Estrada's PDAF defense---" I gave it to the poor of Manila". Jinggoy--" I can do whatever I want with your monies"

He knows he'll get fried, but Senator Jinggoy Estrada did what he thinks is right---give 100 million pesos of his PDAF to the City of the Manila.

Estrada says the re-allocation is legal. In law, there is such a thing as ALGU or allocation to local government units. Manila is ailing due to lack of funds. For the senator, it is right to give 100 million pesos to the "people of Manila". He is not giving it to his father, Manila mayor Joseph "Erap" Estrada, no. That fund is to be used by the "people of Manila."

What Estrada did was a "master stroke" since he gave the people's money "back to the people"only that the head of that city who'll manage and allocate the funds happened to be his father.

I'm sure I heard that line of defense years, or more than a decade ago. When the Estradas were being tried due to graft and corruption for receiving jueteng money, both father and son said, they committed no sin because they did not toy with the people's monies. Jueteng money is definitely not people's money--they are monies coming from the jueteng lords. Hence, it's okey to get some.

Jinggoy's defense echoes what the Arroyo couple told the public a long time ago--" hey, the funds which we put in this project is legal and when we got some kickbacks from it, it's legal."

I remember it was during Arroyo's time when, legalities became a top reason to do an immoral act. There was a time when these people mock this very Nation when they used public funds in a brazen way.

This issue is as simple as them telling us straight in our faces that they have the Power to do whatever they want of our taxes, those monies which the BIR collected from us, and those monies supposed to be used for our welfare, because they are the "authority".

What Jinggoy just did is display his "power" as a Senator before us, an illusory thing if you think hard about it.

What's bad is, we, the People, are willing to play this power game with someone who enjoys showing off, someone who enjoys playing a role.

Now, of course, Estrada did that like a Master Politician--he practically tied the hands of President Benigno Aquino. Aquino, of course, cannot veto Estrada's move out of sheer "delicadeza" and less the Chief Executive be accused of "politicking". Hey, 2016 is just around the corner, says Jinggoy. The senator is practically taunting Noynoy to exercise his veto powers so that the opposition will use the issue against the Aquino administration.

Everyone saw how the Estradas visited the Arroyos and the many times Jinggoy mentioned his desire to run for a higher post come 2016. If Aquino vetoes Jinggoy's move, quarters will see it as a "political move" meant to incapacitate the opposition.

Such a brave thing to do on behalf of the Estradas in defense of the very thing which motivated them to run anyway--the power to toy the hard-earned monies of the People.

Everyone knows Jinggoy is one of three senators accused of toying with the people's monies, like how Janet Napoles did and quite simply.

For this senator, there is nothing wrong. He followed the law. He violated no precept.

Yes, he did. But what Jinggoy failed to learn and I think he will never get it even in his lifetime is such a thing called "hiya" or this unwritten rule about decency in actions.

For a sum of 100 million pesos, Jinggoy mocks the very people he promised to serve. " I can do what I want with your monies. I am power."

Some people never really learn. And surely the reason why they did not learn is because we did not really and seriously thought them a lesson.