After he confirmed a reward system for “ninja cops” in 2019 and retired police Col. Royina Garma said he was in charge of delivering payments for killings in the Duterte “war on drugs” via Muking Espino, Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go now tries to wriggle out of his mess by unleashing a self-serving praise release carried by uncritical newspapers to snatch credit for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) stopping Finance Secretary Ralph Recto from snatching P89.9-billion from PhilHealth to buttress the unprogrammed appropriations (UA) of the Marcos Jr. administration.
This tasteless credit-grabbing really infuriates the Filipino people. Here is a senator who approved the UA claiming that because of his “pangungulit,” the Supreme Court (SC) abided by his “wisdom,” his deep sense of “empathy” for the poor people of this country and his eternally bleeding heart for the “destitute,” the “paupers” and the mass of exploited taxpayers. Like all his praise releases, this latest bit is proof of Bong Go’s gumption. Go’s tongue has been twisting so often that it is now tied in knots and extended for kilometers. He always tries to avoid telling the truth because the Dutertists are allergic to it. The will to equivocate is stronger than whatever skill he has in oratory, logic, or plain common sense. Go must be spending millions on his in-house PR operations in the newspapers and broadcast networks.
Nurse Alyn Andamo, Filipino Nurses United (FNU secretary general and a Koalisyong Makabayan senatorial aspirant, who has long lobbied for the government to broaden the universal health care system and provide the necessary armor to prevent lawmakers from filching its money, is incensed at the circus act of Bong Go, Duterte Sr.’s Man Friday. Yet, filching PhilHealth money is what former senator and congressman Ralph Recto exactly did when he obeyed Sen. Bong Go, who approved the proposal to allow the Department of Finance (DOF) to sequester “idle funds” from government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) and use it for whatever purpose he contemplates.
Andamo and Koalisyong Makabayan, along with party-list Bayan Muna, are naturally stumped by the “muy grueso” praise release of Bong Go, the way millions laughed at him when he opposed a measure in the Senate that he had signed. Senate reporters couldn’t believe their own eyes when they saw Go’s consultant at the lectern dictating to Go what he should say before the Senate. Only the best and the brightest served under the Duterte regime, like Sen. Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa who sits at the Blue Ribbon Committee investigating the “war on drugs” when he was the first implementor of the carnage, with Go as disbursing officer for the best shooters. Those who should be investigated are the ones investigating the witnesses, the survivors, and the orphans. The Senate is walking on its head, not on its feet.
“Delicadeza” no longer matters in the Senate, just as it has become obsolete in the House of Representatives and the Office of the President. Bong Go and de la Rosa see recusal from the inquiry as beneath their dignity, with the genius in the latter even claiming the Senate will allow a fair assessment of the “war on drugs.” Who would sponsor the fair assessment? The suspected implementors of the bloody war. Their argument doesn’t square. It won’t since it is founded on the premise that Duterte is their god’s gift to humankind. He’s beyond reproach. Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel’s plea for the Dutertists Bong Go and Bato de la Rosa to recuse themselves will not goad the two to retreat from the probe. They are glued to their seats for their own sake and to protect Duterte’s nose.
The two Dutertist senators were crowned in 2019. From then on, they learned fast, not on statutory construction and parliamentary rules but on how they could parlay their positions to promote their key projects. Bong Go targeted the media and a cursory reading of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Bulletin, Philippine Star, Manila Times, Daily Tribune and the alphabet soup of tabloids would show that Go is the inveterate media hound. As one editor said: Go farts and it lands on Page 2 or the back page. Even his nonsensical statements land in the papers as news and not as advertisements, which they really are. Bato has also joined the fun, with the additional melodrama at the Senate and tasteless kitsch getting some unwanted mileage.
This issue about the UA and the snatching of P90-billion of PhilHealth funds unravels the secret operations in the conclave called the bicameral conference committee (BCC) that allowed the fund sequestration scheme to be legitimized. The result for the tax-paying public has been parlous. BCC bloated the public works budget from ₱717 billion to ₱893 billion in 2023. For this year, the budget was increased from ₱821-billion to ₱997-billion. Both had similar ₱176-billion increases each year. BCC may legitimize absconding with PhilHealth cash but it does not erase the fear of a research group that the BCC is a “breeding ground fort corrupt and unfair practices.” It is the major reason why graft eats up anywhere from the conservative 20% of the budget to the inexcusable 40% of the GAA every year.
It is worth noting that the UA surged for three straight years, from 2022 to 2024. The Office of the President (OP) proposed UAs that were substantially increased by lawmakers. It went up by P100-billion in 2022, doubled to P219-billion in 2023 and then raised more than 200% to P449.541-billion this year. It means that the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration has become addicted to the annual padding of UAs. In contrast, the only UA that specifically addressed disasters was in 2010, when an increase of P50-billion was made for Support to Calamity-Related Programs and Projects.
