Writings on the wall, not just an idiom
The term “writings on the walls” with its biblical origin lost to most of us, is believed to have surfaced in the 18th century. Today it is taken as an idiomatic expression describing a situation in which there are signs that somebody/something is going to have some problems.
I dare to veer away from the expression’s accepted meaning and dramatize it somehow for a more provocative perception even as I adopt an unusual caution in saying that if logic gets warped in this article or the exposition becomes colloquial, I, alone, am to blame. Having laid a predicate, let me start with attaching a literal meaning to the idiom and proceed to say that I can see writings on the wall in this administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
I assign as the first writing on the wall a rather sketchy report emanating from Malacañang. The president accordingly is forming his own private armed group to do battle against so-called sparrow unit of the New People’s Army. If this move is true, he is only validating the factual existence of the dreaded Davao Death Squad. I do not see any legal leg to prop this organization up. The president will only be plunging this country into a constitutional crisis if he pushes thru with this plan. I sincerely hope that this bit of news is without truth.
I designate as the next writing on the wall the latest executive order directing the virtual mobilization of military and police fire power in certain parts of the country ostensibly to counter lawless element. As explained by authorities, the objective of this armament of the countryside is to promote peace and order. With apologies to Malacanang, I read this presidential directive rather literally and therefore quite differently. To me, this is telling us something about the militarization of our country. This is not unlike the government campaign made before Marcos declared Martial Law for people to surrender their firearms which according to Da Apo’s propaganda was to make our country peaceful.
Extrajudicial killing (EJK) is the supposed only fault of the present administration. President Duterte himself publicly admitted this. Because only a few reacted critically to the presidential mea culpa I must assume that a greater number accepted the president’s words. Here is a little personal concern. In my view as a retired teacher of Constitutional Law and based on my understanding of Criminal Law, EJK is literary and connotatively a crime. When the president, also a lawyer, admitted EJK as the fault occurring in his watch, he must have meant EJK as a crime.
In that context, it must be committed by lawless elements. Is the executive order arming the army and the police also directing them to fight these lawless elements guilty of EJK?
The other writing on the wall which i took literally was the announcement that the Philippines and China agreed “to write an agreement” (did I hear it correctly from national television?) on a joint exploration of the natural resources found in the West Philippine Sea. To me, the main agendum in the state visit by the Chinese leader was the exploration of the West Philippine Sea. But, basaha ra gud ug balik tong agreed to write an agreement and you will conclude that someone, by coining those words, took us for a fool. This announcement followed closely Malacanang’s declaration amounting to our abandonment of the islands in the West Philippine Sea. In saying that both countries have yet to forge an agreement, the mouthpiece wanted us to believe that the show where the two presidents signed some important documents, they actually signed nothing on the most important agendum.
Are we all seeing these writings on the wall not just in their idiomatic concept?
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