Corruption in the time of Covid

THIS is not a take from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "El Amor en los Tiempos del Colera" (The Manila Times, Dec. 16, 2020). This is simply a paraphrase of the title of that excellent novel as a simile for the corruption being exposed at the Senate blue ribbon committee hearings that appear to be closing in on the highest officials of the land. The novel was a backdrop for romance in the time of an epidemic; but unlike the novel, the current pandemic is proving to be an opportunity for depravity perpetrated by President Duterte's men. It does not have the romance of the original, but the current narrative has all the allure of drama, plots and subplots as uncovered in bits and pieces by Senators Richard "Dick" Gordon, Franklin Drilon and their cohorts.

They have in some ways elicited from the incompetent (or guilt-ridden) witnesses responses, bits and pieces of facts, evidence, and innuendo that have of late began to ensnare unfamiliar Chinese names barely whispered in the corridors of power. The Senate hearings, in attempting to uncover these connections, have resorted to their own public display of melodrama. This could be a long-drawn-out performance - a counter diversion from the Las Familias de Duterte telenovela (see my TMT Sept. 1, 2021, column).