Dear Janet, this song is for you, titled ‘Kawatan’

By: Fe Zamora - 11 years ago

Janet Lim Napoles. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

“If you have access to YouTube, Janet Napoles, makinig kang mabuti (listen well),” a pretty young woman begins her song.

“Ang !@#$!@#$!@#$!@# Ang !@#$!@#$!@#!@#$!” she lets out a string of insults.

“Bakit mo winaldas ang galing sa aking bulsa?(Why did you squander my money?)” sings the guitar-strumming Xiao Santiago, 25.

The singer is a “furious taxpayer” who describes herself as a teacher and business owner “battered by ITRs (income tax returns) and strangled to death by taxes for the past five years.”

You stole money

Santiago posted a video of herself singing the song on Aug. 19. She also described her feelings that moved her to compose a song about Janet Lim-Napoles.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIwRz4zBCsU)

“I was in a panic because of the floods and what the people around me were going through. However, others were having the best time of it. Why is it that those people who are working themselves to death have to be the ones to suffer? I wrote a song last night to keep myself from getting anxious. The stolen pork barrel could have been a disaster relief operation for everyone. We need the money that you stole. Please explain,” she posted.

Napoles is the businesswoman who is alleged to have masterminded the diversion of P10 billion worth of pork barrel funds to fake nongovernment organizations that she organized for ghost projects. She has gone into hiding after a court ordered her arrest for illegally detaining her cousin and ex-employee, Benhur Luy, who has revealed the operations of her pork barrel network to the authorities.

Good at weaving

The media reports of the Napoles pork barrel scam have inspired netizens to write “Dear Janet” letters and songs.

Even a 2012 YouTube published video by artist Jograd de la Torre has become viral. Titled “Kawatan (Thief),” De la Torre’s rap song is an attack on politicians who are “addicted to money.”

The Inquirer Facebook page has also been swamped with Dear Janet letters. Some addressed their letters to President Aquino.

Reader Manuel Ibardaloza Sanchez, who said he watched the video of the recent Inquirer round-table interview with Napoles, wrote:

“You (Napoles) swept me off my feet with your strength of character. I think you were a dressmaker before because you were so good in weaving stories. You can also pass as a novelist because you can plot your characters accordingly. Even their names were incredible.”

“HOY, JANET NAPOLES” was the title of a letter from Clarissa Lozano.

“You, Janet Napoles, will never feel how we feel. Because you know what? You are heartless. You don’t deserve our respect,” Lozano said.

Dan Isaias G. Laguna composed a song, “Pilipinas Ko Rin Ito,” whose lyrics he posted on the Inquirer’s Facebook page.

Retired accountant Alfredo L. Tayo Jr. wrote an open letter to President Aquino.

Open letter to Aquino

“Despite your reluctance, we your bosses installed you on the driver’s seat because we trusted you. And when you said, you will lead us on the straight and clean path, we believed you.

“This nation’s trust and belief in your leadership is nothing less than faith, which deserves nothing less than honest leadership, otherwise it can be sacrilege if betrayed.

“Please remember that we gave you our trust,” Tayao wrote. With a report from Inquirer Research