Where's the P10M
in flood money?

The House Committee on Ethics has suspended Congressman Alan Peter Cayetano for not being able to prove his claim that the Arroyo family had stashed away millions in a bank in Germany. If he doesn't have to attend sessions for six months or spend time thinking up measures to propose in Congress, will that not give him more time to campaign for the senate? For all we know, he will be filing his certificate of candidacy already today or tomorrow. I hope the committee did not play into his hands.

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In the meantime, the President's fair-haired boy and chief of staff Michael Defensor is going around the country inviting people to join the administration's Unity Ticket. Is it true that he has even invited Bongbong and Imee Marcos to join them? I don't think that looks nice, it's as if they are scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel. Will you be surprised if you hear later that he has also made overtures to Cayetano? Stranger things have happened in politics, you know.

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The Marcoses, it was reported, have turned down the offer. But if they don't want the slots, there are many others who will jump into them. Like former senator Tessie Oreta, who must be dancing a jig again for being among the contenders who are almost there. Also Tito Sotto, who jumped off the opposition ship for reasons we are not clear about. Then there is also Senator Joker Arroyo, who might as well, because, after all, he is an Arroyo, too, even if he makes it clear that he is no relation, and there is no blood there that can be said to be thicker than water.

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There are also former senator and even Senate president Ed Angara, who is supposed to declare today what his decision is: whether to join the "Unity Party" or strike out on his own. There is also Ralph Recto, who, I understand, has been captured already. The problem is that these last three - Angara, Arroyo and Recto - may be highly winnable, but, as team members, they are not known to be very tractable. Well, more exciting times are ahead, with the tug of war for senate potentials, and when the line-ups are finalized, we will already have an idea where the majority will come from.

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Let's continue to pray that our country will never have to undergo such a situation. In Indonesia, floodwaters that rushed in suddenly, especially in its capital city, Jakarta, have risen so high that the latest reports say it already measures three to four feet in some areas. Pictures and footages shown of residents being rescued from their houses, some of them mansions, had scenes of water reaching to the roofs of some buildings. People being evacuated have to wear life jackets, too.

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Now that we are talking of floods, somebody called the DAILY STAR office recently and asked us to find out what happened to some P10 million that had allegedly been given by Senator Serge Osmeña to Bacolod City for its drainage control problem. The caller, himself a former official and a representative of the senator, said the amount was given to both the mayor and the congressman in the past city administration. Who can tell now where that amount had gone? Have any equipment for flood control been purchased with it, and if so, where are they? Will those who can answer raise their hands?

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Land Transportation Office chief Norman Saril has revealed that, in 2006 alone, 77,000 vehicles were registered in Bacolod City! And we say Negros is getting poorer. Where did all those funds to purchase vehicles come from? I know, I know. Most of them are being paid on terms, so anybody with the down payment can get a new one. But the revelation of Norman S. apparently explains why there sometimes seems to be more cars than people in downtown Bacolod. And the 77,000 are only from Bacolod, what about the rest of Negros Occidental?

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Batangas Governor Antonio Leviste has been placed on the watchlist of the government. With the charges against him upgraded to murder, it won't be long before a warrant will be served and he will have to be detained. He may go to the hospital again but he can't stay there forever. Anyway, he shouldn't be embarrassed, it also happened to other nice people, Erap, a former president, Nur Misuari, a former Mindanao bigwig, Mark Jimenez, ex-congressman, and Jocjoc Bolante, a prestigious civic club stalwart, who continues to keep the secrets of the infamous fertilizer scam.*

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