Times that try men’s souls

REACTING to Wednesday’s headline about Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile’s claim that Sen. Manny Villar tried to bribe him to go easy on the investigation of the C-5 project, some observers asked, not without some humor, just how does one multi-billionaire bribe another multi-billionaire? It’s no secret that the Senate President is perhaps as rich as Villar, so, assuming his story is true, it couldn’t have been money he was being bribed with, said the pundits. Probably Villar promised to help him keep his Senate seat.

It’s politics, not Ethics

More credibility, probably, would attach to the Senate committee report on its so-called “investigations” into the C-5 road project controversy if senators — most politicos, actually — were not widely perceived as being distinctly unshy, brazen even, about using their considerable power to influence government decisions on public works and procurement. That said, I would certainly give great weight to the C-5 allegations being leveled at Senator Villar if I were satisfied that they were true. I am not.