A closure of 2014 and moving on to 2015
Many of us, by inertia at rest, cannot seem to leave behind all the troubles, the sadness, the acrimony and atrocity of the year that just ended. We seem to be holding on to the sad memories, the pains and the anger brought about by natural disasters or by man-made conflicts, confrontations, and controversies. That was quite a turbulent years, of many investigations and arrests, of raids and detentions. Some OFWs were executed by beheading. Others were convicted of drug trafficking. Many of our migrant workers were caught in the vortex of wars and ebola. Some foreigners were kidnapped here. Some Senators were indicted and detained. It was a very challenging year. Let us now move forward, welcome Pope Francis, learn MERCY and COMPASSION, and host the APEC with great success.
A Filipino was killed by an American service man in Subic. The US government refused to surrender his person to the custody of our judicial and prison authorities. Our prosecution service charged him with murder but his lawyers moved to suspend proceedings pending their motion to reconsider the indictment. The motion to suspend was granted but the prosecution's motion to transfer the accused to the ordinary jail was denied by the court. There is also a motion seeking for the inhibition of the presiding judge. She seems to be the classmate of the defense counsel or something. But any way, the motion has not been acted upon. At any rate, this case will take a long, long time, as the wheels of justice in this country grinds too slowly, if it grinds at all.
At least, we have suspended General Purisima, and succeeded in detaining three big fishes, three powerful senators who were not allowed to spend Christmas in their respective mansions. Only Ex PGMA was allowed to go and spend the Yuletide in her La Vista palace. Complete with a platoon of guards that she must feed and give gifts too. The very silent ex-President was given such a clemency attuned to Pope Francis' call for mercy and compassion. But only from December 23 to 26. She must go back to her detention hospital and spend New Year in the Veterans Memorial, complete with a very nice golf course where she could see from her hospital window the ex-First Gentleman playing golf with loyalist ex-Cabinet men. While Ona was ousted under the guise of resignation, Purisima is just suspended. As they say, you cannot treat unequal people equally.
The DOH is still in a state of sedation with a former Undersecretary who has become Oversecretary, by pressures of the Ilongo Bloc. Secretary Ona, one of the most professional heads of agency was eased out as a sacrificial lamb because, as some insiders suspect, perhaps because he chose to buy drugs from one drug company and not from the more favored one. And so, it was all about a drug war, and the good Secretary was caught in the crossfire. He was told to go on leave on the pretext of a hair dye allergy. But actually, he was being pressured to quit. If his case were in the private sector, it could have qualified to be a constructive dismissal, and thus could be a legal basis for a suit for moral and exemplary damages. But this is government. and government does not usually walk its talk.
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