson in ungratefulness and treachery. Here was kuya endlessly pointing to his younger brother, the “rich Arroyo,” as the culprit. It was Cain and Abel all over again: Cain, the elder, not minding what would befall his younger brother, Abel. Abel was practically led to the slaughter.

Indeed, kuya may not be his brother’s keeper, but should we not expect him to at least acknowledge with gratitude his younger brother’s gesture by not putting the latter any deeper in complicated legal tussles? Maybe Iggy could very well fend for himself, given his alleged multi-millions, but his elder brother’s insistence that he is the rich Arroyo leaves one begging this question: If he is the rich Arroyo, why is he the fall guy everyone in Bacolod does not believe him to be? Kuya should have given the ordinary bacoleño the benefit of better intelligence, meaning somebody else more believable should take the rap, according to them.

Ask my brother, kuya said many times over. But will Iggy be able to give the answers? Judging from his demeanor in his understandably well-managed media appearances, he will not. He will surely find his foot in his mouth.

Did kuya tell Iggy that if he owns up to the Pidal accounts, he will go to jail? Did he assure Iggy that anyway he will be spared the gallows? Will former Senate President Avelino’s famous “Para que estamos en poder” guarantee non-indictment since the Senate still abounds with their apologists? Poor Iggy, he may have to go to jail once Sen. Ping Lacson’s charges are proven. No one can guarantee immunity. Sooner than soon, the guilty will have to answer for their misconduct. Iggy could have been assured, but the “assurer” of his immunity is terribly wrong. This is treachery, because the assurance, if one was really given, is just a make believe, not while the public remains vigilant against corruption.

Kuya was evasive, hostile and irritable last Tuesday. The lawyer in him was left out the doors of the Senate. He could not parry the questions, and he even drew himself into a corner when he engaged Sen. John Osmeña in an exchange on the genealogy of the Tuazons-Arroyos. He could remember as far back as the Spanish times how many horses and hours it took his forefather to ride to claim thousands of hectares of what is now Quezon City. Yet he could not recall a very recent real estate transaction that netted him a huge sum in dollars. He contradicted himself many times over, not even remembering whether he ever acknowledged knowing Jose Pidal is the claimed pseudonym of his brother Iggy. Selective amnesia, as Sen. Tessie Oreta aptly described it.

Hostile kuya was. He had to be reminded, thankfully, by the chairman of the blue ribbon committee to be more courteous He easily forgot he was no longer the First Spouse of the occupant of that Palace by the stinking river, but the first person on the dock. What riled him most – although he sheepishly uttered: “Walang personalan dito” in reacting to a biting relevant question from Sen. Ed Angara – were the references to his alleged liaison with the co-depositor of the real Jose Pidal. Indeed, sometimes it takes a painful disguised truth to raise one’s gander.

Kuya had been asking for a forum to clear his name. The Senate hearing offered him one, but he botched it.

Kuya’s performance is damning to Iggy, because despite the telltale signs of the obvious guilt of somebody else, Iggy came out of nowhere to reiterate his claims he is the now infamous Jose Pidal. Well, if he insists, then he could be liable for obstruction of justice, falsification, perjury, money laundering; violation of the Election Code, plunder, etcetera.

The 40-minute preliminaries (to settle the issue of the proper procedure to follow) was a despicable attempt to stop the hearing at the Senate last Tuesday. What will the apologists of the real Jose Pidal think of next? Will they stop Iggy from opening his mouth if he does appear at the next hearing tomorrow?

Some senators (only three of them anyway) appear too eager to play the role of brothers keepers, prompting my friend Lito Banayo to guip: “Talagang baboy ang mga kuya nila dito!.” But anyone hoping that should the blue ribbon committee opt out of the hearing, the investigation into the Jose Pidal account will be stopped, should forget it. The two other committees (one headed by Sen. Ed Angara, the other by Sen. Serge Osmeña) can always continue the investigation. Nobody should throw his weight around, much less dictate on how the three committees conducting the joint hearings should go about their business of ferreting out the truth. Let the truth out.

Cain was banished from Eden after Abel was done in. In this continuing saga of Jose Pidal, shall we witness the banishment of one (from Perea, San Francisco and everywhere) after the other shall have sacrificed his honor, life and imagined millions of his elder brother? Tomorrow, let us see how Iggy will perform.


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