URBAN legend has it that President Manuel Quezon, while entertaining a foreign dignitary in Malacañang, inadvertently let out gas. Without missing a beat, Quezon turned to his aide-de-camp and up braided the poor man for uncivilized behavior.
When the guest had left, the aide complained that he had been unjustly blamed for something he did not do.
“I know you didn’t do it,” Quezon reportedly replied. “But would you have preferred that the president of the Philippines was embarrassed before a foreign guest?”
The concept of scapegoating goes back to antiquity, while whipping boys were SOP among royalty in Europe. In ancient Syria, ancient Greece and in Old Testament times, it was customary to cleanse a community of its sins by imputing the violations to a goat and setting the poor animal loose in the desert, in effect, carrying off the community’s transgressions. Thus was coined the term scapegoat.
On the other hand, among royalty, it was unthinkable to punish a young prince for his juvenile misbehavior. But discipline had to be imposed for good order’s sake. Thus a whipping boy came in handy – a ward who would bear the brunt of the punishment that the prince deserved.
There is a difference between the two terms. “Whipping boy” suggests that the transgression is still attributed to a principal, although someone else absorbs the punishment. On the other hand, the term “scapegoat” means passing on the blame and washing one’s hands of any accountability.
At any rate, either of the two concepts may have inspired recent controversial decisions of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales. Inexplicably, she absolved Noynoy Aquino for the Mamasapano tragedy, and excluded DOTC Secretary Joseph Abaya – and his predecessor, Mar Roxas – from the indictment slapped on former Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT-3) general manager, Al Vitangcol III, and five others for alleged irregularities in the transit system’s maintenance contract.
Disgraced, dismissed and subsequently indicted former PNP Director General Alan Purisima may be more aptly characterized as a whipping boy. Carpio-Morales may have decided that the president of the Philippines was pretty much like European royalty – too high in rank to be subjected to the indignity of punishment.
It doesn’t take rocket science to conclude that Purisima, being under suspension and rendered inactive, could not have stage-managed the Mamasapano raid by the PNP Special Action Force (SAF) without the direct orders of Aquino. Neither could SAF commander, PNP Director Getulio Nape ñas, have so unquestioningly followed Purisima’s orders if he had not been convinced that the latter was acting under authority of the president.
When Napeñas told the media, “I take full responsibility!” he was performing the classic role of the whipping boy – and, to some extent, there was a touch of nobility and self-sacrifice in that. In a literal sense, Napeñas was willing to “take the rap” for his superiors, to use a Mafiosi term.
But there was not an iota of nobility in what Aquino did when he told media that “he felt betrayed” by Purisima and Napeñas by “disobeying” his orders.
Here’s what one Manila daily reported:
“’If ever I [was at] fault here, it was [because I trusted] these people. Why did I fail to detect that they were misleading me?’ the President said on Saturday night.
“He was referring to Purisima, then the suspended PNP chief, and the sacked Special Action Force (SAF) commander, Director Getulio Napeñas, who both briefed him on Jan. 9 about the police operation to get Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias ‘Marwan.’”
That was pure, unadulterated scapegoating.
Vitangcol and the five other indictees have obviously been made whipping boys for their superiors but worse yet, they have also been made scapegoats, because Abaya, and by extension, Roxas, have been “cleansed” of any accountability.
According to protestors from several sides of the political fence, Abaya, as signatory of the anomalous maintenance contract, should have been included in the indictment. Senators Nancy Binay and Grace Poe both questioned the exclusion of Abaya, even while Poe, known to be an ally of the administration, tried to soft-pedal it:
“While we respect the findings and recommendations of the Ombudsman in the indictment of Mr. Vitangcol and his cohorts, I would like to read the text of the resolution in full to find out the reasons why DOTC Sec. Joseph Emilio Abaya was not included despite having allegedly signed the contract, presumably with full knowledge of the facts and the applicable law surrounding such anomalous procurement of services.”
Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes, Jr. demanded to know why Abaya and the members of the DOTC Bids and Awards Committee were excluded:
“Now lo and behold, only one government official has been charged. Only former MRT GM Al Vitangcol is being made accountable as a member of the BAC and as end-user of the contract. Either Vitangcol is a genius scammer able to pull off the multimillion dollar deal without the knowledge of the entire DOTC, or DOTC officials are just hopelessly incompetent,” Reyes complained to media.
Getting in a word edgewise, JV Bautista, secretary general of the opposition, United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), asked why Abaya’s predecessor, Mar Roxas, had not been included in the indictment, in spite of the fact that the questionable contract had been drawn up during Roxas’ incumbency as DOTC secretary, and Abaya had only been two days on the job when he signed and approved it.
Concluded Bautista, “ The Ombudsman has technically disassociated Roxas and Abaya from the bribery, extortion, fraud and corruption connected to the MRT deals.”
That makes, not simply whipping boys, but scapegoats of Vitangcol and the five other indictees, Wilson De Vera, Marlo Dela Cruz, Manolo Maralit, Federico Remo and Arturo Soriano, uncle-in-law of Vitangcol.
This brings us to a declaration made by Mr. Aquino in a speech back in 2013, in the course of announcing the LRT-1 Cavite Extension. He cheerfully announced that, when completed in 2015, the extension would result in faster train service. It would also transport some 250,000 commuters daily into Metro Manila.
And to spice his impressive announcement, Aquino also vowed in his usual down-home verbiage:
“At kapag hindi po nangyari ito, nandiyan naman si Secretary Abaya, na mangangasiwa nito…dalawa na kami na siguro ay magpapasagasa sa tren.” (And if that doesn’t happen, there is Secretary Abaya, who is overseeing this…the two of us will probably have ourselves run over by a train)
Furious over the frequent breakdowns of the light rail system, some vengeful netizens recently dug up the video of Aquino’s speech and posted it on social media. That video has since gone viral.
However, if anyone is waiting – and hoping – for Aquino and Abaya to dutifully lay down their bodies on the rails to make good on their vow, you may have to hold your breath for a little while longer.
You see, according to Malacañang and DOTC insiders, Aquino and Abaya are still looking for willing whipping boys and scapegoats to take their place. ([email protected])
