I never thought I would see the day when a vice president and members of the Cabinet would cling to their posts despite their disagreement with the President. We are seeing this now with the burial of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Do these Cabinet members not have self- respect? Delicadeza?
As chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, Vice President Leni Robredo is the President’s alter ego. She and other Cabinet members—Social Welfare and Development Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano, National Anti-Poverty Commission chairman Liza Maza —must resign if they feel so strongly about the burial at the Libingan.
At least there is one, Maria Serena Diokno, who has enough decency, self-respect and delicadeza to resign in protest against the burial. She is the daughter, after all, of a well-respected nationalist, the late Jose Diokno.
When Robredo became Vice President, I hoped she would be the angelic politician she had portrayed herself. I was mistaken. She is just another opportunist.
★★★★★
A head-on collision between the two chambers of Congress appears inevitable. The House of Representatives is hell-bent on making Senator Leila de Lima’s humiliation complete. It issued a show-cause order; De Lima should now say why she should not be arrested for telling her driver-bodyguard-lover go into hiding.
It is to be expected that the Senate has its own set of rules. Only the Senate can discipline its own members. For the congressmen to tell Senate President Koko Pimentel to discipline De Lima is just unacceptable.
So what happens now?
The House cannot seem to pin down De Lima on her involvement in the drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison on the strength of testimonies of inmates and even Dayan.
The only recourse I can think of is to bring De Lima to the proper venue: A court of law. But there has not been any paper trail. Without documentary evidence, everything is just hearsay.
Congressmen, passing themselves off as honorable, have feasted on the salacious details of her seven-year love affair with Dayan. They have debased themselves—and the institution they represent.
And now we have this inevitable head-on collision. How low can they get?
★★★★★
The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office wants to expand the agency’s Small Town Lottery nationwide to 64 areas from 18. This is to generate more revenues for the government.
I don’t know what the new Duterte appointees at the PCSO are after. Do they not realize that the STL, which was supposed to replace illegal gambling, is now also controlled by the very same gambling lords (who are mostly likely also drug lords)?
Santa Banana, the STL has become a source of corruption, reaching even Camp Crame and Fort Aguinaldo. Some say that corruption also benefits PCSO officials. Now, the new PCSO officials want to expand the STL nationwide.
By next year, all non-STL numbers games will be considered illegal and their operations will have to face the police’s “all-out war” against illegal gambling. PCSO officials had met with illegal gambling operators, who vowed to support STL.
Of course they will. It is well known that the very same gambling lords are now operating STLs. A total of 224 STL applicants, including gambling operator, Charlie “Atong” Ang, are being evaluated by the PCSO. This is a big laugh, my gulay.
Illegal gambling involves not only local executives, but policemen and members of the judiciary as well.
★★★★★
President Duterte initially wanted to talk peace with the Abu Sayyaf group. Then he changed his mind and said that if is war you want, I will bomb all of you. Recently, the President changed his mind again and said he would now talk to the Abu bandits.
Santa Banana, how do you talk with fanatical groups like the Abus? Their agenda is just to sow terror and panic among the populace. Talking to them to achieve peace is a futile exercise.
They are unlike the Muslim separatists groups, like the Moro Islamic Liberation Front or the Moro National Liberation Front, who are after self-rule and autonomy.
It’s now even worse because of the affiliation of the terror groups with the ISIS.
★★★★★
I cannot end this column without congratulating Tony Lopez for making BizNewsAsia a success story with a pass-on circulation of 350,000.
