The disturbing duo of PNoy and Puno

By RICARDO SALUDO

If one is true believer of President Benigno Aquino 3rd, never doubting for a nanosecond his integrity and good intentions for the country, not to mention his brilliant grasp of national problems and their solutions, stop reading. Today’s column is strictly for those open to the possibility, no matter how remote and unthinkable, that the architect of Tuwid na Daan might not be straight and narrow himself.

With PNoy’s actions and pronouncements in the ongoing controversy over his loyal and trusted shooting buddy, Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno, it is getting harder and harder to give the Chief Executive the benefit of the doubt. Even as President Aquino and, lately, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile have sought to clear Puno, those close to the late Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo have not.

After shunning media since her husband’s burial three weeks ago, Leni Robredo told media yesterday that Secretary Robredo was investigating Puno. Leni’s revelation contradicts the President’s own assertions that Robredo’s probe was about bidding for police assault rifles, not the undersecretary overseeing the Philippine National Police (PNP) on his behalf.

Leni’s disclosure may now prompt Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to tell all. The latter had said that Robredo told her of his investigations, but she declined to say what or who they were about. De Lima’s staff were also the ones who secured Robredo’s papers and personal effects at his Quezon City apartment soon after his plane crash. Leni had asked De Lima’s help after Puno tried unsuccessfully to enter Robredo’s condo.

Some questions bothering people after the many statements from President Aquino, Palace spokespersons, and other officials: If the President instructed Puno to secure Robredo’s papers, why didn’t Puno ask permission from Robredo’s family to enter his condo? If Aquino found something amiss in the assault rifle bidding, why didn’t he ask Puno to stop and investigate it, since the President never gave Robredo control of the PNP, but ran the police through Puno?

If Puno had presidential authority to secure Robredo’s papers, why didn’t he tell Secretary de Lima about it, so he could get the papers as instructed by the President? And who is telling the truth: Robredo’s widow, who said that he was investigating Puno, or the President, who said Puno was not under investigation? And with Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa in charge of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) since Robredo’s death, what has happened to Robredo’s sensitive files?

To those critical of President Aquino and his so-called coterie of “kaklase, kakampi at kabarilan,” the whole episode is another case of presidential cover-up for his close friends. Puno himself was the first to have been defended just over a month into the Aquino administration. In August 2010, Archbishop Oscar Cruz named him and then-PNP Chief Jesus Versoza as jueteng bagmen—the first time the longtime anti-jueteng crusader accused top officials by name.

Aquino maintained his trust for Puno, but instructed Robredo to crack down on jueteng—an order the President never repeated or followed up. That same August, Puno got into the news again for failing to ensure that the President’s order to use the PNP Special Action Force in assaulting the tourist bus held hostage in front of Quirino Grandstand. The Robredo-De Lima report on the incident named Puno among officials to be sanctioned for the fiasco, but Aquino ignored the recommendations.

Other presidential associates let off the hook include shooting buddy Land Transportation Office head Virginia Torres, accused of unlawfully interfering in a corporate tussle at LTO’s computer systems contractor; Political Adviser Ronald Llamas, who landed in headlines over gun violations and pirated video incidents; and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation Chairman Cristino Naguiat, over $100,000 in Macau holiday freebies reportedly received by him and his family, and a P4-million bottled water contract awarded sans bidding.

Whether Puno’s latest controversy will stop with his removal will depend on how Senate hearings due to start on Friday will go. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has joined Aquino in defending Puno, arguing that both the President and his trusted aide had the right to secure Robredo’s papers. But Enrile is letting the hearings proceed, with Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago raising questions about how Puno and the Palace have behaved in the wake of Robredo’s death.

Partisan politics, of course, lies at the heart of the controversy. Robredo belonged to Roxas’ Balay faction, which prides itself in pushing reform against self-serving politics. Puno and Ochoa form the rival Samar camp close to Aquino himself and friendly with Roxas rival Vice-President Jejomar Binay. The latter’s United Nationalist Alliance includes Senate President Enrile among its leading lights.

If Puno falls and Aquino is tarnished, it strengthens Balay vis-a-vis Samar, and indirectly, Roxas against Binay. But if the Senate helps make the furor go away with little damage to PNoy, he will owe Enrile another favor on top of the guilty verdict against impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Let’s hope the truth somehow emerges in this political and media circus.

Ricardo Saludo serves Bahay ng Diyos Foundation for church repair. He heads the Center for Strategy, Enterprise & Intelligence, publisher of The CenSEI Report on national and global issues ( report@censeisolutions.com).