AMID the controversial Pharmally deal with the government which is being investigated by the Senate, some officials have posed me this question: What will happen to some of our elected and appointed public officials if convicted plunderer Janet Lim-Napoles finally speaks the truth this time about the PDAF scam which rocked the previous Aquino administration?

At present, the talk of the town is the ongoing investigation of the Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation’s ‘juicy contracts’ with the government with the company said to have bagged some P8.6 billion in government contracts during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

The investigation has given birth to so many speculations and innuendoes including charges that the company supposedly ‘swindled’ the Duterte administration; that it allegedly sold medical-grade face shields that were damaged or soiled with bogus manufacturing dates; that it only had a P599,000 capital when it opened up in 2019 but was awarded the huge contract despite having no track record of delivering quality and reasonably-priced materials, etc. etc.

Top figures of the badly-decimated Liberal Party led by Vice President Leni Robredo and other personalities with major interest in teh forthcoming 2022 presidential and national elections have also aired suspicions that Pharmally got help from people in power to secure multi-billion pesos contracts although Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the allegations were ‘absolutely bereft of merit.’

However, some ranking friends from the security force have told me that a major issue which has been ‘sleeping’ for quite some time may be reopened if Napoles decides to finally speak the truth regarding the multi-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF scam which led to her conviction for plunder.

Acquitted for graft and malversation of public funds by the Sandiganbayan in October 2010 for lack of evidence (the charges stemmed from the acquisition by the Armed Forces of multi-million worth of substandard Kevlar helmets), Napoles was accused of masterminding the PDAF scam or the alleged misuse of government funds for small-scale infrastructure or community projects.

Now serving her sentence at the Women’s Correctional Institute in Mandaluyong City, my friends said that many appointed or elected public officials who are known for their previous association with the once very wealthy and influential businesswoman, will for sure be having sleepless nights in the event their ‘Mam Jenny or Janet Napoles’ speaks the real truth for some considerations, like allowing her to post bail.

CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE AT THE PNPA

Amid the ‘hazing’ death of a PNP Academy cadet last week, General Gilor Eleazar on Monday decided to replace the incumbent PNPA director, Major Gen. Rod Armamento. Actually, Armamento, a friend from PNPA Class 1990 who will retire on June 30, 2004 merely traded post with PNP Director for Information Communications Technology, Maj. Gen. Alex Sampaga of PNPA Class 1989 who will be retiring on April 10, 2023.

The top cop announced the change of leadership at the PNPA a day after he talked with the mother of Cadet 3rd Class George Carl Magsayo who died after reportedly being punched in the stomach at least five times by Cadet 2nd Class Steven Caesar Maingat who is expected to be expelled from the Academy and face criminal charges before a local court.

Designated as PNPA director on June 6, 2020 vice now Lieutenant Gen. Chiqui Malayo of Philippine Military Academy Class 1989, Armamento, a former director of the Center for Police Strategy and Management has made a number of reforms in the Academy which was also rocked by a mauling incident involving some cadets last New Year’s Eve.

In that incident, Cadet 1st Class Denvert Dulansi was accused of beating his fellow senior cadet Joab Nacnasat at the roof deck of a school building in Camp Castañeda in Silang, Cavite around 11 p.m. last December 31 after the latter warned Dulansi and two other cadets whom he caught drinking liquor in the area.

Dulansi was ordered dismissed by former PNP chief, Gen. Debold Sinas, the classmate of Gen. Eleazar who also witnessed first-hand some major infractions of their rules and regulations and learned of some disfunctions in the PNPA when he visited the Academy in the aftermath of the mauling incident.

For me, incidents like that of Magsayo and Nacnasat would not be learned by the whole country had the victims were not hospitalized due to serious injuries. The so-called ‘conspiracy of silence’ specifically when it comes to hazing in the premier police academy should be completely stopped or many heads will continue to roll in the Academy in the event there would be another Magsayo in the future.

Gen. Eleazar said was “disheartened that the very institution which he considered as a second home and fully trusted for protection, for learning, and for honing of skills to be an officer of the law in the future had failed him.”

“This is not what we in the Philippine National Police had in mind and envisioned when we aggressively fought for several years for the total supervision of the PNPA. This method of inflicting physical pain and other twisted concepts of instituting discipline and imposing punishment on cadets must stop, and it starts now,” he explained.

Gen. Eleazar said he expect Maj. Gen. Sampaga to bring in innovative ideas and fresh perspective that would effectively implement the necessary adjustments in further improving the institution for each cadet to live up to its core values of Justice, Integrity, and Service.

But installing CCTV cameras in every corner of the Academy won’t stop hazing unless the upperclassmen, with the guidance of their superiors agree to finally put an end to the age-old tradition, which is really a form of misbehavior and serious breach of discipline and moral values being tolerated by individuals who also got the same form of treatment during their freshmen and sophomore days.

Listen to these words from the PNP chief: “Hindi sa sakitan at sa bugbugan nahuhubog ang pagkatao ng isang kadete o kahit ninuman kung hindi sa magagandang aral, matalinong palitan ng ideya at tamang pagpapasunod ng kabutihang asal.”