By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
The race to Beneco’s top position has really heated up with the alleged rejection of its board of the National Electrification Administration’s (NEA’S) endorsement of Asec. Marie Rafael.
I would like to deal with another angle of the matter. The abuse of power. While being a manager of Beneco might be small, compared, for instance, to being the manager of San Miguel or being a senator or president, it nonetheless offers a lot of perks and opportunities (temptations) that can be abused. And this can be done without getting caught. Only the stupid would be caught with his pants down.
But not getting caught does not mean you really got away with it.
We have that superficial motion that if you don’t land in jail you really got away with your bad deeds. Or if you are able to keep your loot away from the outstretched claw of our legal system that is full of holes, that you are free due to your perceived brilliance.
There was this politician who borrowed money from the Land Bank in behalf of his town, using the internal revenue allotment of the town as collateral and source of payment. So I wrote on this space that that money is for the town’s needs. In short, it was for the people’s welfare, from which the payment for the debt will be deducted every year for a number of years.
Despite the opposition from a number of quarters, he was able to take care of this with the help of the local legislators who he also managed to “massage” with money. So the loan was successfully taken supposedly for an infrastructure project. As expected, the project turned out to be a “ghost.”
So he sort of thumbed his nose to us and our warnings that the karma of such a scheme cannot be evaded. Time passed, and he suddenly found his way before the Pearly Gate. He must have fallen when St. Peter put on the secret switch that opened a secret door on the spot of the floor he was standing. The heat of the fire down there suddenly pervaded the atmosphere which became laden with the smell of the burning flesh of the corrupt politician.
With varied versions, this story is being replicated everywhere, every time.
Then there was this general manager of a utility firm who had the skill to manipulate people, including the media. He was good in doing this that he was able to keep his power for quite sometime. Even to the extent of having local politicians at his beck and call.
For a number of years, he though he was able to get away with all the things he did to make a lot of money from the power of his position.
Then suddenly his life ended.
There are so many scientific explanations why the lives of these two people ended. There are medical, psychological and may be other explanations but these are all God’s way of implementing the processes of reckoning. When a karma ripens, it inexorably falls.
In the case of Beneco, the manager should be looking after the welfare of the consumer members. If he does not do this and instead preoccupies himself with making money in so many ways like buying a real estate such as the lot at South Drive which Beneco does not really need (how much was the commission from that?) or implementing improvements to get sizeable commissions from purchases to be done for such projects, then it is tantamount to robbing the hundreds of thousands of member-consumers. Karma-wise, the ordinary thief would be a lot better off as he could only rob a few people.
Since, the race for Beneco’s top post is still far from over, whoever will end up there must always remember that he would be there to look after the member-consumers’ interest.
Otherwise, the bad karma might fall not just on him or her, but including his or her children and family.**
