BBM's proverbial Pandora's Box

The exposé made by President BBM in his fourth SONA last July 28, 2025 has opened a can of worms or, if you will, a Pandora's Box with far-reaching implications and consequences. It has caused the firing of a former DPWH secretary, Manuel Bonoan, and led both houses of Congress to conduct their respective legislative investigations in aid of legislation. Then, from that presidential exposé, all the stench and shenanigans came out.

- Atty. Josephus B. Jimenez

Both the Cambridge and the Merriam-Webster's dictionaries tell us that the expression "opening a Pandora's Box" is a figure of speech which means unearthing or exposing hidden troubles or evil things. According to Greek mythology, Pandora was the first mortal woman breathed into being by Hephaestus, the god of fire. The gods in Mount Olympus gave Pandora her gifts of language, of craftsmanship, and of emotions. From Zeus, she received two gifts: the gift of curiosity and a heavy box screwed tightly and never to be opened because it was said to contain all kinds of troubles and all sorts of misfortunes.

The other metaphor for the presidential exposé is opening a can of worms. The president did open a can of worms. From his series of "mahiya naman kayo" exhortations, the whole nation started to ask questions about the alleged treacherous budget insertions reportedly perpetrated by a few senators and congressmen, expectedly under the baton of the Senate president and the speaker respectively and who, without being open to the House plenary and the Senate plenary, surreptitiously and hideously inserted billions of flood control allocations and other public works.