The czarina who has not become

The music tele-radio show I happened to switch to somehow soothed my kind of angst. Perry Como and Jerry Vale calmed my nerves. Then a news program followed and I began to list down the topics of the items broadcast which included the following: (1) 1 dead person from a shooting incident in Pasay City, (2) P170,000 worth of illegal drugs seized from a buy bust operation in Quezon City, (3) 4 men arrested also in Pasay City from whom P1.3 million worth shabu was discovered, (4) 3 people were arrested for possession of firearms in Makati City, (5) still 2 others caught in Quezon City with guns. The first bunch of reports was all about crimes and I could not achieve my initial intention of riveting my thoughts away from what were horrible.

 The break came when a meteorologist appeared with the good news of a fine weather for the entire day. A forecast of good weather is source of happiness. Still, the respite was followed by a dash of more funny news. President Rodrigo Duterte offered Vice President Leni Robredo to be the drug Czar (why not Czarina?). I took the president’s offer to mean that Duterte would no longer lead in the anti-drug campaign and put the Vice President in charge instead. It was amusing to me because I always find joy in truth. There is nothing more amusing than speaking what is true and honest. Conversely, it is always pleasing for anyone to hear someone tell the truth especially so if he is the president of the republic,

 There is reason to suppose that the president was not joking in making the offer. While we have grown accustomed to his extravagant and insensitive language, Duterte, that time, looked serious when he spoke before TV cameras. He might have stammered a bit but the tinge of his voice did not indicate that he was in his mischievous self. After all, he knew pretty well that his promise to put an end to the narcotics problem within 3 months after getting elected was the primary factor in the decision of sixteen million voters to elect him. His attempt to make the Vice president take the cudgels is an unmistakable admission that he cannot deliver on his promise. That is an undeniable truth not only because he, in another forum, declared that he cannot solve the problem within his 6year term, but it is an observable fact that illegal drugs are still rampant.

There is no legal barrier in the Duterte’s designating Robredo as head of his anti-drug team. Secretary Panelo, the irreplaceable spokesman dares the vice president to accept the challenge carefully avoiding to state that the position is just a highfalutin tag to a fearsome cabal that is not a creation of a legislative enactment. The label notwithstanding, it is, to me, a kind of a presidential wolf pack unleashed by Malacañang to run after those in the illicit trade. So, Robredo can fit in it, if she wants. And, if she does, she is the necessary tonic that will have started cleansing the stink that the failure of the president’s bloody campaign has entailed.