‘The Commission on Elections should grab the uniquely and exceptionally laudable opportunity to brush aside any sense of intimidation before
a strong candidate for the highest position of the land and investigate the President’s blatant accusation against Marcos.’
PRESIDENT Duterte’s huge disappointment over his daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, sliding down as vice president and Bongbong Marcos not yielding an inch as presidential candidate does seem to smack of a hidden ploy. The President knows too well it is late in the game for him to have Marcos Jr. disqualified through a Supreme Court ruling on possible tax charges. Or a scenario allowing him to have Marcos suddenly arrested for drug use and consigned to a rehab center.
And that the Marcos fortune would do him in, along with his vast business and political interests with top Beijing officials and his Chinese friends. Or that he is leading a psych war to buttress Marcos’ candidacy through a demolition strategy that would otherwise favor Marcos, which seemed farcical at first glance.
The Commission on Elections should grab the uniquely and exceptionally laudable opportunity to brush aside any sense of intimidation before a strong candidate for the highest position of the land and investigate the President’s blatant accusation against Marcos.
It has been quite amazing how the public could award Durterte-Carpio high survey ratings while the Duterte name remains bound to the thousands of extra-judicial killings and to the alleged collusion with heavily corrupt Pharmally Pharmaceutical, DOH and DBM officials.
Widespread dissatisfaction with the President that translated into 10 points down in the recent Pulse Asia survey seemed distant from her daughter’s public life. One good reason was that Duterte-Carpio played her cards right by keeping a “kilometric” distance from her iron-fisted father since last year.
Former vice-president Jejomar Binay plunged into political irrelevance after a series of Senate probes on dozens of corruption cases had ruined him as the frontrunning presidential candidate. But his daughters got elected as senator and mayor in the following national elections.
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Prolific TV director Bert de Leon passed away last Monday after his family thought he was on the way to recovery from COVID complications at St. Luke’s in Global City. Since that day it has been wrenching for his relatives and friends to watch him and his five-year-old daughter, Yanna, sing love songs together online.
“Somewhere Out There” was particularly moving. His live-in partner, Annalyn Jomeo, was beside herself on how to break the tragic news to the bubbly and affectionate little girl. And we prayed for God to seize Yanna’s heart and mind with the comfort and peace that only He can bring through His Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord.
Little girls like her always expect their daddies to come home. Yet I couldn’t help but imagine the faces of hundreds of children suddenly losing a father or brother to the ruthless drug war. They had waited that night for their loved ones from another odd job, their empty stomachs putting them to sleep. Gunshots nearby signaled they were never coming home.
Who would break to them, by corrupting their innocence, the fabricated story of the police that their father or brother was a fallen criminal peddling drugs and got what he deserved?
