During the 2016 election campaign when then-candidate Rodrigo Duterte said he would fix our peace-and-order problems, I praised him. I said to myself that for once, after six years of the do-nothing President Benigno Aquino III, we can have a strong leader who can occasion change for the country.
Santa Banana, when President Duterte assumed office and the police was emboldened by his words supporting them, that began a killing spree. Drug suspects were killed, and this led to collateral problems of vigilante and extrajudicial killings. Then I said to myself that there must be something wrong.
Sure, Mr. Duterte is so focused on eradicating the drug menace but he does not see that the problem is so deeply rooted in poverty. It’s more than just a peace-and-order problem.
This is why the triad from China was able to slip in 604 kilos of shabu through the Bureau of Customs, in connivance with Customs officials. If this can happen in Manila, just imagine what can go on in sub-ports in other areas of the country. Remember we have porous borders. For as long as there is demand, the supply for illegal drugs continues.
This is also why I say that there should be rehabilitation of all drug addicts. In fact, this should be a priority of the President. Rehabilitation, however, is difficult because it is costly. You need billions of pesos to put up facilities and to hire the right doctors and other personnel. This is where the health aspect comes out as well. Drug addiction is both a psychological and physiological issue.
The sooner Mr. Duterte realizes that killings are not the solution, the better it would be for everybody.
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Killings of teenagers by the police led to outrage among the people, the Church, civil society—and all for good reason.
This was followed by the insane effort of President Duterte’s allies at the House of Representatives to give a P1,000 budget to the Commission on Human Rights. The chairman of the CHR, Jose Luis Martin Gascon, was an appointee of President Aquino and he tried to go after alleged human rights violations of the Duterte administration.
Does the President realize that the war on illegal drugs has also become a war on human rights? Gascon is not the CHR.
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Former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the architect of martial law under the strongman Ferdinand Marcos, believes that Mr. Duterte has bigger problems than what Marcos had in 1972.
Enrile, who served for 17 years under Marcos as defense minister, said that when Marcos declared martial law, he only had the communist insurgency and the Muslim independent movement to worry about. These days, President Duterte has to deal with many problems including ISIS, Abu Sayyaf, Maute and many others.
This is what Enrile thinks when President Duterte threatened to declare martial law nationwide.
I believe Enrile. He knows whereof he speaks. When I am asked the same question—if I think President Duterte will declare martial law with all that is happening—I say “that’s a big possibility.”
Santa Banana, President Duterte may even declare a revolutionary government!
I am not wishing he would do it, but the fact that terrorism is already upon is, the President does have the power to declare martial law when public safety requires it.
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Santa Banana, here we go again.
I refer to the possibility of negotiating again with the communist rebels. President Duterte said he would still consult with his security advisers, it appears they have not learned enough why the communist insurgents have not yet come to an agreement with the government. The communists say one thing and do another!
It all boils down to sincerity and good faith. While President Duterte has bent over backwards to accommodate the communists, they do their worst in the countryside. The communists almost always go to the negotiating table with blood on their hands.
Mr. President, don’t you realize that the communists are not sincere? Why are you still talking to them?
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If it’s true that no less than six Supreme Court justices are willing to testify against Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno in her impeachment trial, then it will be difficult for her to hurdle it.
Who these justices are has not yet been made public. If the late Chief Justice Renato Corona was convicted for merely not declaring everything in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, how much more Sereno? The damning testimony of her colleagues just might mean the ouster of the chief justice!