“Bacchanalia” by Peter Paul Rubens. c.1615. Oil on canvas. The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia; from abcgallery.com
Not disputed by the President herself, or by Malacañang or by any of the President’s men, or staffmember of the Office of the President, is that portion of the testimony of former NEDA chief Romulo Neri, that he called her up sometime in January to inform her of the bribe offer to him by Comelec chair Abalos in the amount of P200 million pesos.
It was not disputed by the President or any of her subalterns. At any point of the day today.
Not disputed by the President, or any member of her staff, is another implied statement that: the President, upon being informed of a crime (for it is a crime, a bribe offer is) did not do anything.
She just stood there upon learning of the bribe offer and did nothing.
Not disputed by the President, or any member of her staff, or any official and public record, is the fact that between January and the time of Mr. Joey de Venecia’s public statements last month, no complaint or memo or note was ever sent by the President or the Office of the President, to any official investigating body in order to look into the matter of the 200-million- peso bribe offer.
After a public outcry, she gave a statement, and only yesterday, vaguely referring to some sort of an investigation, but never offered any report on it. Who conducted the investigation? Who was investigated? Who were summoned? Who gave their testimonies?
Not disputed by the President or of any member of her staff, or by the records, is that, neither the Ombudsman nor the Department of Justice— agencies tasked to investigate crimes — were ever asked by the President in January, after the phone call, to look into the allegations of the 200 million bribe offer. She just puttered around and went about her business for the next eight months.
Not disputed by the President nor by any member of her staff is that, upon being informed of such crime (or even alleged crime), the 200 million bribe offer, she sent instructions and ordered the public officials concerned to go ahead with the project.
(She even went to China to witness the signing of the contract. )
She accommodated or did not do anything about the bribe offers going on.
When informed of the 200 million bribe offer, didn’t she even tell her staff “Jeez, ano ba yon!!! Ipatawag nyo nga si Ben Abalos! Ipatawag nyo ngayon din!” (“Jeez, what’s going on!!! Call Ben Abalos!! Call him right now!”)
This is one time when she had to, and it was appropriate for her, to make a phone call. Didn’t she, even make one teeny-weeny phone call and say, “Hello Ben! Ano ba ‘tong ginagawa mo?! Sabi ni Romy nanunuhol ka daw?!!” (“Hello Ben! What’s going on?! Romy said you were bribing him?!!”)
In January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, didn’t she even feel one bit bothered, one bit concerned, or even one bit duty-bound, didn’t she even, one bit, bite her lip or wring her hand or frown her forehead, and say, “I think I should investigate this, the Comelec chair offering a bribe on our project!”
All these, not disputed by the President or by her staff or by any of the records.
