Martin Romualdez to the Senate
The Romualdez that I will vote to the Senate is Martin Romualdez.
I first met Martin when he was a high school student in the 70s, for an interview arranged by the editor of the Manila Daily Bulletin. I don’t have a copy of the piece I wrote about him, but I remember him as a lean, bright and respectful young man, oblivious of his “connections” – as son of the legendary Ambassador to Washington Kokoy Romualdez and Juliet Gomez, and nephew of the First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos, wife of then President Ferdinand Marcos. I learned later that Martin obtained a bachelor of arts in government from Cornell University, then a certificate of special studies in administration and management from Harvard. As if these were not enough, he earned a legitimate bachelor of laws degree from the University of the Philippines.
News items filtered to our direction told of his election as a Kabataang Barangay (KB) member 26 years ago, then president of his home municipality of Tolosa, Leyte, then the KB provincial federation president. He moved up to the House of Legislature as a representative of the first district of Leyte, his numerous bills that are still pending with House committees including establishing a drug rehabilitation center in Palo, Leyte, exempting persons with disability from the value-added tax on certain goods and services, establishing a national cancer center, creation of a Department of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, conducting an inquiry in aid of legislation to assess the credibility and accuracy of the existing PCOS machine in preparation for the upcoming 2016 presidential election, and calling for the total abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
Martin, who is running under the ticket of Vice President Jejomar Binay, considers Yolanda’s devastation of Tacloban as the reason for his running for the Senate. The storm made him see how depressed the region was. He wants to uplift the poor’s plight. He sees as integral to development government’s investing in technology and the completion of the North-South Commuter railway (NSCR) in Luzon to facilitate the movement of people and goods and create new growth centers in the regions.
I consider Martin’s being president of The Philippine Constitution Association as most significant. PHILCONSA, an honor society of justices, lawyers, and concerned citizens, fights for the observance of the Philippine Constitution as a vital enforcer of freedom and democracy. As such, I believe Martin, with the concurrence of his peers, will oppose human gladiators’ moves to overturn the Constitution for personal gain. That’s why I don’t think Martin will favor the re-imposition of martial law.
* * *
Social media has gone viral over presidential aspirant Rodrigo Duterte’s remark about wishing he had been the first one to rape an Australian woman. Here’s one pained comment by Joe America, pen name of a foreigner who resides in the Philippines which was passed on by a former Justice of the Supreme Court, a venerated institution then:
“ Please help me understand the vote for Duterte. As a psychiatric social worker (retired) I see a man with poor impulse control, who seems to feel no guilt, thus does not feel the need to hide what we consider sins. This demonstrates an undeveloped conscience. ? ?
“These are traits of a sociopathic personality. He talks and acts inappropriately serially unfaithful, multiple concubines, compulsive cussing, constantly talking of killing, allowing (if not downright praising death squads) or actually doing the killing. Molesting women. He flaunts all these and makes jokes of it. He does not seem to see anything wrong with it, or feel sorry about it. Neither does he understand the effects of his behavior. He brags and jokes about molesting their helpless housemaid in her sleep. Consider that many of our housemaids are young, some even as young as 14; that is child molestation! How would the victim/maid feel? ? ?
“ A normal person feels guilty about transgressing and feels bad and thus hides it but does try, albeit not always successfully, not to repeat the sin. What is seen as hypocrisy may also be a sign of conscience.??
“ Okay, it is great that he does not steal. But that is one commandment of 10. These commandments were handed down by God (or by wisdom from trial and error for millennia, if non-religious) for an orderly, peaceful society and for the protection, growth and development of families and healthy children. One important task is to train people especially kids in the ability to defer instant gratification. “ The immediate cause of crime and corruption are drugs, stealing, murdering etc. and Duterte promises instant results (offers instant gratification to his people) and talks of eradicating these quickly by fear, threats of punishment, or extermination of criminals. ? ?
“The inability to defer gratification is also a major cause of poverty. Thus we see family wealth lost by the next generation who did not learn to tame impulses and defer gratification for goals. So we see the inability to control impulse and defer gratification leading to poverty, which leads to crime . . . and on goes the cycle… ? ?
“ Furthermore at age 71 and ailing, D may not be around for long and God forbid Duterte dies, then Bongbong as veep will take over, then we get Imelda and the Marcoses back. What happens after Duterte is gone, the democratic institutions destroyed, the moral and family values corrupted, the large scale violent enforcers unleashed, unchecked, the culture of “righteous” violence deeply ingrained in the culture a la Marcos.
* * *
Here’s another comment on Duterte: ?
“Rody Duterte says he will welcome the NPA to his cabinet. And he advises people to pay their ‘taxes’ to the NPA on demand.
“Well, this Duterte fellow is quite a piece of work to us outsiders. He is a rare left-over arch-chauvinist from the 1950s before modern social enlightenment worked its way around the world but largely skipped the Philippines. Duterte has shown that he is perhaps the most crass objectifier of women in the modern world. Some would say he is sick. I’m not a medical expert, so I will only say that his behavior would be considered disgusting to every educated, compassionate, pro-gender-equality woman I have ever known in my life. And most enlightened men, as well.
“Gabriela backs Duterte, as does Sen. Pia Cayetano who claims to be an advocate for women’s rights. Her brother is Duterte’s vice presidential running mate, Sen. Alan Cayetano.
“ Senator Pia Cayetano is chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality. Her advocacy was exhibited in 2011 when she took Tourism Secretary Jimenez to task for downplaying the US Ambassador’s statement that 40 per cent of American male tourists come to the Philippines for sex. She said: ‘The Palace and Secretary Jimenez appear to be in a state of denial regarding the existence and continued proliferation of sex tourism in our country’
“Today, a lot of important women are standing silent while the likes of Gabriela and Pia Cayetano pursue their personal aims over the well-being of women. Or they stand silent as women governors and mayors back Duterte. They enable the enablers. I’m sure Senator Pia Cayetano and other women of stature believe they have earned their positions through good works and upstanding values. But when push comes to shove, they today are tossing aside the well-being of women for their own advantage.
“Gabriela has issued a statement condemning the Duterte rape joke. Good for them. Senator Cayetano has said she will “reach out” to Duterte. Wow, that’s bold.
“These things are like pasting a dab of salve on the sore while refusing to recognize there is a deep and dangerous rot within Duterte, and within their own values and decisions. Gabriella and Cayetano refuse to hold themselves accountable for enabling the horror of Duterte and his values toward women.”
- Latest
- Trending
