This thought quickly came to mind among political observers when they read the chilling pronouncement of the "Little President" – no, no, not Gloria Arroyo – that Hernando Perez, the first secretary of justice in Gloria’s Cabinet, was in effect "innocent" of the charges of corruption ranging from graft, extortion to falsification of public documents. At this writing the case has not yet been filed by the Office of the Ombudsman.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita was quoted as saying, "Nani is one of our allies and deep inside me he is telling the truth…," indicating that Perez is not guilty of those accusations leveled against him.

Not only this, no less than Perez’ successor, Secretary Raul Gonzalez admitted that he had "sat" on vital pieces of evidence which delayed the early filing of those charges. At the same time, however, he even offered legal assistance to Perez, and remarked that the latter is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.

Can you imagine that! They are already saying in effect that "one of our allies," in the words of Ermita, did not commit those foul deeds at all. Why the quick rush to defend their fellow official, the sordid attempt to draw a veil of innocence over him even before the case has been filed by the Ombudsman? Of course, the fellow is entitled to have his day in court, but he still has to undergo a trial before any judgment can be made by a magistrate in a court of law or for that matter anyone of his "allies" in the government.

What they are doing, deliberately or otherwise, is a brazen attempt to influence the court or the judge even before his trial. And this reminded observers of what they had done in the recent past, like the whitewashing of the "Hello Garci" scandal that resulted in the commission of electoral frauds in the 2004 presidential polls.

Oh yes, there were other similar cases of "cleansing" of irregularities committed by officials. One was the million-dollar Impsa deal that involved another member of Gloria’s Cabinet. Nothing was done about it. Another was the highly irregular construction of the Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard, the most expensive highway ever build.

Another was the billion-dollar fertilizer scam involving again another Cabinet official. And still another was the irregular use of Philhealth and OWWA funds in the 2004 elections. These are just a few in the long list of such corruption cases.

Nothing, absolutely, nothing has been done about these anomalies and irregularities by Gloria’s so-called graft busters. All these have, as the saying goes, been swept under the rug in Malacañang!

What happened to those cases may very well happen in the case against Nani Perez. And even if it is filed ever by the Ombudsman one can’t be sure that it would be finished before 2010.

The Ombudsman, the govern-ment’s anti-graft chief prosecutor, some eagle-eyed colleagues in columnizing have noted, has recommended the filing of charges of graft and extortion and falsification of public documents against Perez, instead of plunder, a non-bailable charge similar to the one hurled against Joseph Estrada. Why? Because he is "one of our allies" and not a political enemy like the Erap?

As noted in the beginning of this column, we are going to see another brazen and scandalous whitewashing of another corruption case perpetrated by a key official in the illegitimate administration of Gloria Arroyo. Nani Perez, after all, is "one of us," as the "Little President" put it without batting an eyelash.