Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The Tail Wagging the Dog

Malaya's Jake Macasaet published an article entitled Taking media for a ride two days ago. In this article, Macasaet says that Malacanang is encouraging the prosecution of former PNP comptroller Eliseo de la Paz in order to divert the attention of the people away from the much more damaging fertilizer fund scandal. 
[Joc Joc Bolante] might have lied through his teeth by design, of course. It is unfortunate that the senators could not pin him down. So far, he has appeared unscathed. And that is the way Malacañang wants to see the situation.

The concentration of the congressional inquiry on Dela Paz, the way he is being grilled and the way Malacañang has successfully evaded the issue so far by scantily talking about it either in defense of the man or in saying justice shall be done, is a successful way of getting the heat off Malacañang.

Media and the senators are being taken for a ride. The investigation of Joc Joc is more important. That of Dela Paz is not comparable to how Joc Joc squandered P728 million which could have provided us a little more food if the money had been spent for the farmers as programmed.

Media and the Senate are helping Malacañang cool off the Joc Joc scandal. We have forgotten the fact that Joc Joc did not act on his own in squandering the money. xxx

The stakes in the case of Joc Joc are too high. That is why the tricksters of Malacañang are busy at work. Unfortunately, media seems to be cooperating by focusing on Dela Paz and impeachment.

These issues are less important than getting Joc Joc to identify who authorized him to disburse the P728 million in taxpayers money intended for the farmers.
This reminds me of the movie Wag the Dog. In the film, The U.S. president's advisor (played by Robert de Niro) contracts a Hollywood producer (Dustin Hoffman) to "produce" a made-up war in Albania in which the U.S. subsequently intervenes. The reason for the elaborate hoax: to divert the attention of the media away from a sex scandal that the President is involved in.

What we have is like the scenario in Wag the Dog, only much more perverse. Instead of a good (albeit false) story covering up the bad, here in the Philippines, a bad story covers up a more repulsive one.

But with the current administration, what else is new?


Photo: Sammis Co, Flickr,Creative Commons

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