WHILE the president-elect Rodrigo Duterte contemplates visits to the Vatican and Brunei, he should spare some time to remember his campaign promise to eradicate criminality wherever he finds it, even if it is in his own home.
The need to instill discipline within his own ranks is crucial, as it would distinguish the new government from the administration of President Benigno Aquino III, whose predilection for selective justice has been amply documented. If change is indeed coming, this is as good a place to start as any.
While Aquino turned a blind eye to scalawags in his camp, Duterte must prove upon assuming office that he will brook no nonsense from members of his own Cabinet—or even his over-enthusiastic supporters.
Conversely, he must show that his administration is capable of giving justice, even to those who did not support him during the campaign.
One way the new president can show he is serious about breaking Aquino’s pattern of selective justice is to have his Justice secretary pull out all the stops to prosecute 14 cyberbullies who made grave threats against human rights advocate Renee Julienne Karunungan during the election campaign, simply because she depicted Duterte on a Facebook meme as “a lazy choice.”
“I hope you get raped, or get mugged,” one Duterte supporter told her. “That’s what you want, right? You don’t want change because you are against Duterte. I hope one of these days you get raped so you’ll come to your senses.”
Another said: “I have friends who want to kill you. You have the money anyway, save that for your hospital expenses.”
In the wake of his landslide victory, Duterte has called on Filipinos to move on and reconcile after a long and nasty campaign, but threats such as these are a crime and cannot be dismissed with an apology or the slap on the wrist.
The need to prosecute this case becomes doubly important, given the promise by key Duterte officials that his government will be more “gender-sensitive.” In fact, toward this end, Senator Pia Cayetano has joined Duterte’s transition team to make sure that women would have a voice in the new administration.
Cayetano, who has shown during her career as a senator that she can speaks out for what is right, needs to do so now and make sure state prosecutors do not softpedal the case, simply because the accused are Duterte supporters. The abuse of women should never be tolerated, and the incoming administration needs to send that message out, loud and clear—especially to its supporters.