Tell that to the Marines

Tell that to the Marines
BusinessMirror.com.ph
Teddy Locsin Jr. / Free Fire

FINALLY, the Aquino administration has justified a piece of proven corruption by the GMA administration. How fair big and fair of it.

In a US government investigation for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act—yes, “practices,” not just actions but practices, even industry practices—it was revealed, not by hearsay, but by direct evidence, that Pagcor, among other state gambling regulators, received $110,000 in payoff s from a Japanese gambling tycoon between the years 2008 and 2011, spanning both the GMA and Aquino administrations.

Malacañang immediately came to the defense—of GMA’s and its own state-gambling regulators by admitting, yes, they had received part— now it turns out all—of that huge payoff but it was standard industry practice. Sure it is standard, like bribing cops by the Mafia; that is standard, too.

There’s the problem, US law is called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: it targets industry practices. Just because a crime is habitual does not decriminalize it. It makes it worse.

To be sure, huge payoff s of government regulators is a practice; no doubt about it. It has even acquired a term of art: regulatory capture.

It is a practice of criminal syndicates. It is, therefore, corrupt by definition. That it is a practice only makes it worse. It makes the practice syndicated under the RICO act.

Receiving payoff s on a regular basis, as SOP, calls into question the integrity of Pagcor officials entering contracts with gangs that regularly pay them off.

But it is nice to know, and it belies the accusations of a vindictive P-Noy administration, that the one time we have proof of corruption in the GMA administration, the Aquino administration defends it as SOP, standard operating procedure, standard practice, par for the course, what you must expect and anticipate when dealing with crooks. And that, said Malacañang, makes it all right.

Since jueteng lords have been paying off administrations in the past does this mean that the practice is all right for this administration as it was for the previous ones? The answer must be yes because it is not possible that what is wrong with one is right for the other, and vice versa. After all, what is the difference between the GMA and Aquino administrations; there is none; the names of both administrations even begin with the letter “A.”

So why is GMA under arrest for, among other things, what this administration admits it is practicing—taking payoff s as standard crime-industry practice?

The Palace said taking payoff s is a kind of cost-cutting measure. How? Because by accepting the payoff, the government partially off sets the cost of official travels abroad. How do we know that gambling officials do not get travel allowances just the same? In fact, Pagcor officials did because the Pagcor chief said that out of the allowance he had saved, he was able to buy a Chanel bag for his wife who, however, didn’t like it. No wonder Erap thought he committed no crime because he took no money from the government, only from gambling lords. Is this happening all over again?

The Palace said that, anyway, Pagcor intends to make the same kind of payoff s to visiting gambling syndicates by giving them free of charge the most expensive accommodations in return. In short, Pagcor is adopting crime-industry practices, as well. Wonderful. Now, we don’t have a government; we have a syndicate.

And is there really no money involved, just room and board? In the favorite words of Ferdinand Marcos, “Oh, c’mon.” Tell that to the Marines.