IT TAKES TWO: The government is making a big case — and rightly so — out of the killing-pillaging spree of the ground commanders of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front which even now is still pretending to talk peace.

But not a peep has been heard from Malacanang about punishing government officials responsible for producing the defective agreement that triggered the ongoing bloodbath and the breakdown of the peace process.

Somebody in the Executive department should be held responsible for negotiating and signing the Memorandum of Agreement on (Moro) Ancestral Domain in what looks like a treasonous attempt to dismember the Republic.

It takes two to enter into a legally flawed contract. Both parties are equally guilty.

The administration officials who tried selling the nation down the river in bits and pieces should be identified.

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ONE-SIDED VIEW: Press Secretary Jesus Dureza, who was an active MoA negotiator for many years, said from the safety and comfort of Malacanang:

“If Chairman Al-Haj Murad is not willing or capable of bringing in his three MILF commanders to answer for their terroristic acts, then he and his men must stand down as government forces enforce the law….

“Short of that, there will be no let up in government offensive. The military and the police cannot suspend their law enforcement operations unless the three (MILF) base commanders are neutralized and punished in accordance with our law….

“xxx If Chairman Murad wishes to bring back on track the derailed peace talks, he must show that he does not countenance those criminal acts….

“The inaction of the MILF leadership will be construed as its tacit approval of the criminal acts of its three commanders and will be a clear proof of the MILF leadership’s insincerity….”

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PLAYING BLIND: Well said. But what about the guilty parties on the government side who led the MILF to believe that the Arroyo administration was ready to deliver what its negotiators had committed?

Do we just let pass such treasonous acts as promising to give away to rebels strategic areas that are part of the public domain or legally titled to qualified individuals and juridical entities that are not necessarily Muslim?

What do we do with Executive officials who had granted rebels a status of belligerency and given the internal problem an international color? What do we do with officials who had allowed Malaysia and other foreign meddlers to influence the peace process?

Somebody should go after traitors lurking in the corridors of power.

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REYES MOVES: Finally, media nagging has moved the Department of Energy into monitoring more closely the suspicious importation by the National Power Corp. of overpriced coal for generating plants under its control.

We expect much of the DoE. It is not enough that the procurement procedure is made more transparent and irregularities such as manipulation of bids, overpricing and the pocketing of rebates and commissions are eliminated.

In addition to plugging the holes, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes should file air-tight criminal charges against those behind earlier cases of overpricing and manipulation of bidding.

His failing to go after the Napocor mafia behind the mess might validate loose talk that his “monitoring” moves are just his way of complaining that he is still out of the loop.

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WHO PAYS BACK?: Assuming Reyes will be able to catch the crooks, one big question he still has to answer is: Who will cough back the hundreds of millions pocketed by the gang manipulating fuel purchases?

For faster results, Reyes my want to close in on that recent attempt to run off with hundreds of million by using a new firm with a measly P62,500 paid-up capital and zero track record but invited by Napocor to supply it with coal worth almost a billion pesos.

With the facts so clear and the evidence already on record, Reyes should find it easy pinning down the guilty parties and their associates within Napocor.

If Reyes or his multi-agency team is unable to collar the culprits, either he is afraid of the big people behind them or he has finally been welcomed into the syndicate.

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ADDED COST: The cost of corruption is passed on to consumers, because the price of fuel is a major component of the generation charge in our electricity bill.

Napocor has saddled electricity consumers with unconscionable charges with its penchant for conducting failed biddings and then resorting to negotiated “emergency” purchases at higher rates.

Reyes has to move fast. Look at what is happening at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market where generators offer power at different rates. Wholesale buyers have a menu and can decide where to buy and at what rate.

The WESM is now selling electricity at more than P18 per kilowatt-hour. By September, however, the price is expected to again soar to new heights.

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TASKS AHEAD: Announcing his monitoring, Reyes said: “We have created an evaluation team to review the procurement system of Napocor for fuel, including coal, diesel and bunker fuel.

“This team will examine the procurement process, review the forecasting of the required and desirable inventory level and review the process so that we can minimize negotiations in fuel procurement. In other words, everything should be done through bidding.”

The team, headed by the DoE, has representatives from the Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management, and the National Economic and Development Authority.