THE Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), a close political ally of the Marcos administration in the radical left movement, announced it filed graft and corruption charges against two former appointees of President Marcos Jr. before the Ombudsman for their alleged roles in the multi-trillion pesos flood control project scam.
Sued before the Ombudsman last March 30 were former Undersecretary Adrian Bersamin at the Office of the President and former Education Undersecretary Trygve Olaivar.
Bersamin is a nephew of former Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who, along with former Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, was also tagged in the scam leading to all their forced resignations late last year.
Leading the complainants are Teddy Casiño, a former ‘MAKABAYAN’ partylist representative and present chair of BAYAN, Prof. David San Juan and Dino Peralta.
“The filing is based on revelations and affidavits regarding alleged budget insertions and kickback deliveries connected to the national budget process, including allegations that Bersamin and Olaivar facilitated billions of pesos of kickbacks on behalf of the President,” the petitioners’ press statement posted on social media said.
The press statement identified San Juan as convenor of ‘TAMA NA’ (Taumbayan Ayaw sa Magnanakaw at Abusado Network Alliance) and Peralta as chair of Seniors Kontra Kurakot (SKK).
However, MAKABAYAN and BAYAN are the same Leftist groups allied with the Marcos administration in the demonization of the Dutertes, raising suspicion whether the complaint against Bersamin and Olayvar is serious or just “optics.”
On the other hand, the MAKABAYAN Bloc in Congress groups all the legal fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), while BAYAN is the aboveground equivalent of the National Democratic Front (NDF), facts that have been long established by the country’s national security cluster and the confession of former CPP-NDF officials.
The complainants are now operating under a new umbrella organization, the Kilusang Bayan Kontra Kurakot (KBKK), demonstrating once again BAYAN’s expertise in forming tentative alliances based on pressing social issues.
However, MAKABAYAN and BAYAN are the same Leftist groups allied with the Marcos administration in the demonization of the Dutertes, raising suspicion whether the complaint against Bersamin and Olayvar is serious or just “optics.”
During the anti-corruption rallies they organized last year, they decline to mouth their usual slogan of calling for the resignation of President Marcos Jr. while being active in pursuing the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte.
The complaint cited as argument the series of video ‘confessions’ issued last year by disgraced House Appropriations Committee chair, former Ako Bicol Partylist Zaldy Co and statements of former public works undersecretary Robert Bernardo during the hearings conducted by the Senate last year.
Bernardo has since agreed to become a “state witness” to the scandal.