Balitang Kutsero: By Perry Diaz
Barely a month after Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ended her tumultuous and scandalous presidency, fat cats and kleptocrats are crawling out of the woodwork like a can of worms. Yup, one by one they’re being exposed for graft and corruption.
What do fat cats and kleptocrats have in common? Answer: They’re all thieves.
What’s their difference? Answer: Fat cats steal and tell everybody it’s salary, allowance, and bonuses while kleptocrats steal and then secretly stash their loot in Swiss banks.
Recently, the Commission on Audit released a list of top executives — or fat cats — receiving huge salaries and allowances in 2009. They are:
1. Armand Arreza, administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), with P26.9 million.
2. Benigno Ricafort, chief executive officer of Clark Development Corp., with P14.5 million.
3. Edgardo F. Garcia, deputy executive officer of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), with P12.7 million.
4. Amando Tetangco Jr., governor of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, with P10.8 million.
5. Benedicto Ernesto Bitonio Jr., executive vice president of DBP, with P9.3 million.
And how about the kleptocrats? Well, we can only cite allegations made against them because the “truth” has yet to come out. That’s why president Noynoy Aquino created the Truth Commission to dig out the truth about Gloria and other suspected kleptocrats in her administration.
But from what I understand, the Truth Commission headed by Gloria’s pal, former chief justice Hilario Davide Jr., hehehe…, has to dig deep into the Earth’s core to get the evidence to prove that Gloria and her cohorts stole from the government. Davide has a big problem: He was accused recently by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada of graft and corruption. Holy shit! The question is: Is the Truth Commission going to investigate Davide too? Well folks, it seems that moro-moro is still being played today.
Noynoy must be fuming mad when he saw the list of fat cats receiving millions in pay and perks. As president of 90 million Pinoys whom he calls his “bosses,” Noynoy only gets P63,000 a month in salary! And these fat cats get millions every month just sitting on their fat buns? They ought to be skinned alive and thrown into the Pasig River behind Malacañang! Poor Noynoy, he had to use his first paycheck to pay his utility bills otherwise those Meralco fat cats would disconnect his utilities. Perhaps, he should tell the people that he is their “boss,” not them, and should get a pay raise.