‘Many in social media have retaliated with a firestorm against these heartless lowlifes who seem to be gratified with this misfortune they had wished on others.’
DDS trolls continue to feed on their ignorance and wretched biases, turning the 11,000 jobless employees of ABS-CBN into their new targets of scorn and ridicule.
Many in social media have retaliated with a firestorm against these heartless lowlifes who seem to be gratified with this misfortune they had wished on others.
We are sure that President Duterte’s ruthless candor with the extra judicial killings (EJKs) has become a sort of inducement to the trolls and other Duterte followers that his iron fist and the blood it sheds should be welcome anytime.
If the people had been cowed by the fascists ruling the streets with guns blazing against mostly unarmed drug suspects, there would always be room for gloating for over 40,000 family members directly affected by the broadcast network’s closure and quarantined to a life of penury. They are sure it was something the hapless employees had brought upon themselves while earning their keep honorably unlike the perpetrators of the network’s fate who withheld its operating franchise because they had sold their balls for outlawed money.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Locsin lashes out against the people’s representatives. “You today have sunk lower than imaginable – and in this pandemic!”
Even several former employees of the Kanlaon Broadcasting System (KBS) that took over ABS-CBN’s studios and facilities at the start of martial law have been hostile or remarkably indifferent, indeed a truly unfair and unkind gesture from the followers of the Marcos regime who practically stole the job of others then.
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John Molo posted on Facebook how this country has descended into a pit of lawless impunity (here mixed with some of my thoughts): “Children are killed in police drug operations and called ‘collateral damage” by Senator Batodela Rosa. When judges were added to the death list they were labelled as “corrupt.” When journalists are ambushed they are demeaned as “bayaranna media.” Lawyers killed for defending leftists “deserved it.’ Each EJK, even of a nameless vendor, was a clear violation of due process under the Constitution. But they have “normalized” it, its acceptance by society has become inevitable.
The law just requires voluntary compliance. Why did they invest in this machine that also trampled on Rappler and the PDI? A machine that allows one to ignore the Constitution and weaponize laws with political blowback is a powerful thing. No single event had led to this. No lone person could have pulled it off without our sympathy and supporters that cheered the ascent to the growing absolute power.
As people looked the other way or worse had clapped for each EJK, the machine became stronger. Businessmen who chose their self-interests instead of defending the gates with their fellow investors allowed the machine to sharpen and perfect its methods. And now the machine is hungry for more.
Certainly, ABS-CBN won’t be the last to fall. No businessman should think he is protected or insulated. Or is his company more powerful and shielded than ABS-(CBN? No one thought that the EJKs way back in 2016 would eventually lead to the shocking closure of (a) media giant. But that is how the Constitution should operate. We protect due process so it shields all of us. We champion the rule of law because under it, the death of a vendor is equally and absolutely wicked as the death of a media giant. The erosion of constitutional values makes all of us vulnerable. You cannot sacrifice the Constitution for the sake of expediency without creating a Monster.”
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In some parts of the US and South America, like Brazil, people on the streets go down on their knees singing and praying. Such uncommon sights are not duplicated in our country. Countless homes here have become extensions of Sunday congregations and regular Bible devotionals conducted through Facebook or Zoom.
Recoveries from COVID-19 which are rising that include unexplained healings such as more elderlies surviving do not merit special attention. The government task force and the news media would rather provide the chilling facts of death and potential deaths and absolutely nothing of the dimension that has not been taken seriously by science and medicine, but which may determine the known in the face of the unknowns.
The Bible says the essential things are not visible to the eye and healing is one of them. US pastor Norman Womack preaches about the certainty of healing especially if the patient turns away from any dreaded prognosis or medication and from any doubt that God’s love and power will make the healing very possible. He reveals that, for Bible believers, a single or small doubt can kill faith which is truthfully the “assurance of things hoped for.”
