The Drug War

CEBU, Philippines - If the table stands for the question on the drug war, those who favor President Duterte try to justify the means he uses in solving the menace posed by illegal drugs in our country "for the good of the next generation of Filipinos." He is willing to sacrifice the present - his honor, his earthly life, and even the presidency - for the future ("the fair hope of the fatherland," according to our national hero).

Those on the other side of the table hastily generalize that the casualties were due to the double barrel method used by law enforcers. A former classmate at the Seminario Mayor the San Carlos, Mabolo, Cebu City (1966-68), the Bishop of Naval (Biliran), Filomeno Bactol said:  "For all we know there are other factors like vendetta," (The Freeman, October 8, 2016; page 23).  Thus, not all the killings were done by the government.

Why has our country come into this controversial situation?  With the indulgence of those who disagree with this writer, we have the best form of government - we are a democracy. And we have the best form of religion - Christianity.

Abraham Lincoln described democracy as "the government of the people, by the people, for the people." But due to our people's brilliance, they changed the spelling of those prepositions : from 'of' to 'off';  from 'by' to 'buy' (the buying of votes which could lead to narco-politics), from 'for' to 'poor' the people.

God, Who made us, gave only 10 Commandments so that we may be truly happy. But according to some humorists, the Filipinos added four more commandments: # 11says: "Thou shalt not get caught; if caught, don't admit your fault/sin."  #12:  "Thou shalt not come out."  (Until now, the mastermind of Ninoy Aquino's assassination has not been unearthed.)  #13: "Thou shalt not resign!"  If we read right President Duterte's retort  to his friend Archbishop Emeritus Capalla of Davao, urging him to listen to his oppositors, those clerics (bishops and priests alike) having paramours and children are just following the 13th commandment added by Filipinos to God's 10 precepts.  #14 is only a joke : "Thou shalt not eat salt because  it's a sin." ('Asin' is salt.)

Corruption which our very popular president is trying to eradicate from our government is not a monopoly of Filipinos. In some Asian countries, corruption goes on "under the table", in others, it's even "over the table." In our country, it's "including the table."

Thus , in spite of the best form of government our country has and notwithstanding the best form of religion introduced in the Philippines by the Spaniards 500 years ago, there is danger that narco-politics  will ruin the future of  "our fatherland's fair hopes."

To conclude, Bishop Bactol, my "buddy-buddy" in enjoying "mami" in a famous restaurant on Manalili Street, during our monthly outing from the major seminary is wisely correct in saying: "If possible, there will be no killing, but since killing could not be avoided, all we could do is pray."

Indeed, everything is possible with God including the solution to our controversial situation. Agustin Sollano Jr. (FREEMAN)