"We should remember the times we won."
"We should remember the times we won."
This made me laugh.
A 95-year-old, who always called his wife Honey, Darling and Love, was asked what her name was.
The man said: “Gosh that was many years ago. I can’t remember and I am afraid to ask her.”
* * *
Today we commemorate Day of Valor, commemorating the Fall of Bataan and the Fall of Corregidor.
I have been saying all along that the Philippines must really have a distorted sense of values because we celebrate days of infamy like what happened in Bataan and Corregidor.
For one, in June 1945, there was a culmination of the Battle of Bessang Pass in the Cordilleras. This was called the Battle Among the Clouds in the Annals of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
After months of an uphill battle by the 121st Infantry of the USAFIP-NL, the guerilla forces under then-Col. Russel Volckmann, the 3rd Battalion under Major Conrado Rigor was to be the assault forces to fight the Japanese under Tomiyuki Yamashita. They had retreated to the Cordilleras after the rape of Manila when the US forces took over.
In particular, it was the F platoon then under my eldest brother Desi (who later on became a justice of the Court of Appeals) that led the assault in an uphill combat that ended in the surrender of Yamashita.
The surrender was in Baguio. And later on he was executed by the Americans in Los Baños, Laguna.
Santa Banana, this was a signal victory that ended the Japanese Occupation.
Ironically, the only Philippine presidents who recognized that victory were former soldiers Ferdinand Marcos and Fidel Ramos.
Ramos had a shrine built in Cervantes, Ilocos Sur in commemoration of that victory.
It was at that Battle of Bessang Pass that cost the lives of no less than 1,400 Ilocano and Igorot guerillas.
And yet we commemorate the Fall of Bataan and the Fall of Corregidor.
Why do we want to relive our defeats?
I have been writing about the need to mark, nationwide, the Battle of Bessang Pass.
I am passionate about this because every time I visit the house of my widowed sister-in-law, I see the Silver Star awarded to Desi for his heroism.
It’s unfortunate that the secretaries of the Department of National Defense seem to have forgotten that victory against foreign invaders.
* * *
I was rather shocked to hear a president—a lawyer at that—like Mr. Duterte say that he will have his critics arrested without a warrant and that he will declare a revolutionary war, not a revolutionary government.
For a lawyer, Duterte should know that despite all the criticism against him, there is no basis for suspending the writ of habeas corpus. The 1987 Constitution is very clear that he may call on the Armed Forces only to suppress lawless violence, invasion or rebellion when public safety requires it. And only for a period of 60 days.
In the case of declaration of a revolutionary war, which is beyond the Constitution which he swore to defend and uphold, then he must resign and pave the way for Vice President Leni Robredo to be president.
The President should not make threats he cannot fulfill. He should be aware of the consequences of his threats.
* * *
The findings of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism about the unexplained wealth of the Duterte family brings to the fore more questions.
Why didn’t the President and his mayor-daughter, both lawyers, declare that they practiced law while in office?
Recall that the late Chief Justice Renato Corona was convicted by the Senate for not declaring his dollar accounts.
Duterte claimed that his law office did not deal with the government and did not receive funds from government. Is that an exception in the rule on the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth?
Recall that earlier on, the PCIJ also found that the father and brother of now-senatorial candidate Bong Go cornered no less than P1.4 billion in public works contracts when Duterte was mayor of Davao City.
All I know is that the PCIJ report raises questions that cry out for answers.
* * *
The statement of President Duterte in the wake of the findings of the AFP that hundreds of Chinese vessels have been surrounding Pag-asa Island, that he would not allow this to happen, is indeed a show of leadership.
I commend the President for finally standing his ground against incursions into our Exclusive Economic Zone.
* * *
My belated birthday greetings to former President and now Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, soon to become a private citizen. Her legacy is the strong fiscal fundamentals of the country.
Happy birthday and may you live to be a hundred!
