I spend two hours reading the news every morning. You would think we were living in a dangerous country when you read about people in power exchanging threats.
Santa Banana, you have the President threatening the Ombudsman, constitutionally mandated to investigate people in public office.
Not content with that, the President challenged Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales to resign. He would resign, too, he said.
Now comes this allegation of Senator Jinggoy Estrada that a prosecutor of the Ombudsman tried to extort money from him and downgrade his case from plunder to just graft and corruption.
And then I read that policemen involved in killings in the context of the war against drugs are now going to the Catholic Church for protection.
With all of these things happening and more, it would appear that our country is in chaos. But no, most of us continue to live our lives, go to work, deal with traffic.
I continue to ask myself why President Duterte must resort to a word war with Sereno and Morales when we have so many problems confronting us.
We have poverty and unemployment and terrorism.
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The Social Weather Stations’ recent survey says people believe drug pushers from poor communities are targeted in the war against illegal drugs.
We have known this all along. But it does not mean that there are no drug abusers or dealers in exclusive villages in Metro Manila.
The findings of the SWS did not also say that there are no drug users in exclusive schools.
The poor are targeted because no one can prevent the police from staging raids in their communities.
In my years as vice president in former priest Bob Garon’s DARE Foundation, I observed that many of those who come to us for rehabilitation are from affluent families. They could afford the cost of rehabilitation.
Many of those who came to DARE Foundation later died of overdose. Some recovered. Our batting average was 75 percent.
That is the reason why those who go into rehab are just isolated. Give them three or six months—they are likely to fall back into the habit.
This is why I keep saying rehabilitation is the most crucial aspect of President Duterte’s war on illegal drugs.
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National Teachers’ Month runs from Sept. 5 to Oct. 5 and this year it will culminate on Thursday.
Teachers are supposed to be unsung heroes, together with soldiers and policemen.
Whenever teachers are mentioned, I get nostalgic. My parents were teachers, and I myself was a teacher at Ateneo High School and professor of law at the old Philippine Law School.
My parents believed there was no substitute to a good education. Every Ilocano family believes that having lawyers and doctors is the culmination of their ambitions. My parents achieved this among their four children.
The best years of my life were when I taught English, history and literature,
Many of my students have become famous in business or politics and as professionals. I am proud because at one point in their life I was able to touch them.
In fact, last August, Ateneo High School gave me—with dramatics legend Onofre Pagsanghan—a dinner tribute. I am grateful. It was good to see my students again.
I am also an unsung hero.
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Now read this: Malacañang claimed that the United Nations Human Rights Council is being used to pursue partisan agenda. A group called for the ouster of the Philippines from the body because of drug-related killing.
Other countries expressed concern over the alleged culture of impunity in the administration’s war against drugs. But how can partisan forces exert influence when they are merely expressing concern?
Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella called one group self-styled watchdogs of the Philippines. But they are just doing what is expected of them.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano told the UN that we would welcome a probe on the war on drugs, but not by Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard.
The bottom line is that the Duterte administration does not want the UN to interfere.