Political noise?

Over the past few weeks, the House quad comm hearings have taken the nature of a Netflix miniseries. The revelations were not shocking in the sense that they did not surprise us. We suspected as much all the while but we are now getting confirmation from some of the key people involved. Good thing the UniTeam broke up or all these would have remained secrets.

- BOO CHANCO

A female police officer said to be rather close to Duterte was singing like a canary during the hearings. In tears, she revealed how Duterte asked her to get a PNP officer affiliated with INC to establish a system replicating Davao's anti-drug war. That includes what she claimed was a reward system for every kill a police officer makes.

She has profited greatly from her close relationship with Duterte, which includes being appointed general manager of the sweepstakes office.

One wonders what made her turn around and confirm our worst suspicions about the extrajudicial killings of the past administration. Her sworn statement condemns her as much as

Duterte. Given that she was an active participant, no one can just dismiss her sworn testimony. She had an insider's view. She most likely has more to share to help us put the pieces together and come to a conclusion that would satisfy us as much as a well-written Netflix series would. But right now, it is still what we would describe as "bitin."

The senators running for reelection implicated in the hearings have been trying to minimize the damage of the revelations. They want us to believe these are all political noise. Senator Go even accused the congressmen conducting the hearing of being ungrateful to Duterte after receiving so many political benefits in the past. Sen. Bato, who was implicated by another witness, gave the lady police officer a run for her tears. Our political scene is mostly theater. That's probably why so many washed-up and jobless showbiz types are running for senator.