Plundering and laundering

Here's a Newsbreak article where I get to talk about the many ways Mercie Gutierrez and Agnes Devanadera might, if they wanted to, go after the plunderers roaming pardoned and un-pardoned. I once worked with both when I was still laboring in government (and laboring under the impression that it would matter) In Mercie's case, it was more like I found ways to work around her -- she is essentially, a bureaucrat's bureaucrat. Agnes, on-not-exactly-the-other-hand, is a politician more than anything else and so cannot be expected to be, as the Solicitor-General is mandated to be, a defender of the Republic's interests, and not that of the Republic's incumbent officials.

Of course, there's also something in the same Newsbreak article from the ubiquitous Harry Roque. I must disclose that Harry and I go a long way back.

In 1987, when we were freshmen in law school, Harry for some reason (or maybe for absolutely no acceptable reason) would leave his dirty laundry on the floor of his old Volkswagen Beetle, the same one that all 10 of his male Section C classmates (and occasionaly, the brave unfortunate female classmate) would squeeze into when the class had to go somewhere really important (like Vivian's Tapsilogan on Aurora Boulevard). Every now and then, the pile of unwashed items would include sad old socks and red bikini...briefs. Well, not really, but who knows, given the indistinguishability of Harry's socks from the car's upholstery. Anyway, one day, one of our female classmates -- could it have been Evalyn Ursua? -- sat on the front seat of the Beetle and saw what looked like a dirty sock. She sort of picked it up and it turned out to be...

Let's save that story for next time.