A system awash in ‘gratitude money’
Buried in the avalanche of media coverage of the Senate impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona was the news that Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales had reversed the decision of her predecessor, Merceditas Gutierrez, and ordered the filing of murder charges against 10 Philippine Navy officers for their roles in the execution of Navy Ensign Philip Andrew Pestaño on September 27, 1995.
This was a major news development and yet only three columnists commented on the case after the filing of the murder charges was announced on January 11, 2012. I was one (Justice delayed – still better than none). Another was Rina Jimenez-David, who wrote Another case of ‘do-it-yourself’ justice, on January 14, 2012, where she decried the “insufficient mention” in the media of the significant role played by Pestaño’s parents “not only in keeping alive officials’ interest in the case, but also in securing justice for their son.”
Rina lamented the fact that “although the law-enforcement agencies and the justice system (including the Ombudsman) are tasked primarily to go after criminals and mete out punishment, ensuring that these are done depends a lot on the commitment, gumption and resources of the family left behind.”
The third columnist was Ma. Ceres Doyo whose January 19, 2012 column, Pestaño appeared to healing priest, recalled covering the alleged suicide angle of the Pestaño case as a cub reporter in 1995. She wrote about a “healing priest”, Fr. Efren Borromeo, who attended Pestaño’s funeral wake three days after his death, and who revealed to Pestaño’s parents that their son had appeared before him.
As Pestaño’s father told Doyo: “What did Fr. Borromeo tell us? “Philip, in full military uniform, appeared to me with this important message for you, ‘Tell my parents I did not commit suicide.’ In a flash, the scene of the crime showed three uniformed men in Philip’s room. One who appeared taller than the others had a gun. Another, a heavy-set man, had a gun, too. The third man, shorter than the rest of them, seemed to be the one in charge there.
“There was an order to shoot. Forthwith, the heavy-set man hit Philip’s head with what appeared like a gun. Philip fell unconscious, and I was given a feeling that he was dragged down to another room or toilet. The next scene showed Philip in a kneeling position. There and then, Philip was shot dead.”
“It was from Fr. Borromeo that I heard for the first time that the gun found in Philip’s room was not the weapon that killed him. Fr. Borromeo even described Philip’s room correctly and said Philip insisted that his killers were his fellow-officers in the ship, although there were other passengers he knew whose reputations were equally notorious in the navy organization.”
The specific details revealed by Fr. Borromeo just three days after Pestaño’s death could not have come from any source other than Pestaño himself.
But why have there not been other columnists commenting about this extraordinary case? Has the 24/7 coverage of the Corona impeachment trial sucked up all the air out of the room? Why has there not been a serious discussion about why Navy Ensign Andrew Pestaño was murdered?
The answer, according to Fr. James Reuter, in an article he wrote in 2007 (“Death at 3 AM”), can be found in what Pestaño discovered on his ship which he revealed to his parents just before he was killed: “the cargo being loaded onto his vessel included logs that were cut down illegally, were carried to the ship illegally, and were destined to be sold, illegally… Then there were 50 sacks of flour, which were not flour, but shabu (methamphetamine) — worth billions. Literally, billions … And there were military weapons which were destined for sale to the Abu Sayyaf.” As cargo master of the ship, Pestaño refused to approve the illegal cargo despite orders from his superior officers that he do so.”
Think about the implications of this! Imagine how many drug addicts in the Philippines buy and use the shabu that are smuggled on just one navy ship in just one trip. Imagine how the Navy supports the proliferation of illegal logging which cause destructive floods on the people in the lowlands (Cagayan De Oro). Imagine how many Filipinos are killed in Basilan and other places because of weapons sold by the Philippine Navy to the Abu Sayyaf terrorists.
Then imagine how many Philippine Navy ships are involved in the smuggling of these contraband goods and how many navy officers profit handsomely from all these illegal activities. Billions! One can then understand why Pestaño was killed and why his murder was covered up.
These billions have likely also been used to get prosecutors to ignore the overwhelming evidence against a finding of “suicide” and to dismiss all the incriminating evidence in the case as merely “circumstantial”.
Despite the recent order by the Ombudsman that the 10 navy officers charged with the murder of Pestaño be dismissed and arrested, all are still free. When asked if the charged navy officers would be arrested, Philippine Navy chief Alex Pama replied: “I am waiting for advice from the (Navy’s) Judge Advocate, that’s why we have the Judge Advocate to look into all those things,” he said. How convenient.
Now back to the big elephants sucking up all the air.
- According to his tax returns, Chief Justice Corona earns P600,000 pesos ($14,285) a year but has reportedly accumulated real properties worth more than P200 million ($4.76 million) since his appointment to the Supreme Court in 2002.
- A former senator, Ramon Revilla Sr., similarly earned about the same amount a year and yet he has somehow been able to provide a monthly allowance of P250,000 pesos to each of the 16 families he subsidizes (for his 82 children).
- A former comptroller of the Philippine Army, Gen. Carlos Garcia, was found to have accumulated more than P380 million pesos in assets which his wife explained to US investigators was just “gratitude money”.
Perhaps, just perhaps, if Corona falls….
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