And they are much better now as the Sunday Supplement as they come in color. One of my favorites then was the antics of the Katzenjammer Kids. These were German twins, Hans & Fritz who often play tricks with their surrogate father, Der Kapitan. These antics were normally harmless and they get away with them.

Quite recently listening to the TV pronouncements of Hermie Coloma and Edwin Lacierda, I can’t help comparing them to Hans & Fritz. This is of course unfair to the Katzenjammer Kids as they are lovable comic strip characters, while the current spokespersons for Pnoy are real flesh and blood characters who are alter-egos of the most powerful politician in the Philippines. And as close confidants to the President, presumably, he listens to them and in turn translates President Pnoy’s thoughts to public policies – or however they do these things at Malacanang.

A case in point:

When the Supreme Court came out with a decision declaring the DAP unconstitutional, President Pnoy, who disbursed the funds (illegally) may have committed a crime and could lay himself open to impeachment.

Lacierda(Hans K)immediately came to Der Kapitan’s defense pronouncing that although DAP is unconstitutional, there is no crime involved in the disbursement of funds by Pnoy because it was done in good faith and with good intention! (Underscoring – the author’s)

There you are! Well said by Lacierda, a lawyer, a close adviser to the president and by extension, a powerful bureaucrat himself.

Now, I refer to the excellent item of Babe Romualdez in his column of July 6, “Babe’s Eye View”, a portion of which I quote:

“...if we had the ‘good intention’ of killing all the politicians in the country so we can get rid of all the corruption in government – does that mean the act will not be considered illegal or criminal because we really believe we are acting in good faith?”

Food for thought.

Now for the Coloma (Fritz K)assertions:

Secretary Herminio Coloma mocked us with his statement that “...detainees involved in the P10-billion pork barrel scam have a right to humane treatment amid clamor to detain them in ordinary jail cells.”

True perhaps but are their status as plunderers separate them from the common detainees already languishing in dilapidated jails?‘Steal billions and you end up in aircon cells’. ‘Snatch a cephone and you end up in ordinary jail cells’. So what conclusion can we derive from this?

Now, from an Inquirer story with the headline“Palace denies special treatment on 3 senators”, speaking to reporters, Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the renovation for the detention cell is part of the budget of the PNP.I quote, with a heavy heart,

“These are included in the work programs of the agencies concerned. When the national budget was enacted, no charges have been filed with any courts,” he said.

He said there is an allocation in the 2014 budget for the maintenance of the detention facility dismissing claims that taxpayer’s money were spent to make sure high-profile lawmakers accused of stealing public funds live in comfort.

But why rush the refurbishing of jails only now just before the 3 Senator-plunderers are being detained?

The simple point herein is that why didn’t the PNP do the same to those decrepit facilities where unknown mortals accused of crimes have been detained?

Another case in point is a tongue-in-cheek comment of Secretary Coloma from the story: “No demolition jobs versus the opposition lawmakers.” He said,

“Ang laking sayang sa panahon kung tayo ay mag-eengagesa demolition job.” (It is just a big waste of time if we engage in a demolition job.)

In this connection, it can be recalled that in his own MTV-like senate presentation, the no-longer-pogi Senator Bong Revilla did blame the Aquino administration for the plunder and graft charges against him were meant to discredit his political plans for the 2016 elections. Now, Coloma said that “the government has more pressing matters to attend to.”

Yes indeed it has but if the government is really doing its job, then we would not have all these social, economic, and political problems right now. The thing with this administration isits obsession in going after GMA and her cohorts. This distorts it vision of governance, perverts its planning and effort to help the Filipino people. No one seems to be in charge!

And these Katzenjammer Kids have made it their jobs to stress this point!