TWO DESCENDANTS OF EVE

The first case of bribery in this world happened when
the devil in the form of a serpent enticed Eve, the
first woman created by God, at the Garden of Eden,
with the offer of gaining knowledge of good and evil
like that of God by eating a delicious but forbidden
fruit. She took the devil's bribe that changed her
body from an incorruptible immortal to a corruptible
mortal. So God handed to humankind His first penalty
for breaking His law.

Because of its element of moral turpitude in the
highest degree, bribery is a ground to remove the
highest government official in a democratic country as
well as other constitutional officials. In this
despicable act, both the giver and the taker are
equally punished.

Very recent press reports revealed that Hillary
Clinton, leading American Democratic presidential
candidate, received campaign donations amounting to
some $800,000 from Norman Hsu, a fugitive from
justice, who swindled innocent investors of millions
of dollars in a fake investment scheme. Upon
investigation, Clinton feigned ignorance of the source
of the dirty money and avoided for the time being any
criminal suit. She just promised to return the money
or give it to charity which is not an appropriate
action. Return the money to the fugitive who is now in
jail and which charity is willing to receive Hillary's
dirty money?

Most recent televised report from the Philippines
showed a Senate investigative hearing where Romulo
Neri, one of the closest aides of Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo, de facto president of the Philippines, told
the committee that Benjamin Abalos, chairman of the
Philippine Commission on Elections, offered him a
bribe of 200 million pesos( around $4 million)
presumably to approve a business transaction between
China and the Philippines costing the Filipino people
more than $300 million. In the same Senate hearing,
Joey De Venecia, son of the Philippine Speaker of the
House of Representatives who is a very close political
ally of Arroyo, also divulged that Abalos offered him
a bribe of $10 million to withdraw any plan to get the
government contract.

When asked by the inquiring Filipino senators how he
reacted to Abalos' bribe offer, Romulo Neri who was
then appointed by Arroyo to be in charge of the
Philippines' economic development, said he appeared
not to hear it. But then, he said, he later reported
the bribe offer to his boss, President Arroyo who told
him not to accept it. He finally refused to tell his
further conversations about the bribe offer with
Arroyo and claimed “Executive Privilege.” At this
point, one senator remarked why Neri did not tell
Abalos that the bribe offer was wrong or he was
strongly against it.

One possible reason why Neri did not quickly reject
Abalos' bribe offer was the need to consult with
President Arroyo, perhaps the most interested party in
all government deals with the Chinese. For the
record, Arroyo has made too many trips to China in
the past.

Here's a another possible scenario of what happened
next after Romulo Neri's report to Arroyo of the 200
million peso bribe offer from Abalos:

Neri: M'am, Abalos is only offering 200.

Arroyo: Don't accept it. It's too cheap compared to
other deals. I'll handle it.
Neri: Ok, M'am. Remember, the overprice is about
$130 million in the ZTE deal.

Back to our story at the Garden of Eden during the
Bible days, it's indeed hard to be like Jesus Christ.
He was the only One to resist the Devil's temptations.
Isn't He the Son of God? It could be an easy cop-out
for Hillary Clinton, an American president wannabe,
and Gloria, the daughter of Macapagal the
“Incorruptible,” who also became president of the
Philippines somehow.

End
junpolicarpio@yahoo.com
junpolicarpio@gmail.com



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