E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
“F_ck off!!!”
Thursday, 09 27, 2007
I thought those were the words Joey de Venecia heard as coming from the First Spouse (FS), as he recreated the encounter by jabbing a finger to the nose of Iloilo Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico during the first hearing on the ZTE broadband deal at the Senate. Only when Sen. Alan Cayetano tried to elicit the Pilipino translation of the words - whether it is sinindak or dinuro - did it dawn on me that what the FS actually said was “Back off,” not “F_ck off.”
Whatever. I say they are idem sonams, sounding alike as they do. A number of my friends, who are at ease with the idioms of the language, think likewise, too. And not a few of them have said the two expressions might as well mean the same thing when one considers that the authorship of the first expletive is attributed to the FS. Here’s what they say:
Friend A: “Back off” could mean “Don’t get involved anymore, since I am way ahead of you.” Similarly, “F_ck off” could mean “If you don’t want to get screwed on the deal, get out.”
Friend B: “Back off” could also mean “Who’s behind you anyway. In the pecking order, my wife is first, your father is only fourth!” Similarly, “F_ck off” could mean “I will take a dump on you first before you can get any headway on this deal.”
Friend C: “Back off” and “F_uck off” could altogether mean “Let’s join forces and screw the country together; you get $10 million of the bribe, while the rest goes to me.” But given the way Joey demonstrated how he was bullied - sinindak or dinuro - I doubt very much whether anyone will tend to interpret this as a warning, accompanied by a sly conspiratorial innuendo.
Friend D: “Back off” could mean “My wife and I don’t owe you and your father anything, so leave everything to us and bugger off!? While “F_ck off” could mean “You and your father have sponged off on us for so long, so it is time for you to back down!”
How we can play with words in this time of crisis! How frivolous could we get, when we should be outraged that everything rotten in this Administration cloys our noses with the stink of corruption; when the arguments and defenses concocted out of thin air to justify the disparate revelations of the players on the deal expose the bankruptcy of the minds behind the cover-up; when the silence of the FS is deafening and his flight to everywhere else reinforces the Latin maxim Excusatio non petita, accusatio manifesta. He who excuses himself, accuses himself. Put differently, flight is guilt. For a second time, being flighty is no longer healthy to the gentleman’s reputation.
Joey comes across as straight as an arrow, and he has thrown caution to the wind with his expose about the intervention of the FS on the ZTE deal. Threats of criminal prosecution for alleged violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act do not faze him. He is unmindful of the dire consequences of his expose on the fate of his father as Speaker. In short, he has sent the clear message to his adversaries: “Back off. I’m in for the long haul, come what may.”
What does it matter that Joey might have done drugs in his youth, as a presidential daughter has alleged? What is relevant here is the truth or untruth of his revelation about the meetings at Wack-Wack in Mandaluyong City, at a hotel in China and at his father’s house in Makati City, the details of which are being denied in as many versions as there are apologists of the FS. To Joey, this is a sure sign that his adversaries on the ZTE deal are screwing around in total panic, and only God knows where these adversaries will excuse themselves after all the hearings at the Senate.
Corruption seems to pervade the heart of all deals in this Administration, at all levels. The unfortunate downside of all these deals is that the citizenry cannot back off from shouldering the burden of paying off the costs of the projects, after the bribes have been factored in. Also, they cannot cry “Bug off!” while they are getting gloriously screwed by those on the deal, who can withdraw prematurely - and with impunity - at the first sign of public exposure.
Not anymore. It took Joey to unmask the faces of those behind the graft and corruption in the ZTE deal. (Six years ago, there was one brave soul who exposed to the public a similar face behind a telecommunications deal, reaching as far as the kitchen of Malacanang, but she has since died and so the investigation of that deal has gone nowhere.) From the looks of it, Joey is not backing off. Instead, he is now giving the finger on everyone in on the deal, telling them to commit an anatomical impossibility upon themselves. Given the relentless offensive mode that Joey has gone into, the FS cannot feign illness to fend off the accusation that Joey has let loose. The accusation will hound the FS, everywhere he goes, ill health or no.
Suplico, who worked with me in securing the franchise for the telecommunications company of Joey some time in the 1990s, tells me of one anecdote surrounding the franchise, for which our law firm got the job: Told by his original lawyer that it would need his father’s intervention to get the bill moving past the committee stage, Joey was said to have been quick to say: “F_ck off!” He was then very much his own man.
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