Is Janet Lim Napoles worth killing?

Murderous senators? That, according to Senator Miriam Santiago, is what alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles should really be worried about. Napoles told: Talk or die, screams the Inquirer.net headline. You wonder if this is a scene in the police interrogation room from an old 1970’s police drama, before the suspect “lawyer’s up”, except that this is the Philippine Senate.

Janet Lim Napoles: In safe hands?

Janet Lim Napoles: In safe hands?

People ask, what is the point of this Senate “inquiry”? Filipinos have been asking that question since 1987 when the Philippine Senate was first re-convened after a couple of decades of Senate-less government under former President Ferdinand Marcos. Specifically, why do big-time suspected crooks like Napoles have to face such “inquiries” when such exercises do not lead to any punitive actions against the objects of these inquiries? Well, it is because meting out justice is not the goal of such inquiries. These “inquiries” are really supposed to be conducted in the aid of legislation. In short, the outcome of the grilling copped by Napoles in the hands of these senators should come in the form of improved laws relevant to the matter taken up.

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT SOCIAL COMMENTARY!
Subscribe to our Substack community GRP Insider to receive by email our in-depth free weekly newsletter. Opt into a paid subscription and you'll get premium insider briefs and insights from us.
Subscribe to our Substack newsletter, GRP Insider!
Learn more

Fat chance.

Miriam Santiago: Pointless exercise?

Miriam Santiago: Pointless exercise?

Santiago’s grilling of Napoles is case-in-point. All we really got out of this circus is a demonstration of its pointlessness beyond serving as a venue for politicians to grandstand and field innuendoes against rival politicians. What legislation does all this aid and what possible improvements in the law do these songs-and-dances reveal? Nothing new. Much of the principles at stake in the debate surrounding pork barrel thievery that the Napoles imbroglio had brought to the spotlight again are pretty much obvious. The opportunities to improve the laws have long been known. The trouble is that those who have the power to implement these improvements profit mightily from the status quo.

Even the purported threats against Napoles’s life are starting to seem ludicrous. Seasoned politicians are, by now, quite familiar with the renowned collective amnesia of Filipinos. All they need to do is shut up and lie low, perhaps disappear for a while or act inconspicuously (as in do their job quietly). Eventually the “issue” will simply go away. Indeed, Christmas is fast approaching. Filipinos will come out of that long-awaited Fiesta season heady with lambanog and minds numbed from their society’s intractable politics, buying a bit of time for our politicians to wipe the scandal off their Teflon images.

Trillanes: Rebel-leader-turned-Teflon-politician

Trillanes: Rebel-leader-turned-Teflon-politician

What? Napoles worry? Killing her is not worth the trouble. Even if she implicates every Senator and his or her dog, politicians routinely come back from even the deadest political death. Ask former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada who was convicted for plunder in 2007. He is now Mayor of Manila. Or take, “senator” Antonio Trillanes IV who was jailed for a total seven years over various acts of rebellion he allegedly perpetrated between 2003 and 2007. He is now a Philippine “senator” and served as “senator-judge” no less in the impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012.

Imagine that. A convicted plundered became Manila Mayor and a jailed rebel leader sat as “judge” in the impeachment of a Supreme Court Chief Justice.

What a country.

Janet Lim Napoles need not worry. Only idiots like Andal Ampatuan kill their political opponents. Suffice to say, the people she could implicate if she squeals are a lot classier than those sorts. And they know their forgetful and forgiving constituents quite well.

18 Replies to “Is Janet Lim Napoles worth killing?”

    1. The pinoys maybe are proud of our circus courts in aid of legislation; Our forgiving spirits, our double standard justice, our corrupt officials, our wealth generating government positions, our showbiz politics, our amnesiatic characters, proud of our poors, proud of our wealthy politicians and international businessmen who still makes it to the lists of wealthiest in Asia or the world, proud of our beatiful pageant queens, champion athletes, pride being provider of work force for overseas countries, most of all proud to be a potential Tiger of Asia in Economic progress and the wealthiest in Natural resources but untapped yet, and any more prides YET WE CAN NOT GET-OVER OUR PROBLEMS BECAUSE WE ARE HANDCUFFED WITH DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS.

  1. it is about time some here at GRP said that the circus’s being televised for the ‘benefit’ of the ‘people’ are just that: Circus’s.

    a few minor points? the ‘Point’ is to look as if doing something. improve the law? Uh, Nah! Teflon images? even when they are known to be lying thieving scumbags? Nah. Classier than an Amputuan? Well, has anyone really looked to see where the ‘alleged’ killers are lately? Uh, not really? Forgetful constituents? Maybe, Senators protected by powers greater than themselves and any the Philippine Military can offer? As ‘Butt-head’ says to ‘Beavis’: “Hey Beavis…these guys are cool.”.

    why or how doesn’t matter. it just IS, and it can not be changed. but PLEASE, the alleged ‘in-fighting’ is as real as a W.W.E. match. What a country? ROTFLMAO.

  2. Sen. Santiago did state during her press conference that the hearings were a pointless exercise and accused the blue ribbon committee of grandstanding ahead of the 2016 elections:

    “This is the best the senate can do. In the first place the NBI is investigating, so what’s the point? The NBI is already running after the facts, anong gagawin namin? Para lang makita sa TV kami [para] sa 2016?”

    On the absurd expectation that the Senate hearings will result in legislation to somehow “stop” corruption:

    “Anong inaasahan namin? Inquiry in aid of legislation? Anong batas naman ang ipapasa namin?”

    And:

    “Ano ba pakialam namin dito? Gusto lang namin sumakay sa banda.”

    1. True.

      That’s why that Senate proceeding looked too fake to be real for me. Waste of time, money and energy..and some of the people there would want to impress the unwashed masses for the upcoming elections three years from now. So that at least, they will have some “bragging rights” on their belt..like Corona impeachment, and now Napoles hmm interview?.

      Riding the bandwagon seems to be the norm in today’s society..or so I think.. oh well.. /facepalm /facedesk /slitthroat =))

  3. Napoles is just a pawn ready to be sacrificed anytime. People are just too dumb to realize that there is someone greater than her, like the knights, bishops, queen and king. They are laughing at the filipino people for being too gullible.

  4. She is not worth killing. Senate inquiries do not produce any result. Even if these thieves are convicted and jailed. They will run for offices, resurrected politically. and will again steal.
    As the late Prof. Albert Einstein had stated: “Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over, expecting different results.” I don’t know , if we are all insane, or have lost touch of our realities.

  5. The political circus of the senate blue ribbon committee was an outrageous sham. Political grandstanding and expediency reared its ugly head again and again. The senators engaged in a trial by publicity making themselves look good when it was apparent that they were a self-proclaimed kangaroo court. They set-up and prejudged Janet Napoles and threw the constitutional presumption of her innocence out of the window. Many say that even human rights of the accused was ignored by the hypocrite senators. Why was the senate acting like a trial court?

    1. a trial court? nothing is going to happen to her, to suppose it? is laughable. kinda like, your being P-noy’s Uncle! I did not forget, just waiting for the right moment to remember! BWAHAHAHAHAA!!!!!

      a trial court w/out a verdict, a sentence. anything else missing?DUH!

    1. Oh what’s the matter jonas’ doppleganger? So asshurt about her saying what she said according to the law? You just love to be an outlaw do you? Go back in the Old West then and good luck facing a gunslinger in a showdown.

  6. Was eating popcorn during the proceedings..it was hilariously dumb, pathetic, smells like freakin’ sh*tstorm, captain obvious approved, BS!

    We’re like in the middle of the season of this drama and yes..the crowd is in it for another hook, line and sinker. If this was drama, then it is an excellent example of really bad writing..then again, all of them were bad actors. 😀

    Seeing the drunk manongs fight outside on the street was more entertaining than this snorefest. However, there’s one thing I learned..if I was still at school..maybe I could have said that I invoke this and I invoke that so that I don’t have to answer a question LMAO!

    How many more episodes do we have of this? For that I do not know..I guess maybe I expected too much and I didn’t get anything in return.

    If she ends up getting killed in the process that still won’t do any justice to everyone who has suffered due to mismanagement of our own tax money, she’ll just be in a long list of people that had their 15 minutes of fame only to be killed off and the show will still go on.

    To me, she’s like a filler character in a series, for the main villains are still on the loose. Will we ever get our money back from this really bad soap opera? well eventually that would be NO and NEVER, because we paid for this to happen. Just imagine all of that accumulated wealth…and yet our paychecks still bleed to this day and wallets cry in disdain. 😀

    Anyway, gonna wait for the next episode.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.