President Rodrigo Duterte zeroed in Senator Leila de Lima as somebody he wanted to destroy. Later, he called her immoral, because her driver-bodyguard was also her lover. He also said this driver was her bagman and conduit to the convicted drug lords at the New Bilibid Prison. I want to sympathize with her.
To my mind, it’s an uneven fight. The President has powers over the Executive branch. The police, military, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency are all under him. De Lima is only a senator with the power to investigate as she is now doing on Duterte’s war on crime, illegal drugs and corruption.
And when the President accuses somebody of immoral acts, he must have solid proof.
All things considered, De Lima is a political dead duck since her credibility to act as a fiscalizer is now eroded. Remember, Filipinos have double standards: When a married man cheats on his wife, that’s to be forgiven. But when a woman does it, that can never be forgiven.
I do not mean to say that I now consider the Senate investigation into extra-judicial killings is lacking in credibility, even if it is De Lima who heads it. The hearings must let the public know why there are so many such killings, with some members of the police involved.
De Lima must show proof that she is not involved in the illegal drug trade. As far as the public is concerned now, she is guilty.
I said I wanted to sympathize with De Lima. I cannot, however. She was the attack dog of former President Benigno Aquino III, arresting and detaining former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo when the latter tried to leave for a bone ailment operation abroad. De Lima defied the Supreme Court’s order allowing Gloria to leave.
My respect for De Lima as a Cabinet member totally dissipated when in 2010, she did not resign after BS Aquino repudiated her investigative report on the botched rescue of hostages at Luneta. Eight tourists died in this incident. Her report found that people under BS Aquino were administratively and criminally liable.
It was clearly a slap on the face of De Lima when former President Aquino gave his friends only a slap on the wrist.
De Lima went on as BS Aquino’s attack dog, when she and Aquino lackey, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, indicted his political enemies in that infamous Janet Lim Napoles pork barrel scandal. This resulted in the detention of then Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, and Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla. Enrile had since been free, but Jinggoy and Bong are still languishing in Camp Crame cells.
Many say that for De Lima it’s “karma.” What goes around comes around. De Lima had it coming to her. To all those in positions of power and influence, I prefer to say that the wheel of fortune goes around—at times you are up there, but soon enough, you are down there. You reap what you sow.
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It is now too often that when President Duterte says something controversial—threatening to pull out of the United Nations, for instance—Palace functionaries stumble all over the place trying to explain what he really meant.
Almost immediately, Secretary Jun Yasay of the Department of Foreign Affairs said that the Philippines will not leave the international body after all. He said the threat was just the President’s way of showing frustration and disappointment over the UN’s criticism of his war on drugs. Palace spokesman also echoed Yasay’s reaction.
The President’s rant against the UN is nothing new. Recall that he also cursed at UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon for condemning his apparent endorsement of extra-judicial killings.
I don’t know if Yasay and the Palace spokesmen realize what they are doing. They make the President sound as though he does not mean what he says. Too often, the President is made to look silly with his threats.
President Duterte must weigh his words. Assent and dissent are part and parcel of democratic space. He needs to be more presidential in his ways.
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The Duterte administration’s move to go against “endo”—employee contractualization in the public and private sectors—is easier said than done.
I, myself, have been writing against the evils of “endo”— the practice of hiring casual employees for five months, and then terminating them so they would not be eligible for benefits due a regular employee: 13th month pay, health benefits due them, vacation leaves and other perks.
I agree that “endo” must stop because it’s truly unfair to the labor sector considering the immense problem of joblessness in the country. But, if even the government resorts to hiring casuals, why should the private sector be made the scapegoat?
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A big problem that the Duterte administration should also look into aside from the traffic crisis of Metro Manila is traffic congestion at Naia. This results in flight delays and often diversion of flights to Clark and Cebu airports.
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade should take time to go to Naia and see for himself what air traffic congestion is doing to the country. Passengers get delayed for hours on end; sometimes they have to lie down on the floor for lack of airport seats.
Tugade should see how many flights are in the taxi runway every day to understand the air traffic crisis.
The transport department envisions the construction of a new international airport at Sangley Point in Cavite. But when? We have needed an alternative airport since yesterday.
This air traffic crisis has been going on for so many years, as far back as the Arroyo administration. But, what did former President BS Aquino do? Nothing. And did not Naia earn the label of being one of the worst airports in the world?
To think that the Department of Tourism is staging the next Miss Universe pageant. Not with this congestion.