‘When those laws are violated, no one – no matter how sickly – can be excused from facing the consequences.’
NOW that the political pot is boiling close to the highest temperature possible, it’s interesting to read the comments pouring out on social media that express a wide array of sentiments over everything that’s happening these days.
Including the apprehension of former President Duterte upon his arrival from Hong Kong yesterday, apparently based on an arrest warrant issued by Interpol.
Speaking of FPRRD, it was amusing to read Sen. Bong Go saying that his former boss is very ill. “Maraming sakit,” SBG says; but why he said it was unclear to me. Was it to provide Duterte a legal excuse not to be detained? Was it to create an emotional wave of sympathy that would lead to a more lenient treatment? Or was it said in the hope that Filipinos will rise and protect the former President, moved by the plight of a sickly old man now being hounded by international legal and prosecutorial authorities?
Unfortunately, what SBG said should be irrelevant to the case. Sickly or not, FPRRD has to face the consequences of actions he brazenly encouraged, even owned. Facing the consequences of our actions and words is the hallmark of being a responsible human being and citizen, and SBG should know it since he touts himself as a responsible public servant loyal to the people.
But I guess some people’s loyalty to the country and people ends where their loyalty to their master begins.
And that’s why some things never change in this country. Because as a people, we forget who the ultimate master is supposed to be. And those whom “we the people” elect to be our representatives in government also, in turn, forget who the ultimate master is.
Worse, they substitute others – themselves and their bosses – in that position.
In a Republic, and last that I remember we claim that the political entity we call “the Philippines” to be that, a republic – the ultimate master is the citizenry, you and I and all of us in our collective sense. And it is that ultimate master, “we the people,” that elect representatives, our public servants, to enact (in the Legislature) and execute (in the Executive) those laws, laws that are supposedly written to improve our lot and further the aspirations of all of us collectively.
When those laws are violated, no one – no matter how sickly – can be excused from facing the consequences.
But that’s what we have been doing for decades. Because the ultimate master has long ceded power to the servants, who now prance about the Republic like they own it. And so when one of them is forced to face the music, they have many excuses: madami pong sakit, kailangan ng neck brace, mataas ang BP.
Excuses the little guy cannot use. Especially if he is first shot to death before he can even defend himself in court.
Will FPRRD’s arrest mean anything or change anything? I do hope so.
Because it’s time that some things change.
