IT'S going to be dirty as accusations and counter-accusations have been thrown, this time with a well-known Jesuit priest in the midst of it all, Fr. Albert Alejo, SJ.
Known to many Dabawenyos, his appearance beside Edgar Matobato when the man first appeared in a Senate hearing was already shocking enough.
Now this woman, Guillermina Barrido Arcillas, claims she was being bribed to tell lies against President Rodrigo Duterte.
From the little that we can find on social media about her, Arcillas seem to be an active anti-Duterte netizen, saying Leila de Lima was her number one senator in a post dated February 25, 2016, and has a yellow photo of the Liberal Party tandem Manuel “Mar” Roxas and Leni Robredo as her cover photo on Facebook. She even had a post on rabid anti-Duterte Cebuano politcian Jun Alcover defending the latter for criticizing Duterte.
But beyond that, nothing can be found about her in the Internet.
Father Alejo said she was referred to him by another Cebuano from a university in Cebu. Arcillas claimed it was Fr. Alejo who sought her out.
It's as clear as mud, and even affidavits no longer help. Having read the affidavit of Matobato earlier, and seeing all those inconsistencies, one thing we can be sure of, even affidavits now are of very little value except that we can refer to them to check out yet another lie that will be brought out later. Much like Matobato's, much like Senior Police Officer 3 Arthur Lascañas.
What is apparent is that we are all being led to play in a game that is being manipulated by people in the shadows. It is sad that Filipinos are being taken for a spin to feed an agenda of people we do not even know, and in the process, many are being dragged into the fray.
Who will execute another affidavit later? We can only wonder. What story will we be made to listen again soon? We cannot help but cringe at the possibilities. Whose name will be dragged in the fray because of all this? We do not know.
All we know is that these people in the shadows are not above playing a very dirty game, and they do not care whose reputation they will destroy in their desperate bid to topple a government.
Thus, we cannot help but wonder...what have they gambled with and lost when the President won?