Proof of life

What the country needs today is proof of life from BBM.

- BOO CHANCO

Analyst after analyst are saying that the first half of 2026 is given up as lost because business and consumer confidence faltered due to corruption. Yet, for BBM, it is as they say in the streets, parang wala lang.Someone with more normal survival instincts would lose no time in trying to recover confidence in the economy and his administration’s governance. Confidence went more steeply downhill after BBM and the ombudsman failed to send a single major flood control crook to jail by Christmas.

Gloomy expectations can be self-fulfilling. That’s why BBM must urgently show signs of life that he is on the ball.

Worse, the ombudsman is now going after Lean Leviste for supposedly selling his solar energy franchise to Meralco PowerGen Corp, a Meralco subsidiary. As it turns out, the Ombudsman was wrong. The Meralco subsidiary explained that they bought a different Leviste company, not the one with the nationwide franchise.

Even if MGen did buy the one with the franchise, that should not be a priority concern of the ombudsman. He has bigger fish to fry in connection with the flood control scam.

It is obvious the Ombudsman was getting political after Leviste disclosed he has a copy of the Cabral files on the DPWH scams which implicates some big fish close to the administration.

The young Leviste may be guilty of seeking too much publicity, but he has not stolen a centavo from the treasury as of now. The Ombudsman must prioritize going after those who have.

With all the delays, the DPWH engineers who earlier confessed their participation in the mess to the Senate and who also returned some cash and vehicles have now filed their response that effectively negates what they previously said under oath.