E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
Omerta
Sunday, 10 31, 2004
In the past, some of the polysyllabic pronouncements of Sen. Miriam Santiago may have been a bit too rich for my jaded tastes, but this time she could not have stated it any better when she branded the conspirators of systematic looting in the military as “predators of the people.” Carting away some P2 billion in public funds yearly, this group of generals, also described as the “military mafia,” have taken a vow of silence now that their acts of plunder are one after another being exposed. And no one could expect a single tight-lipped vulture from among the “predators of the people” to break the vow of silence they took when they swooped down on the coffers of the State and stripped it clean of its contents.
In the wake of l’affaire Garcia the time-honored Sicilian Mafia’s code of silence – omerta - is now convulsing the military mafia.
In the Philippine military, when an unmanned aerial vehicle worth P117 million goes missing despite its having been fully paid for, nobody wonders why it has vanished into thin air. When a mansion worth P15 million suddenly sprouts in a military subdivision and makes the neighboring houses appear like squatters’ hovels in comparison, no one is expected to explain how its owner, who draws a monthly salary of P35,000, has miraculously come into a great deal of capital. When a general’s son is apprehended with $100,000 pocket money by the U.S. immigration authorities, silence is golden. When the wife buys a condominium unit worth $780,000 in New York, no one sees, no one hears, and no one talks about it to explain where the money to buy it came from. Silence is golden, too, when a general manages to secure the release of P533 million from the military’s retirement benefits fund, and conveniently pockets for himself P167 million in a land scam that could not have been staged without the knowledge and collusion of other officers. And when a general’s statement of assets and liabilities jumps ten-fold over a two-year period, no eyebrows are raised even if only for curiosity.
Omerta dictates that one keeps silent, dumb, numb, unseeing - or else…
So when Congress conducts an investigation no one talks, and everyone invokes the right to privacy and to remain silent. From where we stand, it looks more like the right to piracy and to remain scot-free. We said it before, we will state it again: Silence is the refuge of scoundrels. In the ongoing investigations, we perceive a conspiracy of silence.
The arrogance of the generals shines bright and clear in their deafening silence before the Golez committee investigating corruption in the military. By all means, it is not the noble silence of the wise, but rather the arrogant silence of the guilty. Worse, they have the temerity to lecture to the legislators on whom to include or not in the investigations: Mr. Investigator, sir; I have this filthy-rich relative whom you should investigate - he is the convenient source of my unexplained riches. I say: Mr. General, sir; you can tell that to the Marines.
There are no more good guys in the upper echelons of the military. Every single one appears to have been compromised by his own greed or by the slippery morals of his superiors. There is even the ugly perception that those in the lower ranks are not especially keen to denounce these scoundrels, because they are just waiting for that proverbial fair weather, meaning, given the same opportunities they would also help themselves to the booty.
In the Philippine military, when an unmanned aerial vehicle worth P117 million goes missing despite its having been fully paid for, nobody wonders why it has vanished into thin air. When a mansion worth P15 million suddenly sprouts in a military subdivision and makes the neighboring houses appear like squatters’ hovels in comparison, no one is expected to explain how its owner, who draws a monthly salary of P35,000, has miraculously come into a great deal of capital. When a general’s son is apprehended with $100,000 pocket money by the U.S. immigration authorities, silence is golden. When the wife buys a condominium unit worth $780,000 in New York, no one sees, no one hears, and no one talks about it to explain where the money to buy it came from. Silence is golden, too, when a general manages to secure the release of P533 million from the military’s retirement benefits fund, and conveniently pockets for himself P167 million in a land scam that could not have been staged without the knowledge and collusion of other officers. And when a general’s statement of assets and liabilities jumps ten-fold over a two-year period, no eyebrows are raised even if only for curiosity.
Omerta dictates that one keeps silent, dumb, numb, unseeing - or else…
So when Congress conducts an investigation no one talks, and everyone invokes the right to privacy and to remain silent. From where we stand, it looks more like the right to piracy and to remain scot-free. We said it before, we will state it again: Silence is the refuge of scoundrels. In the ongoing investigations, we perceive a conspiracy of silence.
The arrogance of the generals shines bright and clear in their deafening silence before the Golez committee investigating corruption in the military. By all means, it is not the noble silence of the wise, but rather the arrogant silence of the guilty. Worse, they have the temerity to lecture to the legislators on whom to include or not in the investigations: Mr. Investigator, sir; I have this filthy-rich relative whom you should investigate - he is the convenient source of my unexplained riches. I say: Mr. General, sir; you can tell that to the Marines.
There are no more good guys in the upper echelons of the military. Every single one appears to have been compromised by his own greed or by the slippery morals of his superiors. There is even the ugly perception that those in the lower ranks are not especially keen to denounce these scoundrels, because they are just waiting for that proverbial fair weather, meaning, given the same opportunities they would also help themselves to the booty.
The captive media is part of the incipient omerta. Until a newspaper like The Daily Tribune blew the lid, the gripes of junior officers merely circulated through whispers or text messages and never landed any line or space in the dailies. And it was not until the leads uncovered in the congressional investigation did the captive media somehow atone for their silence by giving the corruption charges the prominence they deserve. Two days ago, we even had a daily requesting the public to go easy on the military.
What about the militant ministers of the church, and the so-called righteous members of civil society? They who made a federal case of the unsubstantiated charges of corruption against then President Estrada? Why are they silent as well? What keeps them from speaking out against the corruption so large a scale never seen before?
And the banks. Why are the dirty millions stashed in their vaults easily spirited out? Not a shrill alarm from them. Despite the howl and indignation over the source of the deposits, Garcia is again reported to have withdrawn P38 million that easily.
It is most condemnable that the silence of those charged or perceived to be corrupt are hiding behind the Constitutional guarantee against self-incrimination, or the Bank Secrecy Law. These are supposed to be civil and judicial guarantees, but are now being abused as instruments for fraud. These guarantees are now instruments of omerta.
Even the Speaker of the House has been gripped by the talons of the predators of the people. Otherwise, why is he so enthusiastically calling for an end to the investigations? Golez, on the other hand, appears to have forgotten to invoke the Rules on Investigations, which arm his committee with enough sanctions to whip into line witnesses before it who shroud their silence with their arrogance. Whoever gave Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes the authority to shout at a congresswoman? Even chivalry is now dead! Or for him to threaten Golez? Such arrogance! There is no way to describe the demeanor of Reyes, a former chief of staff, except as uncouth. His behavior was execrable and has henceforth excluded him from that brotherhood of military men that deserve the sobriquet 'officer and a gentleman.'
The generals’ Commander-in-Chief is bound by the strictures and threats of omerta as well. Beyond the public statement calling for a court martial here and an investigation there, one could surmise from her pronouncements and her handling of Reyes that she is not really committed to netting in the bigger specimens of Garcia. [Garcia is such a small fry; the big fishes for whom he slaved are still out there]. After all, she owes her hold on power to them.
The generals are going their merry ways, but not for long. Already, the rumblings of the lower echelons are evident. The longer the generals keep silent, the more the indignations that long seethed beneath the military hierarchy will rise until they reach that critical eruption point.
Last night, I had a dream…Three generals, all of them retired, were supposed to be cooking up a coup. To save their own kin? Or to install a new order of morality, and do away with the corrupt among the ranks of the military? I had to force myself to come awake, afraid to watch the ensuing nightmare had I allowed myself to dream on.
I will welcome the second, and condemn the first.
For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph
What about the militant ministers of the church, and the so-called righteous members of civil society? They who made a federal case of the unsubstantiated charges of corruption against then President Estrada? Why are they silent as well? What keeps them from speaking out against the corruption so large a scale never seen before?
And the banks. Why are the dirty millions stashed in their vaults easily spirited out? Not a shrill alarm from them. Despite the howl and indignation over the source of the deposits, Garcia is again reported to have withdrawn P38 million that easily.
It is most condemnable that the silence of those charged or perceived to be corrupt are hiding behind the Constitutional guarantee against self-incrimination, or the Bank Secrecy Law. These are supposed to be civil and judicial guarantees, but are now being abused as instruments for fraud. These guarantees are now instruments of omerta.
Even the Speaker of the House has been gripped by the talons of the predators of the people. Otherwise, why is he so enthusiastically calling for an end to the investigations? Golez, on the other hand, appears to have forgotten to invoke the Rules on Investigations, which arm his committee with enough sanctions to whip into line witnesses before it who shroud their silence with their arrogance. Whoever gave Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes the authority to shout at a congresswoman? Even chivalry is now dead! Or for him to threaten Golez? Such arrogance! There is no way to describe the demeanor of Reyes, a former chief of staff, except as uncouth. His behavior was execrable and has henceforth excluded him from that brotherhood of military men that deserve the sobriquet 'officer and a gentleman.'
The generals’ Commander-in-Chief is bound by the strictures and threats of omerta as well. Beyond the public statement calling for a court martial here and an investigation there, one could surmise from her pronouncements and her handling of Reyes that she is not really committed to netting in the bigger specimens of Garcia. [Garcia is such a small fry; the big fishes for whom he slaved are still out there]. After all, she owes her hold on power to them.
The generals are going their merry ways, but not for long. Already, the rumblings of the lower echelons are evident. The longer the generals keep silent, the more the indignations that long seethed beneath the military hierarchy will rise until they reach that critical eruption point.
Last night, I had a dream…Three generals, all of them retired, were supposed to be cooking up a coup. To save their own kin? Or to install a new order of morality, and do away with the corrupt among the ranks of the military? I had to force myself to come awake, afraid to watch the ensuing nightmare had I allowed myself to dream on.
I will welcome the second, and condemn the first.
For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph
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