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Ben Contreras

IF there is one person who is on Cloud 9, it could only be William Guialani. The presidential intervention he’s been hoping to get has finally materialized. I lost track of the dates but the letter from the Office of the President was sent sometime in Aug. 18, 2017 by registered mail, received by our post office here on Aug. 28, 2017 or after 10 days (a registered mail doesn’t take that long normally) and received by Mayor Oscar Moreno on Sept. 13, 2017.

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Is Malacañang also into a creeping investigation into the allegations of Guialani that certain government agencies are deliberately sabotaging the delivery of justice by intentionally withholding the delivery of notices to favor one party or worse, involving money matters? My gut feeling is, yes. But that remains to be seen.

If only for any indication, the presidential communication erases the notion entertained by some that the President is taking the side of Moreno or that Bong Go is helping and protecting Moreno, something being belied by supporters of PRRD. The name of Bong Go has unnecessarily been unfairly dragged into this controversy.

Our new found informant from the finance office has a unique story on the P79 million checks. She said that resigned city treasurer Glenn Bañez was against the idea of issuing those checks and warned Ms. Salazar about the implications. Ms. Beda was allegedly insistent and Bañez gave in with one condition — that they all affix their signatures on the voucher.

The findings of COA city office was allegedly adverse to the parties, and Beda allegedly asked them not to forward yet the report to COA regional office. The voucher/s was/were allegedly replaced, and that made the COA regional office more suspicious.

Beda must really be very smart. My source retorted, “Beda is not smart. She is just very gutsy and daring.”

Her parting words to me were to tell Prexy Elipe that his revelations in his radio program were all skin-deep. She urged him to dig deeper into this P79 million, the “JOs,” and the ghost projects (never heard so far).

Guialani has all the reasons to be upbeat over the recent development. In short, he is alive again.

In his speech during the Mindanao Business Conference, I heard the President talk about continuing corruption in the local level, about corrupt courts, and about TROs. I thought it was meant to tell us that something is afoot. And it did.

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Something about damage control. The Supreme Court upheld the action of the Court of Appeals on some of Moreno’s cases. Moreno’s supporters were quick to take it as absolving Moreno of the charges filed against him. Far from it, really! But they can always interpret things to their mindset. It was nothing but to create an atmosphere that the Supreme Court has found Moreno innocent of the charges.

“Justice is alive in the city,” they proclaimed. But not so fast! We still have to see justice for the alleged victims of Moreno. “Harassment,” they further claimed. Well, I know what harassment meant to Camille when she came to us and was about ready to spill the beans when suddenly, she withdrew.

Friends, relatives, former allies and officemates — they all went to see her and convince her not to proceed with her revelations. She stood firm until her mother got affected. How, I leave that to Camille to tell her story. I mean, the real story.

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