By HERBERT VEGO
IF it’s really true that Vice President Jejomar Binay – while still mayor of Makati City – squandered P2.7 billion of government funds for an 11-storey parking building that actually took only P700 million to build, then we can assume he had plundered more than a third of the padded budget.
An eventual conviction for plunder could send him behind bars and derail his ambition to be President of the Philippines in 2016.
But if he could wiggle his way out of the Office of the Ombudsman because his guilt could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt or just because he has the money to hush the complainants, then he could manipulate his way to the presidency.
For us who content ourselves with barely making both ends meet, the Binay dynasty’s insatiable lust for power is too much. For 28 long years, they have ruled Makati by “rotating” the mayor’s seat among themselves. Madam Elenita Binay has a pending case for “multimillion” overprice of furniture bought during her time as mayor.
Their son Jun-Jun, the present Makati mayor, is probably the only public official whose palatial house has an escalator and an elevator. How could he have enriched himself so fast?
Their daughters Abigail and Nancy are congresswoman and senator, respectively.
Of course, they can always cite the “voice of the people” as the supreme law behind their political potluck.
Of course, they would not admit having dealt under the table with the Social Weather Stations (SWS), Pulse Asia (both mind-conditioners) and Garci clones at the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Anything done under the table is not meant to be visible.
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Stalwarts of the Liberal Party (LP) who are desirous of fielding Mar Roxas as their official candidate for President must be doubting his capacity to win against Binay – the reason why they now float a “Cha-cha” scenario where an amendment to the Constitution would either prolong the term of the present president or abolish term limits so that PNoy could run for re-election.
Unfortunately, contrary to their expectation, the idea has not caught fire with the so-called “mga boss” who are fed up with rampant graft and corruption in tuwid na daan.
Since Mar Roxas is in no strong position to blame PNoy for appointing Binay head of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) – a position which the latter exploits to mobilize and popularize himself nationwide – the LP is now left with no choice but to disable Binay.
The moment Binay suffers the same “unbailable” fate now befalling his senator friends Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla, then that would truly end his climb. His immediate problem would then be how to save himself from conviction for plunder.
In that scenario, PNoy would not have to reject the plea of Kris and his other sisters to “import” Binay into the party as their presidential candidate.
And PNoy would also not have to contend with Johnny, Jinggoy and Bong, who – if Binay runs and wins – would then be in a position to fight back and squeal the President’s and his allies’ “friendship” with “pork queen” Janet Napoles.
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Somebody told me about the book, “The Richest Man in Town” but did not recommend that I buy one.
Instead, he summarized the seven ways by which 50 rich persons have made their pile kuno. These are:
- Owning their own business (“stop working for the man as soon as you can”, they all said);
- Working a lot (at least 60 hours per week);
- Focusing on value creation, not making money;
- Focusing on their unique talents and abilities and delegating everything else;
- Partnering only with those who bring something critical to the table;
- Getting addicted to ambition;
- Persistence. Never giving up. In fact, most of them believe that persistence is the only reason they have gotten farther ahead in life than other people.
If you have been practicing them without much success, so do I.
On second thought, patience pays./PN
