Next week we’ll know who is truly our Veep

The Supreme Court last Wednesday reminded the parties of Vice President Leni Robredo and former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. about making public remarks on the pending electoral protest that they filed before the SC acting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).

The case was supposed to be decided on October 8, especially when the SC decided that to defer its action on Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa’s report on the initial recount that would be the basis on whether the case would be dismissed or the tribunal would continue the revision of ballots from 24 other provinces and cities identified in the electoral case.

The SC is set to meet for a full court session on October 15 when it would have already decided who won the case.

The whole trouble to decide who should be the real vice president of this country is that, too many pro or anti-Marcos groups have fought themselves in the press and social media, with many declaring that Marcos should not be brought back to power. Even here in Cebu, I did not know that there were pro-Robredo groups that held a rally in downtown Cebu City. Of course, there is no doubt that they are part of the Yellowtards that support the Aquino Regime.

Meanwhile, SC spokesperson Brian Hosaka told reporters: “I would like to again remind the parties and their lawyers to respect the order of the court to not comment or speak to media about the case, following the ‘sub judice’ rule.” The sub judice rule prohibits parties from discussing a pending case. So this means that we would need to be a bit more patient and wait until Tuesday so we can finally know who really won that vice presidential race.

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That infamous activist Carlos Celdran who became known for his "Damaso" stunt at the Manila Cathedral and who began his career at 14 as a cartoonist for Business Day and graduated with a fine arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design in the United States in 1996 died of natural causes in Spain. Celdran achieved notoriety in September 2010 when, wearing a black suit like Jose Rizal, he staged a protest inside the Manila Cathedral during an ecumenical service attended by Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, the Papal Nuncio, former Philippine Ambassador to Rome Henrietta De Villa, and leaders of Christian denominations.

It was Celdran’s way to direct the attention of the Catholic Church, which was against the Reproductive Health Bill, which has been passed into law during the term of then Pres. PNoy Aquino, III.  During his protest inside the Cathedral, he mentioned Fr. Damaso one of the villains in national hero Dr. Jose Rizal’s novel "Noli Me Tangere," originally written in Spanish, which talks about the iniquities of Roman Catholic Church priests during Spain’s colonization of the Philippines. It was his uncanny way of telling the people that he knew his history.

Celdran had lived in Madrid, Spain since January 2019, five months after the Supreme Court (SC) upheld the decision of the Court of Appeals that found him guilty of “offending religious feelings.” Celdran faced a minimum prison time of two months and 21 days, and maximum of one year, one month, and 11 days. The decision was on appeal when he left for Madrid. Lay Catholics had filed a blasphemy case against Celdran after he disrupted a service at the Manila Cathedral on September 30, 2010.

Celdran left for Spain to apparently escape being thrown to prison for the crime he committed, which was upheld by the Supreme Court. I never met Celdran, but found him quite offensive in fighting the Catholic Church and its role on the anti-reproductive bill.

What I found intriguing was when people started announcing his sudden death on Facebook and it was the first time to hear ugly reports about what he recently did, when he tweeted that Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte should die now. His critics lambasted him, saying he suffered “Karma” for wishing Pres. Duterte’s death. It was really the first time for me to see netizens give Celdran thumbs down. May in fact did not do what good Catholics would do when someone dies. But then I supposed Celdran was no longer a Catholic. So if and when his family brings his remains home, I don’t think he would have a Catholic funeral.

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