The grim reign

A pouting new speaker in Congress, an unsmiling new CJ, and a stern Duterte. What can Filipinos expect from all these branches of government during this grim period? Is the executive branch still in control? Is Duterte still in control? Or has he ever been in control at all?

Why grim?

Observe the present power play especially in the HORs. Former Senate president Koko Pimentel strongly protested the alleged unauthorized assembly of PDP-Laban held Friday. Duterte supporters in the Judiciary are moved as CJ and Ombudsman.

Quo vadis: check and balances in government? What about genuine public service?

What about the Constitution? The last power grab in the HORs as well as the ouster of CJ Sereno bypassed laws and protocol. Will Federalism be rushed and rammed through by Duterte and a GMA-controlled Congress?

Corruption, which Duterte said he will never tolerate during his term, is very much alive. Under Duterte, the Philippines dropped from 101st to 111th (out of 180 nations) in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index for 2017.

A July 5 article of the South China Morning Post observed that despite Duterte’s firing spree, “all of those accused of corruption, excessive travel and accepting bribes have so far gone unpunished. Seven have been rehired.”

COA, gratefully, our country’ s light amidst darkness, has pointed out PCOO’s unliquidated millions of cash advances and has also demanded “the return to the national treasury of some P44.8 million in blood money that remained unutilized and unable to save the lives of two overseas Filipino workers who were executed in the Middle East in 2015 and 2017.” COA should also be commended for questioning deals made under the term of Teo at the Department of Tourism.

Will the demanded millions be returned and those responsible for squandering public money punished under this government?

Unauthorized use of public funds is a major crime and should be harshly dealt with as these funds are badly needed, especially by the needy among our people. Stolen public funds affect human lives. Our people deserve their human right to good, responsive governance. No dichotomy there, human lives and human rights are intricately linked.

Those who have stolen millions from the coffers of government have yet to be punished. The big time drug manufacturers, suppliers, smugglers, and dealers still have to be caught and penalized. Yet, drug victims, especially among the poor, have been summarily killed and executed, their grieving families demanding justice

Can the present lopsided system of justice and the drug war campaign truly protect the politically weak and the poor Filipinos?

The highly visible critics of Duterte have not been spared his wrath. Sister Patricia Fox had been detained and remains hounded by deportation order. CJ Sereno has been unconstitutionally ousted through Quo Warranto, Senator Leila de Lima remains in jail. Online news website Rappler has just been told by the Court of Appeals on Thursday that it is not fully Filipino-owned and has violated the 1987 Constitution, affirming the previous findings of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Our country faces the possible loss of our territory to China. With present politicians very open about their links with China, including those with questionable deals, will our country be able to assert our sovereignty in a peaceful, creative manner within a reign that seems to have given up our claim to our own territory?

Finally, will truth return to our country and will our people be informed honestly about the state of our nation, which sadly Duterte delivered in a scripted style and mostly in English?