WHAT IS LYING?: Changing one’s mind is not necessarily lying. It cannot be that people who have had to change their minds — and that are all of us — are liars on that account alone.

We say this because we’re not comfortable hearing politicians and their propagandists calling President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo a liar just because she changed her mind about not running for president in 2004.

Many times in our lives we have had to recast our opinion about things and alter important decisions. That does not necessarily make us liars.

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CHANGE OF MIND: If I told my classmates I would attend next year’s alumni homecoming and changed my mind six months later, was I lying to them? No. It was just that, based on my situation six months later, I had to change my plan or schedule.

If, for example, President George W. Bush said he would pull out US troops from Iraq on the week of Christmas, but changed his mind and pulled them out earlier on Thanksgiving Day in November, would he be lying? Obviously not.

If Bush kept the troops in Iraq indefinitely after Christmas, would that still be lying? No. It’s just a change of plan.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said he would detonate yesterday on the Senate floor his third bomb of an expose. When he announced yesterday that the promised explosion had been postponed, was he lying with his change of mind? We don’t think so.

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MIND-READING: When did President Arroyo supposedly lie? Was it in her first statement in December last year or was it in her declaration of her candidacy last Saturday?

When President Arroyo said last December that she would not run in the 2004 presidential election, she must have meant it at that time. We have no proof that she was being dishonest when she said it.

Her motive is something between her and her conscience. We are not part of her conscience. Nor are we equipped to divine her thoughts.

To say that she lied when she said last December that she would not run or that she lied last Saturday when she changed her mind would be to indulge in speculation.

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BIDDING SEASON: Is it mere coincidence that Finance Secretary Lito Camacho bears down on GSIS president/general manager Winston Garcia this time of year when billions of pesos worth of re-insurance for National Power Corp. assets is up for bidding?

The past years, Camacho, a former energy secretary who maintains strong influence in the power sector as concurrent chairman of Napocor even after he was moved to Finance, has been reportedly poking his fingers into the re-insuring of Napocor assets by GSIS.

Last year, Napocor, apparently with Camacho’s blessings, wanted to give the business to an insurance firm that was not on the shortlist of insurance companies cleared by GSIS in preparation for the actual contract bid.

Ignoring the legal mandate of GSIS as the sole insurer of government assets, Camacho recommended, and managed to get Malacanang approval for, the forming of a team to evaluate reinsurance bids for Napocor assets and select the winner.

However, the team ended up with a series of failed bids. In the end, the tried and tested reinsurance procedures of GSIS prevailed.

Why is Camacho apparently obsessed with the big-ticket reinsurance deal at Napocor? Your guess is as good as mine.

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WIFE LOSES LUNA: Is it also coincidence that Kim Camacho, the finance secretary’s wife, is the sole Philippine representative of Sotheby’s Auction House?

Sotheby’s fought tooth and nail with its archrival, Christie’s Hong Kong Ltd., for the right to auction off Juan Luna’s masterpiece “Parisian Life.” Christie’s won and conducted the auction in October last year.

The GSIS won the bid, purchasing “Parisian Life” for $6,674,100 (about P47,036,537.42). Coming under fire for that, Garcia justified the acquisition saying he acted in good faith and that it was allowed under Sections 41 and 50 of the GSIS charter.

Most important, he said, the purchase repatriated a national treasure.

We can imagine Mrs. Camacho being sore she was not able to get the Juan Luna painting for her Sotheby’s. We won’t be surprised if the husband was sore as well.

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SECRET PROBE?: Camacho recently announced that an investigation by the Department of Finance showed GSIS guilty of delays in processing salary loans and loan applications, and that he had made recommendations to Malacanang on solving the problem.

We won’t be surprised if Camacho’s solution includes removing Garcia who has been a thorn on his side by not being cooperative in pushing some juicy deals where the finance secretary had shown more than passing interest.

It is curious that while Camacho was talking of Garcia being investigated, GSIS officials we have checked with do not know of any investigation, official or unofficial, recently made or currently being undertaken by Camacho’s department.

Maybe Camacho loves to operate in the dark?

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SPIES GALORE: Spying on one another and “making sumbong” and “pa-chucho” to the Palace is a fact of life in government agencies.

One time, President Arroyo herself blurted out “I have spies here!” — or words to that effect — in a surprise visit to the Land Transportation Office in Quezon City where she found officials sleeping on the job, if they were on the job at all.

In fact, Camacho himself might just find himself being spied on as well. For all he knows, he could be under investigation himself as part of GMA’s avowed cleanup.

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CODE-NGO: Palace investigators will have their hands full sifting through reports on Camacho’s varied interests.

Remember the contentious peace bonds, with Marissa Camacho-Reyes, the secretary’s sister, figuring prominently in the controversy?

Madame Marissa is a principal of Code-NGO, to which Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. sold the P100-billion peace bonds it had cornered in an auction. A Senate committee even conducted an investigation on this matter.

What ever happened to the probe? Was there ever a recommendation, purportedly in aid of legislation? Apparently, the issue has been swept under the rug.

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DEUTSCHE LINK: Or talk about Deutsche Bank, a foreign bank with commercial banking license operating in the country, where Camacho was a top executive before he joined the GMA administration.

Is it also coincidence that with Camacho as Finance chief, Deutsche Bank appeared to have gained favored status in these parts?

Through Camacho’s now more than two years as Finance chief, Deutsche Bank has always been in the groove for the government’s fund-raising activities.

Being part of the syndicate of underwriters or lead managers of a sovereign issue allows the bank to earn generous fees.

For this year alone, Deutsche participated in two underwriting assignments: $300-million worth of Eurobonds floated in February with JP Morgan, and $750-million global bonds issued in July, also with JP Morgan.

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FAVORED STATUS?: Deutsche has proprietary rights along with Multinational Investment Corp. to underwrite the government’s issuance of dollar-linked peso notes.

Last year, Deutsche also cornered the $100-million loan facility of Manila Waterworks System, which was refinanced this year also with Deutsche Bank.

Deutsche also joined HSBC and JP Morgan as lead arrangers for the $1-billion global bonds issued by the government in March 2002.

In sum, Deutsche has been doing big business and cornering choice underwriting assignments under the reign of Camacho.

And to think that the above is but a partial checklist. Like the pot, Camacho should be the last to call the kettle black?